3 ms·

Why? I was talking about APs, not routers. If you meant to imply that I am somehow paid to say such things, I assure that I am not. I am a fairly well known OS

by ryao 10y ago

Why? I was talking about APs, not routers. If you meant to imply that I am somehow paid to say such things, I assure that I am not. I am a fairly well known OSS developer and such a thing would be damaging to my reputation. I just happen to be genuinely excited about this topic for the first time in years at this moment. I just returned from visiting my grandmother in China, who is in the hospital. I stayed at the concrete and plaster apartment complex where my grandmother's apartment is. The horrible pentetration of wifi signals made me think plenty about wifi and that eventually lead me to discover that Ruckus's old equipment would work far better and is selling used on eBay at pricepoints seen in consumer grade gear. There really is not much benefit to Ruckus from the free advertisement of me talking about the used Ruckus equipment on eBay. They are not making any money off the used hardware market while the pricing for new Ruckus equipment is so high that it might as well not exist as far as the majority of people are concerned.

robotresearcher 10y ago
I was not clear enough. You managed to achieve good network performance by using your specialized skills. Most people don't have the skills and aren't interested in learning them. This is the market for Apple's APs. The interesting description of what you did to get stuff working is close to meaningless to most people, and hence by contrast makes the trusted-brand easy-peasy gear look even more valuable. I've wrestled with wireless gear since before 802.11 existed, including writing my own radio firmware, and I have an Airport at home which in practice means I don't need to do any of that awful stuff any more. In my lab we throw away about half the APs we buy due to mystery incompatibilities. Radio is still hard compared to most other things.
- ryao 10y ago
  Point taken, although a minor counterpoint is that I do all that I can to share my knowledge whenever people ask. Last Sunday, I had advised a complete stranger on how to get cheaper cell phone service. We had started talking after I asked if it was alright if I joined his table at a crowded food court. Upon finding out that I am a software engineer, he started telling me about his problems and I did what I could to help him. It was a nice use of part of my Sunday. :)

by ryao 10y ago

robotresearcher 10y ago

I was not clear enough. You managed to achieve good network performance by using your specialized skills. Most people don't have the skills and aren't interested in learning them. This is the market for Apple's APs. The interesting description of what you did to get stuff working is close to meaningless to most people, and hence by contrast makes the trusted-brand easy-peasy gear look even more valuable. I've wrestled with wireless gear since before 802.11 existed, including writing my own radio firmware, and I have an Airport at home which in practice means I don't need to do any of that awful stuff any more. In my lab we throw away about half the APs we buy due to mystery incompatibilities. Radio is still hard compared to most other things.

ryao 10y ago
Point taken, although a minor counterpoint is that I do all that I can to share my knowledge whenever people ask. Last Sunday, I had advised a complete stranger on how to get cheaper cell phone service. We had started talking after I asked if it was alright if I joined his table at a crowded food court. Upon finding out that I am a software engineer, he started telling me about his problems and I did what I could to help him. It was a nice use of part of my Sunday. :)