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It's clear that Amazon doesn't mess around. They're literally going into bull-dozer mode to capture all the connected home market. It frankly makes Google look

It's clear that Amazon doesn't mess around. They're literally going into bull-dozer mode to capture all the connected home market. It frankly makes Google look extremely slow, especially with how hard it has been for them to make sense of that Nest acquisition, in early 2014.

drcross 8y ago
Google wifi is a solid product, but needs a completely separate backhaul network for client mesh handover. Once set up properly it's unbelievably good in a larger house.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- nodesocket 8y ago
  I don't think we are advocating that Google smart home products are not quality products. We are just saying that they are very slow to move, and at this pace Amazon is going to crush them. This also goes for Apple.
  - MBCook 8y ago
    As slow as Apple was moving, they flat out gave up a few years ago when they stopped making AirPorts. Apple should have bought eero.
    - nodesocket 8y ago
      Apple is still trying with HomePod. It is a nice product, but the price point is crazy stupid. This is coming from an Apple shareholder who loves their premium prices. I don't know anybody who bought HomePod. I've been waiting for Apple to make a big acquisition for years. Beats!!! Really?
      - MBCook 8y ago
        Networking equipment was what I was referring to in my comment. Sorry if that wasn’t clear. I see the parent I replied to mentioned smart home, which I must have missed. I really believe the story that the HomePod was never meant to be smart home equipment, that that role was saddled on it before release.
      - gfosco 8y ago
        The price does hurt... I have a HomePod and we use it often, but I'd like to have 3 or 4 of them.
        nodesocket 8y ago
        What's the benefit though? You could get a mid-grade soundbar with a dedicated subwoofer for around $150 (Vizio) and a Echo Dot or Google Home Mini and get better sound quality.
        gfosco 8y ago
        My wife and I use it like this: "Hey Siri, play some music." (and it's _my_ iCloud library) "Hey Siri, never play that song again." "Hey Siri, skip." I think it sounds great, and I also like that either of us can seamlessly set our iPhones to output from them. I'd like a second one in the living room to expand the sound in that area, and two more for two different "zones" where it would be useful. Siri gives us a laugh every now and then, too.
        threeseed 8y ago
        Arguable that it will have better sound quality. HomePod has exceptional audio positioning and audiophiles have benchmarked it against high end speakers like Klipsch and it's held up very well. And the benefit for me is Siri. I ask her everyday to read out the BBC News, set timers in the kitchen, set reminders and most importantly play the huge array of content from Apple Music.
        moonlighter 8y ago
        I love my HomePods, I got 2 of them paired for stereo sound. I use them from an AppleTV for room-filling sound, as well as sometimes from my iPhone. The sound quality is really awesome.
- crsv 8y ago
  Any chance you could elaborate on this or point to some helpful docs? I'm just kicking off refactoring the house wifi and some instruction here would be amazing, especially in the context of the Google mesh product.
  - vvanders 8y ago
    If you haven't made a hardware decision I'd also take a hard look at Ubiquiti's Unifi line. They take a little more setup but offer a lot more functionality and future expansion.
    - sjg007 8y ago
      I have unifi but it isn’t very user friendly.
      - vvanders 8y ago
        Well they take a bit more setup but honestly if you've bought your own router before it shouldn't be unfamiliar. I personally found the interface a step up from Asus/Netgear/etc.
        fredthomsen 8y ago
        I love my unifi setup at home. Yes some more configuration for sure, but once it's up, it's so rock solid. Compared to the Asus router I had before the wifi reliability is fantastic
        Jailbird 8y ago
        One nice thing the Asus firmware has is nice grouping of devices for family members which can show monitoring, overall usage and even quick shutoff controls if necessary. Does the Unifi stuff have the equivalent, even if a huge pain to set up?
        8y ago
- annon 8y ago
  I have Google Wifi at home and a unifi mesh at my office. Unless you are covering a massive area or have more than 25 clients, I’d have a real hard time recommending unifi. It requires much more configuration and maintenance. Google WiFi you really just forget about it - handles patches automatically, finds you the best channel automatically, tests your uplink daily and logs results. Unifi’s software is much better than any other enterprise solution, but it still has a lot of rough edges and bugs if you’re doing anything non-standard.
  - throwawaymath 8y ago
    Case in point: bonding non-contiguous ports in Unifi is not possible (though it's possible on the Edge products). I think there's also a 4 port maximum.
  - stevep001 8y ago
    Funny you should mention this, because I put a Unifi system in at home and just checked -- haven't been in it in 6 months.
  - Johnny555 8y ago
    Have you looked at their home wifi Amplfi line? https://www.amplifi.com/ https://www.amplifi.com/ It's supposed to be plug-and-play. I'd probably buy one, but I'm pretty happy with my 2 year old Unifi AC router, after initial setup, I haven't done anything to it - I have it set to update firmware automatically.
- epc 8y ago
  I just pulled out a Google Wifi setup because I found it was would drop clients if we were streaming any video content. I thought that maybe the dropped clients were connected to the mesh APs (which weren't hard–connected to the LAN) but no, they were connected to the main AP. Replaced with a three node eero system in exactly the same locations/topology (one primary, two connected via eero's mesh) and …no dropped clients, no problems whatsoever. Really wanted to like Google Wifi but it was just too flaky too quickly to put up with.
  - simtel20 8y ago
    Agreed. I replaced mine when I found out it couldn't be put behind a router fronting 2 pppoe connections. Somehow it broke pmtu-d trying to send data to Google (config backup? Who knows), and caused meltdowns constantly because of it.
- o10449366 8y ago
  What is Google Wifi? I've never heard of it until this comment...
  - Johnny555 8y ago
    It's literally the first match if you Google "Google Wifi" (it's also the first match on Bing and DuckDuckGo)
valker43 8y ago
That's what I don't get. This seems to be true in a more general sense as well. Amazon just keeps pushing things out at an insane rate. Be it through acquisitions or native dev. Google Assistant for example is mostly superior to Alexa. Yes, Alexa technically has more connected device options. But not really that much any more. They are just really good at somehow capturing markets. AWS is more extreme still. In many ways GCP is technically superior. I suppose a lot of it is first mover advantage on Amazons part. But some of it the perception people have of Google not supporting stuff. Which might be true for beta software and consumer products. But is not at all worse than other clouds for commercial (paid) offerings. Off topic: Amazon also seems to dodge the brunt of the press onslaught tech firms have been receiving for the last two or three years (mostly deserved, yes). But Amazon is arguable worse in regards to monopolistic behavior and probably equal with regards to privacy. I get the feeling Google is held to a higher standard because of perceived political stance. While they often publicly take a stance for one issue or another while Amazon simply ignores everything acts more like a a business of old: completely devoid of any politics. A similar thing is seen in investor relations. Amazon generally seems to get more leeway in regards to capital expenditure. They invest like crazy in all sorts of ventures. As does Alphabet. But analysts only seem to reprimand Alphabet for that. It seems obvious that with Amazons entrance into advertising, and if Google doesn't somehow catch up in the cloud space or looses it's arguable lead in AI then Amazon (and Microsoft I guess) will eventually take over all of IT within the next 10 or 20 years. My possible personal biases: I like what Alphabet is doing with it's other bets. The crazy stuff. Stuff that doesn't make immediate business sense. Also, and this is unpopular, I like that their taking a political stance in some cases. I like to believe that the founders are actually in it for more than money.
IshKebab 8y ago
Yeah except Google Home is still far superior to Alexa because it can access Google's knowledge graph.
- rb666 8y ago
  And Google Home has proper TTS (from HA). I ditches all my Alexas for Minis for this reason only.
  - richjdsmith 8y ago
    Can you elaborate on this? Alexa has no TTS?

drcross 8y ago

Google wifi is a solid product, but needs a completely separate backhaul network for client mesh handover. Once set up properly it's unbelievably good in a larger house.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
nodesocket 8y ago
I don't think we are advocating that Google smart home products are not quality products. We are just saying that they are very slow to move, and at this pace Amazon is going to crush them. This also goes for Apple.
- MBCook 8y ago
  As slow as Apple was moving, they flat out gave up a few years ago when they stopped making AirPorts. Apple should have bought eero.
  - nodesocket 8y ago
    Apple is still trying with HomePod. It is a nice product, but the price point is crazy stupid. This is coming from an Apple shareholder who loves their premium prices. I don't know anybody who bought HomePod. I've been waiting for Apple to make a big acquisition for years. Beats!!! Really?
    - MBCook 8y ago
      Networking equipment was what I was referring to in my comment. Sorry if that wasn’t clear. I see the parent I replied to mentioned smart home, which I must have missed. I really believe the story that the HomePod was never meant to be smart home equipment, that that role was saddled on it before release.
    - gfosco 8y ago
      The price does hurt... I have a HomePod and we use it often, but I'd like to have 3 or 4 of them.
      - nodesocket 8y ago
        What's the benefit though? You could get a mid-grade soundbar with a dedicated subwoofer for around $150 (Vizio) and a Echo Dot or Google Home Mini and get better sound quality.
        gfosco 8y ago
        My wife and I use it like this: "Hey Siri, play some music." (and it's _my_ iCloud library) "Hey Siri, never play that song again." "Hey Siri, skip." I think it sounds great, and I also like that either of us can seamlessly set our iPhones to output from them. I'd like a second one in the living room to expand the sound in that area, and two more for two different "zones" where it would be useful. Siri gives us a laugh every now and then, too.
        threeseed 8y ago
        Arguable that it will have better sound quality. HomePod has exceptional audio positioning and audiophiles have benchmarked it against high end speakers like Klipsch and it's held up very well. And the benefit for me is Siri. I ask her everyday to read out the BBC News, set timers in the kitchen, set reminders and most importantly play the huge array of content from Apple Music.
      - moonlighter 8y ago
        I love my HomePods, I got 2 of them paired for stereo sound. I use them from an AppleTV for room-filling sound, as well as sometimes from my iPhone. The sound quality is really awesome.
crsv 8y ago
Any chance you could elaborate on this or point to some helpful docs? I'm just kicking off refactoring the house wifi and some instruction here would be amazing, especially in the context of the Google mesh product.
- vvanders 8y ago
  If you haven't made a hardware decision I'd also take a hard look at Ubiquiti's Unifi line. They take a little more setup but offer a lot more functionality and future expansion.
  - sjg007 8y ago
    I have unifi but it isn’t very user friendly.
    - vvanders 8y ago
      Well they take a bit more setup but honestly if you've bought your own router before it shouldn't be unfamiliar. I personally found the interface a step up from Asus/Netgear/etc.
      - fredthomsen 8y ago
        I love my unifi setup at home. Yes some more configuration for sure, but once it's up, it's so rock solid. Compared to the Asus router I had before the wifi reliability is fantastic
        Jailbird 8y ago
        One nice thing the Asus firmware has is nice grouping of devices for family members which can show monitoring, overall usage and even quick shutoff controls if necessary. Does the Unifi stuff have the equivalent, even if a huge pain to set up?
        8y ago
annon 8y ago
I have Google Wifi at home and a unifi mesh at my office. Unless you are covering a massive area or have more than 25 clients, I’d have a real hard time recommending unifi. It requires much more configuration and maintenance. Google WiFi you really just forget about it - handles patches automatically, finds you the best channel automatically, tests your uplink daily and logs results. Unifi’s software is much better than any other enterprise solution, but it still has a lot of rough edges and bugs if you’re doing anything non-standard.
- throwawaymath 8y ago
  Case in point: bonding non-contiguous ports in Unifi is not possible (though it's possible on the Edge products). I think there's also a 4 port maximum.
- stevep001 8y ago
  Funny you should mention this, because I put a Unifi system in at home and just checked -- haven't been in it in 6 months.
- Johnny555 8y ago
  Have you looked at their home wifi Amplfi line? https://www.amplifi.com/ https://www.amplifi.com/ It's supposed to be plug-and-play. I'd probably buy one, but I'm pretty happy with my 2 year old Unifi AC router, after initial setup, I haven't done anything to it - I have it set to update firmware automatically.
epc 8y ago
I just pulled out a Google Wifi setup because I found it was would drop clients if we were streaming any video content. I thought that maybe the dropped clients were connected to the mesh APs (which weren't hard–connected to the LAN) but no, they were connected to the main AP. Replaced with a three node eero system in exactly the same locations/topology (one primary, two connected via eero's mesh) and …no dropped clients, no problems whatsoever. Really wanted to like Google Wifi but it was just too flaky too quickly to put up with.
- simtel20 8y ago
  Agreed. I replaced mine when I found out it couldn't be put behind a router fronting 2 pppoe connections. Somehow it broke pmtu-d trying to send data to Google (config backup? Who knows), and caused meltdowns constantly because of it.
o10449366 8y ago
What is Google Wifi? I've never heard of it until this comment...
- Johnny555 8y ago
  It's literally the first match if you Google "Google Wifi" (it's also the first match on Bing and DuckDuckGo)

valker43 8y ago

That's what I don't get. This seems to be true in a more general sense as well. Amazon just keeps pushing things out at an insane rate. Be it through acquisitions or native dev. Google Assistant for example is mostly superior to Alexa. Yes, Alexa technically has more connected device options. But not really that much any more. They are just really good at somehow capturing markets. AWS is more extreme still. In many ways GCP is technically superior. I suppose a lot of it is first mover advantage on Amazons part. But some of it the perception people have of Google not supporting stuff. Which might be true for beta software and consumer products. But is not at all worse than other clouds for commercial (paid) offerings. Off topic: Amazon also seems to dodge the brunt of the press onslaught tech firms have been receiving for the last two or three years (mostly deserved, yes). But Amazon is arguable worse in regards to monopolistic behavior and probably equal with regards to privacy. I get the feeling Google is held to a higher standard because of perceived political stance. While they often publicly take a stance for one issue or another while Amazon simply ignores everything acts more like a a business of old: completely devoid of any politics. A similar thing is seen in investor relations. Amazon generally seems to get more leeway in regards to capital expenditure. They invest like crazy in all sorts of ventures. As does Alphabet. But analysts only seem to reprimand Alphabet for that. It seems obvious that with Amazons entrance into advertising, and if Google doesn't somehow catch up in the cloud space or looses it's arguable lead in AI then Amazon (and Microsoft I guess) will eventually take over all of IT within the next 10 or 20 years. My possible personal biases: I like what Alphabet is doing with it's other bets. The crazy stuff. Stuff that doesn't make immediate business sense. Also, and this is unpopular, I like that their taking a political stance in some cases. I like to believe that the founders are actually in it for more than money.

IshKebab 8y ago

Yeah except Google Home is still far superior to Alexa because it can access Google's knowledge graph.

rb666 8y ago
And Google Home has proper TTS (from HA). I ditches all my Alexas for Minis for this reason only.
- richjdsmith 8y ago
  Can you elaborate on this? Alexa has no TTS?