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Showing posts with the label bandwidth

Google and Amazon Need to Get it Together

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Let's start this out with a disclaimer; this is an opinion/rant. Do with it what you will. We all know there is some stiff competition between the two Titans; Google and Amazon. But can they please get over their back-and-forth bickering already? It is costing their users like you and me a lot of missed entertainment! About the time Amazon started selling their FireTV devices, they decided stop selling Google products that it saw as direct competition. At the time, this included Google's Android TV devices and has grown to include their Google Home Smart Assistants. Amazon has even gone so far to not just exclude these devices from its search results, but actually display THEIR devices instead! Note the search results for "google home": In an act of apparent retaliation, Google has pulled its YouTube service from availability on Amazon devices. Quid Pro Quo, eh Google? This has gone back and forth several times, with occasional arrangements bringing t...
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Living with Eero's "Fast, reliable WiFi" (or, my experiences living with Eero WiFi the past year)

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About a year ago, I decided that the new wave of "Mesh Wireless" devices was the way to go. I bought into the hype behind being able to "blanket your whole home in fast, reliable WiFi" that so many of these brands seemed to be offering. After doing my research, I settled on the Eero units due to bandwidth issues some users had experienced with the Google WiFi units. At the time, there were only a couple other options (Netgear being the main competition). I started my adventure spending $350 on a three-pack of the original Eero Pucks. It was on sale at Best Buy so I thought I was getting a great deal. Initially I thought I'd just use them as Access Points in conjunction with my nice Netgear Nighthawk router. Unfortunately, it took a lightning strike the night before so I succumbed to an Eero-only setup. At first, all went well. Aside from one of the pucks having trouble pairing, I eventually got all three placed and connected. According to the Eero App, m...
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Oh Comcast....Why Do I Stick Around?

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So let me start out by saying I am usually fairly content with my Comcast connection. I pay for the "Performance" package that states: "Get download speeds up to 20 Mbps and upload speeds up to 4 Mbps with PowerBoost®." My download speeds, according to Speedtest.net, are regularly in the 13Mbit - 18Mbit range, which I find quite acceptable. I can stream HD content from the web with easy, and I rarely have a hiccup with gaming online. BUT... In the last week or so, my Upload speeds have been dismal. I struggle to get 600kb  according to Speedtest, and real-world tests are even worse! Trying to transfer a file from my home PC to my work PC via my home web server, I barely get 250kb!  That is ridiculous! A few months back I had an issue that affected both my Download AND Upload speeds. A technician came out several days after I contacted support and said there was a signal issue and he would have to come back the next day and repair some wiring on the outside ...
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