What percentage of customers never budge off the ISP-provided WiFi router?
What percentage upgrade to a Costco-level āpremiumā product?
What percentage upgrade to a true premium (or enterprise) product?
Razor and blades
The razor is the low-margin devices.
The blades are the recurring services.
Why wouldnāt Wyze add a customized router to the razor lineup?
Wireless stability would improve
Customer support costs would fall
Customer satisfaction would rise
Additional purchases would increase
As would sales of essential services
And profits
My current router is a Netgear Nighthawk with one 2.4 band and two 5.0 bands. It is a refurb with an extended warranty [that includes if it stops working and the model is discontinued, they will replace with a comparable new router]. I am super happy with the purchase.
I have the thirsty 5G items split between the bands based upon a casual analysis of demand. The 2.4G will handle up to 100-ish items; smart home devices, cameras, therm, irrigation and fun products from Wyze. The 2.4G has amazing range, there is a park behind my home and I get WiFi all throughout.
Lastly, after one bad experience with an ISP supplied modem, I will never do it again. My current ISP offered to charge me ārentā of $10/month for their modem. My previous modem lasted 54 months. As accountant I saw $540 lifetime cost, whereas I purchased it for $120, or monthly amortization of $2 per month.
Good to know on the Nighthawk. Did you arrive there after much comparative feature/value study? I expect so.
ISP Spectrum markets their device as āNeed WiFi? Only $10 mo!ā or somesuch. I mean youāre paying for the possibility of an on-site troubleshooting/service call and/or unit replacement inclusive, soā¦ maybe thatās a good deal?
They donāt generally charge separately for their modem where I live, I think. Small favors.
Yes, I did some research, was not necessarily high on Netgear because they only offer tech support for 90 days after purchase. After that a 2 agreement costs same purchase price. Netgear has been dropping that price because Amazon is offering service contracts at a small fraction of Netgearās ransom demand.
The rental which includes service calls, is good for many but not for all. I have been taking care of our network for 20 years with no problems. But I am also the type of guy who replaces circuit breakers, does his own brakes, replaces the water heater, cuts down trees, et cetera, et cetera.
The ISP techs can tell me if they can see my modem. Modem diagnosis is quick, I replaced one 2 weeks ago, EZ PZ. My usual internet problem is the switch at the box around the corner, something they have to take care of.
For my buddy who can change a lightbulb [and barely] the rental with service is good. I also cycle my modem on/off regularly to clear the cash and keep those Netflix show streaming without pixelization.
Brakes! I can do 'em but donāt like to do 'em twice. Hate it, in fact, so since Iām, um, āerror proneā when doing things I dislike, I pay (up) the good shop down the block for their skill, experience and warranty.
Extended warranties for [and barely] family and friends who ask, āShould I buy it, is it worth it?ā I say, āIs it a good deal, no. But how will you feel if you donāt buy it and it fails the day after the standard warranty ends? If that would be intolerable to you, buy it.ā
We declined āextended warrantiesā 20 or so years ago. Being an accountant, I started calculating the ROI and it was negativeā¦
Yeah man, canāt say I enjoy doing brakes, but sheesh, I bought the parts for the Hyundai for $150, took me 2.5 hours [honestly] including clean-up, included new rotors and pads. I was quoted $500 with the emphasis āwe donāt know until we get into itā. Calipers have great mark-up, quick to replace and one of those upsells they pad their numbers with. On the plus side, my ever lovely wife insists was celebrate the savings with a nice dinner outā¦
Wyze Router:
Your Router needs a Firmware Update to Work, We Are Sorry You Have No Internet to Perform This Update. Please Update Router with an Micro-SD cardā¦LOL
You:
Hey neighbor can I borrow your internet to get a firmware file to fix my internetā¦
I was using a ASUS Wifi Router that was T-Mobile Branded also. Back when they were giving them out Free when the iPhone 6 was released and it came with Wifi Calling. If you lived in a weak Cell Area, the Wifi Router and Wifi Calling was a Solution. The sad thing is you couldnāt download the normal ASUS firmware, only the custom one from T-Mobile. There hadnāt been an update in YEARS!!!
I just tossed it in the garbage as I upgraded to a Unifi Setup. That Includes a gateway and an AP (Wifi Access Point), with a second AP in the future when I can buy the one I want. Cable modem plugs into the Gateway, Gateway plugs into my 48 port switch. one of those ports plugs into the Unifi controller.
Itās like going from an All in One, which would be the ASUS or one of the many other Wifi Routers out there, to where itās now its separate parts.
If I didnāt go this route and Wyze came out with their own Router, Iām not sure if I would buy it. Itās been 11 months and they still havenāt fixed their Headphones from crashing around the 20-minute mark. I refuse to buy anything else from them at this point in time.
The Wyze Cams I do have, work just fine. I have another V3 one here still in the Box. Iād like them to FIX what theyāve already released. They seem too busy just releasing more and more crap, and have no one left to fix their slightly older hardware which has been crashing since day 1.
When they have a Home Temp controller and a Sprinkler Controller along with these other devices all connected to Wifi, it does make sense for Wyze to take that next step with a Wifi Router. Iām going to assume they are working with another company, and itāll just basically be a Wyze branded Router made by ASUS or whoever else with a Wyze Interface. Wyze has taken this route with some of its other hardware.
So this may be a bigger beast than one might think to wrestle to the ground. Can they do it? Burden would be on them to prove they can.
Can you see any justification whatsoever, business-wise, for them to have favored innovation (expanded features and new products) over the stability and performance of their core products, cams, and extant others?
Itās interesting, youāre a happy cam-er, but frustrated with the performance of their new stuff. Havenāt heard thatā¦ ever, on these boards, but Iām far from any Mod-style omniscience.
Doorbell v1 does have a few disconnects but nothing major. Router is very close to doorbell so signal shouldnāt be an issue, probably doorbell hardware isnāt as reliable as the cams.
Live view on doorbell has been 50/50. Not acceptable in my opinion. Live view on cams work perfectly.
Iām on Verizon at 200mbs speed. Donāt consume too much data so wyze devices should have all bandwidth needed.
Wyze is hurting themselves, forums are plagued with complaints and wyze isnāt responding.
Pair that with the dumb cringy marketing videos for new devices + the dude talking about the new money they got and how it saved the company and there is certainly a lack of alignment in their strategy.
I didnāt say I was happy with their cameras. I said they work and I havenāt had issues with them. But I do have a new V3 sitting right next to me still in its original box sealed up. Iām not happy with lack of Homekit support.
ISP router. A Verizon g1100 I believe. A 30 dollar router.
Iām not sure of the operating model, they got some money injected but at this point I would think itās hard for them to turn a profit. Supply chain is constrained, costs are going up and therefore retail prices we pay. Even their shipping charges look sketchy.
I donāt think there is a lot of people signed up on camplus service which is the only steady revenue stream they get. They need to keep launching new things, or jack up the price on existing stuff.
Unfortunately the existing stuff is not getting updates and creating bad publicity and the new money will be burnt.
Maybe they are waiting for a larger company to acquire them, say like ADT aquire them, spin off all the non security wyze stuff and integrates the cams to a low tier security monitoring package.
