We Need You: Networking Survey

Multiple ethnicity questions in a product survey? Stay classy. :frowning:

No, it wasn’t complicated. I just had a lot to convey. :grin: Better to obtain too much info that not enough when brainstorming. :wink:

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PLEASE do your own Wyze solution! I am dying for a good router or mesh system upgrade, but they’re so expensive. I’m finally on verge of just buying one of the new WiFi 6 mesh systems for like $600+ but that is so much money…

Besides standard router capability, I have used OPEN DNS for some filtering solutions (adult content), then I also tried Cicle by Disney, then upgraded to Circle Plus with a lifetime membership (mostly for time limits of certain categories); I have also used Gargoyle firmware on a router for all the special features and stats you get with Gargoyle firmware (mostly when we had a tenant who ate up all the bandwidth and made it impossible for my wife and I to work from home, and then they went over Xfinity’s 1TB limit and almost got us huge overage charges, so I needed Gargoyle to watch and cut their bandwidth amounts too so we didn’t get huge fines). It feels like I go through routers like candy, especially with coming up on >70 Wyze devices connected to my network.

Man, an awesome Wyze solution would be GREAT! Even if it wasn’t a top of the line competitor, I’d still get one, maybe use it as a sort of hub for all my smart devices so they aren’t crashing the main 2.4 SSID all the time. I’m just saying, current decent routers are atrociously overpriced, I would LOVE Wyze to come disrupt that overpriced industry! Heck, make me a tester and I’ll still buy another copy of the product when it’s launched.

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Thank you the kind words! These are great information, appreciate your support!

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Consider this, @JBDragon – what is your in house speed vs your internet connection? For most people, a AC wireless connection vastly outpaces anything external. That said, with your focus you are probably already there, lol.

I am at 802.11ac, which vastly outpaces my 120Mbps cable internet.

BTW: So everyone, fill out the survey! Can’t wait to see what affordable solution awaits. :slight_smile:

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Seriously, if you do a regular router (instead of an advanced mesh…though I’d prefer mesh of course!), you could EASILY just use the opensource OpenWRT firmware as a base and then build your own few tweaks into it. It would save you guys all the coding effort, and it would make your router immediately superior to the majority of all other routers. Even if you don’t use it as the foundation for your router, you can pull the code for a TON of awesome features to easily give your router super-advanced features without having to do all the programming yourselves (also check out all the awesome features and stats Gargoyle firmware has too, since it’s also opensource and based on OpenWRT, but with tons of extra stuff). Just make sure to thoroughly test your router since some OpenWRT based routers have issues with a specific kind of chipset used in some older smart devices, which is the one chipset in the original Wyze bulbs (makes it hard to pair).

The idea of Wyze considering a router is exciting because Wyze incorporates so many great opensource features into tons of their other products, so a router from Wyze is also likely to have some of those high demand open-source features that few big brands ever bother to incorporate. I hope you do some research into that. I know it might not actually happen, but I’m excited you guys are researching it. It is definitely an industry of extremely high prices, or low feature options that is totally ripe for Wyze disruption offering decent prices with lots of features!

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Took it and done

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Hell you can get my direct TV satellite free.

Lol, I actually used to work for DirecTV back a couple of decades ago, so I used to get it for free (as a job perk). I rarely watch TV now. I don’t pay for any TV either, so it’d be [almost] worthless to me.

One thing Satellite dishes are really good for is making them into a directional antenna to pick up WiFi signals from MILES away. I knew of guys who modified and used them as a directional antenna to connect to a WiFi signal as far away as 5 Miles (though that might’ve been having one at each end). Still, some people use them to connect through free public WiFi several blocks away.

Now that’s something Wyze could do, collect old satellite dishes people don’t even want anymore and send them free with some new Wyze router to guarantee your signal strength will be at full bars all the way through your huge backyard, no doubt your camera could connect anywhere on your property (within that direct line anyway). :rofl: No more difficulty putting cams at the edges of your property after that…though the FCC might not like it…and your neighbors might hate your guts for interfering with their WiFi (if they knew).

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Done :slightly_smiling_face:

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Did it!

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While that particular post seems irrelevant to a new product development it is an intriguing idea. I happen to have retained a DirecTV dish and am a few blocks from city WiFi. It would be low down on the list of interesting future projects but still… Thanks.

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Completed

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If you are looking to create a Mesh solution I would tell you to copy the TP-Link Deca.
I have installed many for clients and it just works!
Price is right, too.

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Is there still no multivendor standard for modern mesh (not the old bridging)? Other than the cost that’s what’s keeping me from considering the upgrades.

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Please, please, please if you do this, follow Asus’s lead on the firmware. They’re using a branch of the OpenWRT firmware project, and publish their firmware changes. This has allowed a group of open source enthusiasts to extend and add-on to the Asus firmware. Their release is backward compatible with the Asus firmware allowing you to switch between the two easily, and gives those with the desire to have an alternative firmware that unlocks many of the higher level networking features an option that still lets you revert to stock easily.

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Completed

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I hope you included most of that in the survey responses. It just makes so much sense to use OpenWRT as a foundation now and then add your own custom tweaks. It’s so superior to basically every other router firmware out there.

Do you know if OpenWRT has any support for Mesh networking at all? I haven’t noticed any, but haven’t paid close attention. That’s becoming more and more critical as people have too many smart devices for a single router hub to handle (When too many devices all try to use the 2.4gHz band at the same time, the SSID frequently crashes…this with TONS of different routers).

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I did bring it up in the survey, but didn’t want to leave any avenue to bring it up unturned. :slight_smile:

Yes OpenWRT supports mesh networking, as does the Asus variant AsusWRT. I’m not sure if Asus is using the OpenWRT mesh networking or if they’ve rolled their own.

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Thanks for the tip, @TechnoSwiss. Apparently there IS a mesh standard called 802.11s !

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