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What do you think of eero? (new wifi router)

tennisproha

tennisproha

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 24, 2011
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eero launched at the beginning of February. They are taking preorders for summer delivery now.

So they are marketing it as a "Wi-Fi mesh system". It's basically three interconnected routers placed around the home working simultaneously to give one Wi-Fi signal. Essentially it's one router with two additional cloned extenders.

What do you guys think?

eero.com
Medium post by eero CEO
 
How's it any different than a roaming WiFi setup?

I've used a roaming networks but all the access points are wired via Ethernet, else you'll pay a hefty throughput penalty.
 
Yeah, I am not sure what exactly Eero offers that sets them apart from most other WiFi access point makers out there. I suppose group setup is nice, but many other WiFi vendors (Meraki, Cirrus) have been offering this for years. All I see here is a pretty design and a nice website.

Personally, I'd wait until they ship and their product gets reviewed before investing in their kickstarter like campaign.
 
tennisproha said:
What do you guys think?
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Looks awesome to me. But way too much money for most households... US$500 list price for a home router setup? I guess if I had a super large house, it would be totally worth it, but if I had a super large house, $500 wouldn't be a big deal either.
 
ixxx69 said:
Looks awesome to me. But way too much money for most households... US$500 list price for a home router setup?
Click to expand...
Still available at $299 for the next 18 minutes!

I don't think $299 is excessive, assuming they work. It's all about Apple-esque ease of use simplicity, which is great until something goes wrong.

$499 is stretching it a bit, however pretty they are. Technical specs are rather vague too, which I guess is to be expected for a non-existent product.
 
I think it's vaporware until it's shipping and working in somebody's house or business. It reads like a nifty gadget, but I'll let ya'll go first - to me it's like matter transportation, a nice theory, and we've all seen Star Trek but there's no working model yet...

No offense intended. I've been writing specs for bridges and buildings for 25 years, and I can whip up a diagram and impressive technical specs for just about anything in 60 minutes.

"Pre-order" breaks-down to "let me take your cash now". With Amazon Vine and so many tech blogs out there, IMO any company should be sending early units to those reviewers before asking for any coin from suckers, er, um, early adopters.
 
I'd wait on it.

A mesh network vs say extenders has some advantages, but usually those aren't all that important in one's house. But I'm gonna guess that they are using mesh mostly because they want an easy to set up system, which that can do. Their tech is apparently making use of dual radios to overcome some of the problems inherent in rebroadcasting wifi, which is cool. And using bluetooth to configure is also a nice touch.

But "ease of use" depends on the interface. I'd be a lot more comfortable with this if I saw that. Apple has proprietary software you must use to work on their network equipment, and it is pretty plug and play...until it isn't. Then those features become a hindrance, not a help. And getting a network set up easily to extend a wifi signal can be a pain, so this solution might make that way easier. But there are also issues with firewalls, getting it to work with your broadband supplier, DLNS, NAS, NAT routing, and on and on. I wouldn't get any network equipment these days without previewing that interface to make sure I can use it effectively.

And I don't see any antennas. That always says to me they are willing to compromise radio performance for looks. Meh.
 
If they are purely relying on wireless mesh - this product is DOA. Using wifi to rebroadcast wifi is never a good idea.

Also their physical design is suspect. There is a reason majority of 802.11ae AP are larger in size and/or have external antennaeas. These guys are going for pretty looks at an expense of range and reception, which is silly.

Chances are many uniformed people will buy their stuff sight unseen , simply based on pretty website and colorful pictures. I won't be one of those people.
 
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ixxx69 said:
Looks awesome to me. But way too much money for most households... US$500 list price for a home router setup?
Click to expand...
That's exactly what I was thinking. Its quite ridiculous. Granted an AP Extreme and 2 AP Express would cost about $400. But for something marketed as a unified system, it should have an agressive, unified system-esque price. $300 for the trio boxes sounds about right to me.

campyguy said:
"Pre-order" breaks-down to "let me take your cash now". With Amazon Vine and so many tech blogs out there, IMO any company should be sending early units to those reviewers before asking for any coin from suckers, er, um, early adopters.
Click to expand...
lol nice. But a very valid point. Last I heard, they raked in $1 million in preorders in just a few days. But this leads me to believe they needed the additional capital to bring it to production. Otherwise they wouldve sent press review kits and shipped within a month of launch. Especially since they have some Wall Street capital behind them.
 
It seems like a good idea with some clever marketing (sort of that new, clean, urban living marketing everyone seems to be copying these days. is there a name for it?). I've thought of this too but these guys, mainly from Stanford according to bios, got some hefty capital it seems to pursue it.

The problem with wifi today is implementing a network is so cumbersome and requires quite a lot of know how. Netgear, Asus, and the like basically just say: here's a router, you figure it out. Apple is trying to simplify the approach but it hasnt gone far enough IMO, especially the new AP Utility GUI removing massive features and still poor direction.

There just isnt a thorough guide that educates any layman through setting up a home network. Modem to router are simple. But then how to set up the NAS, backups, network CPU's, media server etc... You have to research all this on threads and articles all over for the most part. I feel like they are maybe sort of targeting that appeal.
 
Looks like they just copied everything they could from the Airport line. Even the design is just a cross between two Airport models.
 
LiveM said:
Looks like they just copied everything they could from the Airport line. Even the design is just a cross between two Airport models.
Click to expand...
I'm not agreeing with you, now that the units are out and some of the reviews are pouring in. The product's name is an homage to Eero Saarinen, an architect who loved the use of white and other unfinished surfaces, art deco or sweeping curves, and simplicity of design... I like its design, and that of Apple's over the "spiders-from-hell" design other manufacturers are choosing to emulate.

Personal opinions about design aside, the mesh tech of the product's sharing of resources seems pretty cool when compared to what we can buy today - it's not at all like the mesh sharing that anyone else is using AFAIK...
 
While I'm not familiar with this product in particular, there's been an awful lot of "reinventing the wheel" (so to speak) as of late, where people take old / existing ideas / technologies, add a touch of makeup, a whole lot of marketing in conjunction with consumer ignorance, to present it as something new and innovative. I'd make sure it doesn't fall under such a category before plunking down the cash.
 
I've been researching. I have a lot of dead spot in my home. I have a modem and two Apple airport. Driving me crazy no matter what I do the speed won't pick up. I've upgraded the speed to see if that will help and it didn't. I'm tempted to get the Eero after reading the reviews.
 
Just a day or so ago the Wall St. Journal posted a user review of this device which is probably fairly detailed. No doubt worth reading for anyone considering a purchase.

Unfortunately, when I tried to look at it they demanded a paid subscription instead of the free access I have been used to. Don't know if this is just because I exceeded my monthly limit of articles or if they have gone to an all pay business model. Frustrating, as I wanted to read this.

You would find it at WSJ.com/technology
[doublepost=1456495772][/doublepost]Also a new review by Walt Mossberg recently posted at Recode.net. It seems mostly positive other than cost:
http://recode.net/2016/02/23/mossberg-eero-makes-wi-fi-simpler-and-stronger/
 
Came across Luma - http://getluma.com - seems to be along the lines of Eero, but starting at $249/3 devices. Got some good backers, hope they deliver as promised. I just preordered since I have dead spots in my home (I've got a new 2TB TC (802.11AC) + 1 old 1TB TC (802.11n)). Any one else checking Luma out??
 
Tomorrow said:
How big is everyone's house that a single router doesn't serve the whole house??? (Serious question)
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Could be a 1 bed flat and still have wifi issues be it the building is made out of reinforced concrete or from wifi clutter. Multi hotspot setups or even smart routers can solve that issue but it will forever exist.
 
Tomorrow said:
How big is everyone's house that a single router doesn't serve the whole house??? (Serious question)
Click to expand...

It's not just size. Thick walls, nooks and crannies at the peripheries, shape (long and thin in my house), walls filled with electrics, and the router being in the wrong place all contribute to poor wifi in my house. And you need a decent, consistent connection to stream.
[doublepost=1458237538][/doublepost]
Weaselboy said:
Smallnetbuilder has a review up.
Click to expand...

That's the first comprehensive review I've seen. And they beautifully phrase why I like this solution - I'm a networking novice and want a "just works" solution. I'm glad they give it he thumbs up.
 
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Im getting ready to move into a larger house and am considering getting these to replace a 5th generation Airport Extreme and 2nd generation airport express. From what Ive read over the past couple of weeks is you can have them link wirelessly to create a roaming network or if you have the ability connect them together over ethernet to reduce the overhead. I think the idea is brilliant but they are a bit overpriced. I might wait until they drop in price a little. The only issue other than price is that they are 2x2 MIMO and not 3x3 like the Airports (except the Express). This isn't really a big issue but still noteworthy.
 
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