RamGuy
Senior Member
I do think "most people" require ease of use and performance more than anything else. And Google's approach at trying to bring routers that people would actually place within viewing range is not a terrible bad idea as many people tend to store their wireless routers in places that are less than ideal for signal quality and range.
Compare these two OnHub routers with the likes of the new Asus RT-AC88U and there is no real doubt that no sensible person would place the AC88U within viewing range as it looks hilarious and the only sensible place to put the upcoming RT-AC5200 would be under the sofa or something and then tell your kids it's a huge spider.
I do find Google's goal sensible and smart, it's pretty much the exact same approach as Apple have with their routers and it's nothing wrong with this approach. Even techsavy people I know who have bought routers like the Asus RT-N66U, RT-AC66U and RT-AC68U don't do anything other than boot it up, input a new admin password and set the SSID and password and leave it. They don't touch the web interface, any of it's features nor do they update it's software / firmware unless things starts to behave strangely.
The perfect router for most people is one that don't need configuration at all, but still can provide awesome performance and everything. Apple AirPort Extreme / Time Capsule and these new Google OnHub routers is trying to achieve this and they are getting very close, but they are not quite there yet. The only problem with these routers are their price point, they are simply too expensive for the majority of their correct demographic to end up purchasing them.
EDIT:
Google have made one stupid mistake with the OnHub router and it's setup process. They require you to login with your Google-ID for some inexplicable reason. It serves no purpose and makes the process much more tedious and just like the Apple AirPort Extreme / Time Capsule it seems rather stupid that they do REQUIRE them to be configured through apps, they should have had a web-interface as well. The web-interface does not need to offer any advanced options, but the fact that you can't seem to configure the OnHub from a computer seems rather counter-intuitive even though most people tend to have a smartphone around.
Compare these two OnHub routers with the likes of the new Asus RT-AC88U and there is no real doubt that no sensible person would place the AC88U within viewing range as it looks hilarious and the only sensible place to put the upcoming RT-AC5200 would be under the sofa or something and then tell your kids it's a huge spider.
I do find Google's goal sensible and smart, it's pretty much the exact same approach as Apple have with their routers and it's nothing wrong with this approach. Even techsavy people I know who have bought routers like the Asus RT-N66U, RT-AC66U and RT-AC68U don't do anything other than boot it up, input a new admin password and set the SSID and password and leave it. They don't touch the web interface, any of it's features nor do they update it's software / firmware unless things starts to behave strangely.
The perfect router for most people is one that don't need configuration at all, but still can provide awesome performance and everything. Apple AirPort Extreme / Time Capsule and these new Google OnHub routers is trying to achieve this and they are getting very close, but they are not quite there yet. The only problem with these routers are their price point, they are simply too expensive for the majority of their correct demographic to end up purchasing them.
EDIT:
Google have made one stupid mistake with the OnHub router and it's setup process. They require you to login with your Google-ID for some inexplicable reason. It serves no purpose and makes the process much more tedious and just like the Apple AirPort Extreme / Time Capsule it seems rather stupid that they do REQUIRE them to be configured through apps, they should have had a web-interface as well. The web-interface does not need to offer any advanced options, but the fact that you can't seem to configure the OnHub from a computer seems rather counter-intuitive even though most people tend to have a smartphone around.
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