techrules

The Google WiFi supports 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz for connecting and will sense which is optimal and use accordingly. There are nice iPad and iPhone apps you can see who is connecting and what channel and I oftentimes see a mixture of 2.4 mhz and 5.8 mhz connections.    Just open the app and click devices which is the bottom of the screen and then each device you can select and see if 5 ghz or 2.4 ghz or wired.    Ours mostly uses 5 ghz connections for devices and I really do not see any connected on 2.4 ghz.   But going through devices right now the Nest thermostats connect 2.4 ghz and seems most of our home automation stuff does but ipads and iphones are all 5 ghz.   We use wired for things that can be wired.    Since we have so much home automation stuff that is using 2.4 ghz might be why our devices all use 5 ghz.  BTW, we also have a lot of devices so early morning here and 51 devices.

When word came late last year of Apple ending AirPort support we replaced our AirPort Extremes with the Google WiFI and been really happy we did. The last Airport update was 7.7.8 which came out late last year and nothing since. So we are coming up on a year without any updates and that is never a good thing.    Would be replacing any AirPort hardware with something.

Been really happy with the Google WiFi. The app makes all your pucks look like one and you can manage your network like it is one thing.

I have a networking engineering background, stack development specifically, and can not do what the Google WiFi (GW) is doing. The reason is has network intelligence built in that I have learned over the years but the GW is able to apply dynamically or on the fly which I can not do. I have a huge family as in 8 kids and our house is the house to play. We also have a 100 mbps Internet connections. I use to segment our network which did cause issues with some things that wanted a flat network. But I did this to isolate traffic. I did this with static configuration of routes.

The Google WiFi is monitoring the network and optimizing by segmenting traffic dynamically and on the fly. While also making the network look flat and like one network even though it has multiple access points. This is all transparent to the user.

It is like having your cake and being able to eat it to. Then the cherry on top is the app to manage.

Probably my favorite thing is able to use IFTTT to get alerts for people in my house. So I can lay in bed and get an alert when kids get home. Plus I can check if kids brought extras with them. So one night saw an girlfriend device extra passed curfew in our basement. Now do not tell them how I knew. Big fan of the Google WiFi and highly recommend. Had not had any issues. BTW, iPad makes a great device for monitoring the network. Google has an iPad map that works really well.

The big weakness for Apple is AI/ML compared to Google.   This is the area that Apple really needs to get a lot more serious and get going.   Look at the new Google Photos feature where you take a photo of your kid at bat with a chain link fence between you and your kid and Google just magically removes.    It is truly incredible.

The biggest area that Apple will need to figure out is Siri and a smart speaker.   Google keeps adding features and now you have the user identified on the fly.    So I ask for my music and get my music and if wife asked she gets hers without doing anything special or needing to manually switch accounts.

Is anyone else able to do this besides Google?   

People will continue to buy their iPhones and there is ZERO doubt that is changing any time soon.  It is about growing more than anything else.   Apple over 2 years ago had $2.33 EPS and just reported $2.10 EPS while Google grew earnings 29%.   Apple needs to get into new areas and find some growth and it seems Google are taking some of those opportunities.

My kids school use to be all Macs.   There was a room filled with iMacs used for the current AR.   Did drive me a little crazy the kids fighting over colors.   All gone and replaced with a room filed with Chromebases.

But it is not only the elementary but the middle and high school the same way.   They teach AP CS 1 and CS 2 using Chromebooks and Crouton.   AP classes are all taught in Java now.

Apple MUST get a solution with a keyboard that is somewhere between an iPad and a Mac.    These kids are being trained 6 or 7 hours a day on the Google eccosystem.   Basically the state is paying for their training.   This is something Apple needs to get serious about.   

What is kind of amazing is Cooks' own high school recently created headlines when they replaced all the Macs in the school with Chromebooks.   Cook response was a shot at Chromebooks and lack of creativity.