Re:Apple Abandons Development of Wireless Routers
by vetinari on Monday November 21, 2016 @10:48AM
(#13006237)
> WiFi speeds exceeded the average home internet connection somewhere around a decade ago
Depends where you live. There are ISPs that will get you 250 Mbit downstream via FTTH, but their WiFi supports only 802.11n over 2.4 GHz only. When your neighbors get similar setup, you will not get over WiFi anything that approaches your Internet speed.
Re:Apple Abandons Development of Wireless Routers
by acdha on Monday November 21, 2016 @11:17AM
(#13006515)
Definitely - my point was simply that the annual FCC broadband reports don't show the average U.S. connection anywhere near that speed.
Re:Apple Abandons Development of Wireless Routers
by SyneRyder on Monday November 21, 2016 @10:51AM
(#13006257)
ISPs failing to provide security updates is a specific reason I'm worried about this, I felt Apple was more likely to care about security than ISPs. There's an Australian ISP that issued exactly one firmware patch for the router they sold, and hasn't updated it in over 2 years. Not even post-Mirai....
Re:Apple Abandons Development of Wireless Routers
by jdalgetty on Monday November 21, 2016 @11:00AM
(#13006367)
I kept getting notices from my ISP that I was downloading HBO torrents. Turns out my ISP supplied router was compromised. So much for regular security updates!
Re:Apple Abandons Development of Wireless Routers
by Bud on Monday November 21, 2016 @11:40AM
(#13006714)
ISPs are emphatically NOT "significantly more likely to install security updates" than Apple is. That's hilariously wrong.
Re:Apple Abandons Development of Wireless Routers
by acdha on Monday November 21, 2016 @12:18PM
(#13007038)
That's not what I said: they're more likely to install updates than the average user. It doesn't matter if Apple releases an update if the user just ignores it, and the support lifetime for these devices tends to be years shorter than the interval where most people will pay for a new device.
Re:Apple Abandons Development of Wireless Routers
by closeparen on Tuesday November 22, 2016 @01:45AM
(#13012150)
My go-to fix for crappy wireless for friends and family is to plug a $50 BestBuy access point into the piece of shit Comcast ships. Night and day.
People think they need repeaters, cable installation, all kind of expensive and worrying projects... nope, just use a real wireless router instead of the Comcast box.
I think this is the key part: thinking about my friends and family, over the last few years everyone has switched to using the box which came from their ISP except for a few IT people and gamers.
This is generally a good thing since the ISPs are significantly more likely to install security updates, and WiFi speeds exceeded the average home internet connection somewhere around a decade ago so the benefits to buying your own are fairly limited for most people.