Google Home and Chromecast and thoughts on the current state of smart devices
A long title, I know. Anyway, this whole adventure started several months ago when I bought a Chromecast. We haven't had cable in this house for something like 4 years. The Xbox One is a good media device, but Android and Apple have a broader ecosystem of media. Especially up here in Canada where many services like Hulu+ aren't available. I also hate Apple products with a passion. So, Google products is where I naturally landed. Especially after Microsoft lost it's way in mobile.
Anyway... media apps are terrible. On phones and tablets. I mean, they do their job just fine. But I watch TV (... wait for it...) on a TV. And we don't have a smart TV.
So, yeah, this is where the Chromecast enters the picture. We have my phone and an Android tablet we can use to stream to the device.
But, I quickly got fed up. You see, my modem/router was a flaming pile of garbage. It lost connection regularly. The WiFi was often in a state of quasi-functionality. And, for some reason, this meant devices on my network couldn't actually talk to the Chromecast properly 95% of the time, or even at all probably 75% of the time. Even when the router was at least working in it's capacity as a delivery mechanism of sweet, sweet internets.
Who is to blame? Well, probably, by and large, it is correct to blame the router. On a purely technical level. But, at the same time, the internet is working on all of these devices. They are all connected through the same Google Account. And yet they are hopelessly unable to talk to each other.
Last week the internet crashed YET again in my house. So I went out and bought a 3 pack of Google WiFi (will talk more in general on that in moment). Due to my FUBAR'd router I couldn't get it configured until I went out and got a new modem from my ISP. My router... which technically doesn't need an active internet connection to be a router would not even configure without a proper internet connection.
Now that everything is fixed however, everything has been happy with 100% up time for over a week. But, all of this leaves me questioning the state of the smart home and smart devices. These devices have no redundancy in fairly critical areas. If UPnP isn't working properly on my network, I can't cast to my Chromecast at all. Not even from a Nexus 6P on the same Google Account. Both devices ARE internet connected. Heck, they are even both clearly coming from the same IP. And I am the own of both devices. Personally, I think a smart device would allow for the owner of the device to control it remotely, accepting that there might be a short delay. Or, Bluetooth, which I know the device is equipped with could serve as a back up communication protocol.
My router cannot be configured as a router without internet access? Another mind boggling thing. I get it, perhaps settings are stored in the cloud. But, it has to cache them locally at the very least. And more than likely, the critical functionality all happens on the device. It doesn't matter how good the router is if it cannot be configured to work.
At this point, getting devices to talk to one another reliably requires "exotic" hardware. And requires that it is perfect working order. This might sound like a dumb statement. But, the sales pitch is that I can cast to my Chromecast as long as it is on the network and from just about any device type. But, in practice, if there is a minor glitch in the system, you can end up in a state where either nothing works, or only 1st party devices work. I add that last bit because with the old modem, when it started flaking out, my Android tablet and phone could generally connect, at least initially to the Chromecast, enough to get something started. But, my Windows devices were SoL.
Right now I feel like I'm ready for home automation. But, the lynchpin of that feeling is a router that cost almost $500 after taxes combined with a steady shift towards Google's ecosystem for everything outside of daily computing. And this isn't an article taking a stab at Google. In fact, from an ecosystem perspective I think they are probably leading right now. The point is that, even the best solution still isn't ideal or perfect.
Now, I promised a quick run down of Google WiFi. I'm loving it. Why I went with this purchase? A few things.
Firstly, even when my modem/router was working after a fresh reboot, it didn't handle network traffic very well. At the end of the day, there is only so much a single node can do. And a stand alone unit isn't extensible. Right now I have NO home automation and we have 10+ devices connected to the network in perpetuity while we're home. For this reason I knew I was going to get a mesh routing solution. Throughput on a single device may be slower than a single unit or even some competitors. But, most days, most web sites can't deliver the full bandwidth from my ISP. I was bottlenecked by my own network first, the 3rd party networks second and my ISP 3rd.
Next was ecosystem. The last thing I wanted was to buy any mesh routing system and find it needed to be rebooted regularly to work with my devices. Even the "cheaper" mesh solutions aren't cheap. My expectation with Google WiFi was that it would continue to work with reboots being either not required or hugely infrequent. So far I haven't had to reboot once. So, it has worked for me there.
Third would probably be most peoples first or second; range. Current house isn't huge, and we live primarily on one floor. But the construction is old and we are moving to a larger house shortly. So, even in my meagre sized house, my bedroom got terrible reception. The porch was 50/50 or worse and the garage and back yard were effectively zero coverage. I listen to music, check emails, etc... I want an internet connection EVERYWHERE. Google WiFi allows me to do this, and should even enable it in my new house. But, should it not... I can always buy more nodes.
There is also much to say about the setup experience, the way it just works with the most appropriate bands for your devices, intelligently changes channels throughout the day based on performance and based on past data about the environment. The hand off between nodes is imperceptible unless you're staring at the signal strength and watch it jump back up shortly after getting closer to a different node.
I think a solution like this is pretty much mandatory for a smart home. And I think I will dabble more in that in the new house. Having multiple mesh routers, each dedicated to just being a router in an extensible system ensures you're better able to get the most out of your network at any given time. I have 12 devices online right now and I can easily see that doubling or tripling with smart lights, locks, hub, thermostat, etc... the last thing I want is a router so ineffective that the home network is brought to it's knees by smart devices talking to each other.
So, there you have it. I think smart devices are still a ways from feeling smart and even further from actually being it. But Google WiFi is pretty awesome :).
Anyway... media apps are terrible. On phones and tablets. I mean, they do their job just fine. But I watch TV (... wait for it...) on a TV. And we don't have a smart TV.
So, yeah, this is where the Chromecast enters the picture. We have my phone and an Android tablet we can use to stream to the device.
But, I quickly got fed up. You see, my modem/router was a flaming pile of garbage. It lost connection regularly. The WiFi was often in a state of quasi-functionality. And, for some reason, this meant devices on my network couldn't actually talk to the Chromecast properly 95% of the time, or even at all probably 75% of the time. Even when the router was at least working in it's capacity as a delivery mechanism of sweet, sweet internets.
Who is to blame? Well, probably, by and large, it is correct to blame the router. On a purely technical level. But, at the same time, the internet is working on all of these devices. They are all connected through the same Google Account. And yet they are hopelessly unable to talk to each other.
Last week the internet crashed YET again in my house. So I went out and bought a 3 pack of Google WiFi (will talk more in general on that in moment). Due to my FUBAR'd router I couldn't get it configured until I went out and got a new modem from my ISP. My router... which technically doesn't need an active internet connection to be a router would not even configure without a proper internet connection.
Now that everything is fixed however, everything has been happy with 100% up time for over a week. But, all of this leaves me questioning the state of the smart home and smart devices. These devices have no redundancy in fairly critical areas. If UPnP isn't working properly on my network, I can't cast to my Chromecast at all. Not even from a Nexus 6P on the same Google Account. Both devices ARE internet connected. Heck, they are even both clearly coming from the same IP. And I am the own of both devices. Personally, I think a smart device would allow for the owner of the device to control it remotely, accepting that there might be a short delay. Or, Bluetooth, which I know the device is equipped with could serve as a back up communication protocol.
My router cannot be configured as a router without internet access? Another mind boggling thing. I get it, perhaps settings are stored in the cloud. But, it has to cache them locally at the very least. And more than likely, the critical functionality all happens on the device. It doesn't matter how good the router is if it cannot be configured to work.
At this point, getting devices to talk to one another reliably requires "exotic" hardware. And requires that it is perfect working order. This might sound like a dumb statement. But, the sales pitch is that I can cast to my Chromecast as long as it is on the network and from just about any device type. But, in practice, if there is a minor glitch in the system, you can end up in a state where either nothing works, or only 1st party devices work. I add that last bit because with the old modem, when it started flaking out, my Android tablet and phone could generally connect, at least initially to the Chromecast, enough to get something started. But, my Windows devices were SoL.
Right now I feel like I'm ready for home automation. But, the lynchpin of that feeling is a router that cost almost $500 after taxes combined with a steady shift towards Google's ecosystem for everything outside of daily computing. And this isn't an article taking a stab at Google. In fact, from an ecosystem perspective I think they are probably leading right now. The point is that, even the best solution still isn't ideal or perfect.
Now, I promised a quick run down of Google WiFi. I'm loving it. Why I went with this purchase? A few things.
Firstly, even when my modem/router was working after a fresh reboot, it didn't handle network traffic very well. At the end of the day, there is only so much a single node can do. And a stand alone unit isn't extensible. Right now I have NO home automation and we have 10+ devices connected to the network in perpetuity while we're home. For this reason I knew I was going to get a mesh routing solution. Throughput on a single device may be slower than a single unit or even some competitors. But, most days, most web sites can't deliver the full bandwidth from my ISP. I was bottlenecked by my own network first, the 3rd party networks second and my ISP 3rd.
Next was ecosystem. The last thing I wanted was to buy any mesh routing system and find it needed to be rebooted regularly to work with my devices. Even the "cheaper" mesh solutions aren't cheap. My expectation with Google WiFi was that it would continue to work with reboots being either not required or hugely infrequent. So far I haven't had to reboot once. So, it has worked for me there.
Third would probably be most peoples first or second; range. Current house isn't huge, and we live primarily on one floor. But the construction is old and we are moving to a larger house shortly. So, even in my meagre sized house, my bedroom got terrible reception. The porch was 50/50 or worse and the garage and back yard were effectively zero coverage. I listen to music, check emails, etc... I want an internet connection EVERYWHERE. Google WiFi allows me to do this, and should even enable it in my new house. But, should it not... I can always buy more nodes.
There is also much to say about the setup experience, the way it just works with the most appropriate bands for your devices, intelligently changes channels throughout the day based on performance and based on past data about the environment. The hand off between nodes is imperceptible unless you're staring at the signal strength and watch it jump back up shortly after getting closer to a different node.
I think a solution like this is pretty much mandatory for a smart home. And I think I will dabble more in that in the new house. Having multiple mesh routers, each dedicated to just being a router in an extensible system ensures you're better able to get the most out of your network at any given time. I have 12 devices online right now and I can easily see that doubling or tripling with smart lights, locks, hub, thermostat, etc... the last thing I want is a router so ineffective that the home network is brought to it's knees by smart devices talking to each other.
So, there you have it. I think smart devices are still a ways from feeling smart and even further from actually being it. But Google WiFi is pretty awesome :).
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