Each router can cover an area of 1,500 square feet. You can buy them individually or in a pack of three for $279.99 to cover a large house. They can also act as a hub to control your smart home appliances.
Samsung wants to upgrade your home’s Wi-Fi coverage. On Monday, the company launched a new Wi-Fi mesh networking product that promises to blanket your house with fast broadband connectivity.
The new routers are part of Samsung’s SmartThings line and can be installed across a large home to form a wireless network that’ll eliminate any Wi-Fi dead spots.
Each router can cover an area of 1,500 square feet. You can buy them individually or in a pack of three for $279.99. That’s not exactly cheap, but it’s a significant discount from the company’s last attempt to break into the Wi-Fi mesh networking segment with last year’s Samsung Connect Home system that originally retailed for $379.
In addition to the lower price, the new Samsung routers use signal optimizing technology from Plume, a maker of Wi-Fi mesh systems. Plume’s tech is designed to intelligently determine the internet needs of each device on the network, and then allocate the optimal band and frequency to deliver the best connection speeds.
“Parents working from laptops can download files while kids stream TV, and gamers experience speed and reliability even when others are on the network,” Samsung said. “Users can also set parental controls to manage screen time and set-up special logins and passwords for guests.”
On top of all this, each Wi-Fi router can also act as a hub to control other smart home appliances on the network, including products built through Samsung’s SmartThings ecosystem. “Compatible with hundreds of third-party devices and services, SmartThings enables users to expand their smart home with lights, door locks, cameras, voice assistants, thermostats and more,” the Korean electronics maker said.
Samsung lets you control the routers remotely over an app available for both iOS and Android. Once installed, the app can give you detailed stats on your home’s Wi-Fi connection and the ability to control other smart home devices connected to the network.
The routers themselves offer speeds of up to 866 Mbps on the 5GHz band and up to 400 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band. They also support Bluetooth 4.1, Zigbee and Z-Wave wireless communication protocols, which are often used by smart home products.
PCMag previously gave an “Excellent” rating to Samsung’s last generation Wi-Fi mesh router, the Samsung Connect Home. However, we’ve also rated other mesh networking systems with higher marks. You can find a list here.
If you’re happy with your Wi-Fi router, but want a unified system to manage your smart home devices, Samsung has a solution for you. On the same day, the company launched a new standalone version of its SmartThings hub, which can wirelessly connect to your Wi-Fi network. It’s designed to let you remotely control all your smart home devices through a single app. The hub will retail for $69.99.
FlashIT 