Items tagged with Router
You might have really fast Internet service, but if your wireless router stinks, you will still be hampered by subpar performance, at least for your wireless devices. Unfortunately for Google Fiber subscribers, using their own Wi-Fi router was not an option...until now. So, if you are a Google Fiber customer and want better wireless range than what the provided box offers, you can now have it. Not that Google's own equipment stinks. Still, for Google Fiber customers who are stuck with the company's older "Google Fiber Network Box," they may find that their wireless signals are not all that great in certain spots. Likewise, they are unable to take advantage of the benefits of the more recent Wi-Fi...
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If you're reading this article from home, it’s likely that you're connected to a consumer-grade Wi-Fi router, either wirelessly or via hard wired Ethernet. And if that's the case, you should probably take this time to upgrade your router's firmware ASAP. That is if an update is even available from the manufacturer. We say this because the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication (FKIE) in Germany recently performed test of 127 home routers, to probe them for their resistance to security threats. Of the routers the researchers tested, 91 percent of them were found to be running some version of embedded Linux, which isn’t surprising. What was surprising, however, was that the researchers...
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ASUS has unveiled a new mesh Wi-Fi system that promises to deliver wireless connectivity everywhere, securely. The product is called the ZenWifi AX Mini (XD4) and can be purchased in a package of three with coverage for up to 4800 square feet and more than five rooms. A smaller system promising to cover up to 3300 square feet and four or more rooms is also available as a two-pack. Both systems support true 8K streaming and Wi-Fi 6, with data throughput of 1800 Mbps. ASUS says that 1800 Mbps is up to 1.4x faster than Wi-Fi 5 routers. One caveat is that a compatible Wi-Fi 6 device is required to achieve those speeds, meaning devices that don't natively support Wi-Fi 6 won't get the full speed the...
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Researchers at Bitdefender announced the discovery of a new attack that is targeting home routers. In the attack, the DNS settings in the router are changed to redirect the victim to a website that delivers the Oski infostealer malware as the final payload. The most interesting aspect of the malware is that it stores the malicious payload using Bitbucket, which is a popular web-based control repository hosting service. The sneaky malware takes steps to avoid alerting the victim that their router has been compromised, including abusing TinyURL to hide the link to the Bitbucket payload. The page that users are redirected to talks about the coronavirus pandemic and offers a download to give users...
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Anyone in the market for a next-generation Wi-Fi router, but looking for something that won't break the bank, needs to check out a deal going on at Walmart right now for the ever-speedy Netgear Nighthawk AX4 Wi-Fi 6 router. Typically, the router sells for $199, but Walmart has a special deal going on right now that makes the router $100 off. The Netgear Nighthawk AX4 four-stream AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 router (RAX35-100NAS) is currently on sale at Walmart for $99. Walmart is also offering free delivery with arrival by March 23, and if a nearby Walmart retail store has the router in stock, you can buy it online and pick it up in the store. The router is also sold and shipped by Walmart, not some potentially...
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If you have any funds left after stocking up on discounted games from Steam's Lunar New Year sale, you can put them towards some hardware upgrades and watch that savings meter rise. There are two bargains in particular that have caught our eye—one is for the popular Blue Yeti microphone, and the other is an Eero mesh wireless router upgrade. Starting with the former, you can snag a factory reconditioned Blue Yeti microphone for $63.99 on Woot right now. Woot, which is owned by Amazon, describes factory reconditioned products as those that have been "returned, inspected, and restored to fully working condition by the original manufacturer or a certified partner," adding "it's as close to...
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TP-Link has announced the launch of new WiFi 6 routers that it calls "highly affordable,” which include the Archer AX3000 and Archer AX1500. Both of them support 802.11ax wireless connectivity, which is WiFi 6. The Archer AX3000 has an Intel chipset and supports dual-band speeds of up to 3 Gbps, which is up to three times faster than the previous generation WiFi 5 connectivity. The router supports 1024-QAM and 160 MHz channels for faster data transfer. The router promises plenty of bandwidth for 4K and HD video streams. The AX3000 sells for $129.99 and will land in Walmart next week. Features include: Wi-Fi 6 powered by Intel Dual Core Processor 4 Stream AX3000 WiFi 2402 Mbps on 5 GHz and...
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Home networking has not traditionally been a sexy affair, though more recently, router makers have released spiffy looking models with easy setup routines and whole home coverage. Keeping the modern vibe going, Netgear on Friday announced the release of its Orbi WiFi 6 Mesh System, which is a fancy way of saying it's a bundle of two Wi-Fi 6 wireless routers for broad coverage. Sleek and relatively attractive (as far as routers go), the Orbi WiFi 6 models utilize mesh networking to offer wireless coverage for large homes, up to 5,000 square feet. While they look identical, one of the units is the main router, and the other is a satellite that you would place in a separate location. The advantage...
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We are no longer on the cusp of Wi-Fi 6 (otherwise known as 802.11ax) connectivity -- it has arrived -- just not in earnest yet. It will take some time before the Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) standard is truly shoved aside in favor of the new kid on the block, the one that is faster and more adept at juggling multiple wireless devices simultaneously. Nevertheless, early adopters who want to live on the bleeding edge have options. One of them is the beastly ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 we will be showing you here. As you might have surmised from the ROG branding, the GT-AX11000 is geared towards power users and gamers. That is also evident by the physical design, which we will discuss in a bit. In terms...
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There is a fledgling wireless standard that effectively renders the vast majority of home networks out of date -- don't panic though, your stuff isn't necessarily obsolete. It is called Wi-Fi 6, if using the simplified nomenclature that the Wi-Fi Alliance introduced last year, or 802.11ax if you want to stick with the more technical (and potentially confusing for the average consumer) description. Either way, what we have is a bleeding-edge standard that router makers are just now starting to adopt, one that is better equipped to handle the growing number of wireless devices that are commonly found in our homes (PCs and laptops, smartphones, tablets, game consoles, smart speakers, and so forth)....
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Belkin has announced a barrage of connected products at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), not the least of which is its new Linksys MR8300 mesh Wi-Fi router. Before we get to the actual router, though, let's talk a bit about the Belkin and Linksys brands, and where things currently stand (it can be a little confusing). Linksys started off as its own company way back in 1988 (first as DEW International, then later renamed Linksys), founded by Victor and Janie Tsao, a couple that had immigrated to the United States. The company built a reputation for itself, and in particular its WRT54G was a popular router model among home users. Networking stalwart Cisco acquired LInksys in 2003 and held onto...
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ASUS is on hand at CES 2019, and it has unveiled a slew of new gaming gear that runs the gamut from keyboards to all-in-one CPU coolers, GeForce RTX 2060 graphics cards, and routers. ASUS has three new GeForce RTX 2060 graphics cards including the ROG Strix RTX 2060, ASUS Dual RTX 2060, and Turbo RTX 2060. The Strix RTX 2060 has Aura Sync RGB lighting with "almost limitless color customization" and is aimed "showpiece builds" according to ASUS. It has three patented Wing-blade fans for increased cooling efficiency and better overclocking. The card also features a unique metal brace to reduce tension on the PCB and FanConenct II headers to allow hybrid fan control. ASUS' Dual RTX 2060 is...
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Netgear is rolling out a new WiFi router that aims directly at users who have lots of devices in their homes. The router is called the Nighthawk AX8, and the device is an 8-stream (4x4+4x4) AX6000 WiFi router featuring a quad-core 1.8GHz processor inside. Netgear boasts that the router supports 160MHz Gigabit WiFi for mobile devices and has 2Gbps wired connectivity for local devices, with six Gigabit ports on the router. Dual USB 3.0 ports allow connectivity of storage drives for network storage inside the home or office. Netgear rolls in support for OFDMA (orthogonal frequency-division multiple access), which is a method of spreading signals over a given spectrum band that helps to ensure each...
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Razer is mostly known for making slick gaming laptops, mice and keyboards, but over the last couple of years the company has branched out greatly. The Razer Phone was recently announced and a second-gen gaming smartphone was teased during an investor conference not long ago. Now it appears that Razer has another new gaming product on the horizon: the Sila high-performance WiFi router. Sila is aimed directly at gamers wanting WiFi coverage that is optimized for high-performance gaming, streaming content, and multimedia content. The router is optimized to prevent lag when gaming on consoles, desktops, mobile devices, and laptops. Razer installs its own FasTrack software on the Sila router and uses...
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There is a new smart speaker in town. Huawei just unveiled its AI Cube, a smart speaker and 4G router with Amazon's Alexa onboard. The AI Cube is meant to provide “seamless connectivity” in smart homes. But don’t let the name fool you -- the Huawei AI Cube is a cylinder, not an actual cube. Its diameter measures 116mm, its height is 218mm, and the device weighs roughly 900 grams. Its measurements and design are similar to the Amazon Echo Plus. Image courtesy Android Central The Huawei AI Cube features 4 microphones, a 15-watt Mono Speaker, and Far Field Voice Recognition. Like other smart speakers on the market, users will be able to play music, control other smart devices...
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TP-Link has been making mesh routers in the Deco range for a while now that are designed to give you WiFi access all around a home or office. Last year, the company launched the Deco M5 mesh router and now the company has announced the new Deco M9 Plus. This mesh router is notable because in addition to offering WiFi coverage, it also has an integrated smart home hub for IoT devices. The M9 Plus supports AC2200 speeds and tri-band WiFi with dedicated 5GHz backhaul for faster speeds and dependable connectivity for over 100 devices across the entire home. The router uses TP-Link Mesh technology to eliminate dead spots in the home or office with a single Deco M9 Plus kit with a pair of the access...
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Rivet Networks, the folks behind the Killer networking products, has announced a new feature for its Wi-Fi chips already inside desktop and notebook computers. The tech is called Killer Wireless xTend and will be offered in desktop and laptop systems from MSI, Dell, Acer, Clevo, and Zotac. The xTend tech creates a mesh network by taking advantage of an available Killer Wireless-AC 1550 WiFi module inside notebooks and desktops. xTend allows the WiFi module to seamlessly clone and extend a home network, essentially turning all your computers with the Killer Wireless-AC 1550 hardware inside into range extenders, expanding the range of the network all around the home or office. The mesh network...
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It's not often that the US Justice Department or FBI pleads with the public to do something, so when this happens, it's worth paying attention. This past week, the agency managed to thwart a botnet called VPNFilter by deactivating a domain that would have sent further instructions to routers belonging to ordinary folk like you and me. A problem still remains, though, and it's the one the these agencies want help with. Even though the malicious domain was killed off, thousands of home routers remain infected with the malware that made them susceptible to that kind of attack to begin with. Because the bug is severe enough, router vendors have been issuing firmware updates to remedy the...
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Linksys is officially first to market with a wireless router that is part of Microsoft's 'Designed for Xbox' accessory program. The company's new WRT32XB earns that distinction, as Linksys designed the router in partnership with Microsoft to prioritize traffic going to and from the Xbox One S and Xbox One X game systems, with Linksys claiming it can reduce peak ping by up to 65 percent, compared to "non-gaming routers." "Gamers want performance and ways to enhance their game play, so we’ve develop this WRT router with enterprise quality hardware and custom software tools to give gamers what they want and need to beat their opponents," said Vince La Duca, global product manager at Linksys....
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Because there clearly haven't been enough ISP router vulnerabilities popping up this past year, another one helps usher in the new month. This one is being dubbed "SharknAT&To" (because every vulnerability needs a catchy name!), a portmanteau involving the cult classic in-the-making, Sharknado, and leading internet service provider, AT&T. SharknAT&To was outed by security researcher J Hutchins, whose team discovered a handful of vulnerabilities on AT&T's U-verse modems. At this point, it's not clear just how many devices are affected, but if you are a U-verse subscriber and are equipped with an Arris modem, you may want to be on alert. In particular, confirmed affected models...
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When many think about the security of their devices, it's easy to look at the obvious targets: desktops, notebooks, mobile devices, and of course, the software on all of them. In reality, one of the most vulnerable pieces of digital equipment in our homes can be the router - an effective entry point that gives access to all of your connected devices. In a support page update, NETGEAR says that its high-end NightHawk R7000 will begin recording specific information, although it is currently unclear on if the feature can be disabled. On one hand, NETGEAR could be commended for not keeping this under the radar, leaving people to learn of it the hard way, but does the company really need the information...
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In 2013, security research firm DefenseCode revealed a major issue that plagued a large number of wireless routers, and because the number of affected devices was in the millions, the company held off on revealing the specifics. Fast-forward four years to the present day, and those details have finally been revealed. The vulnerability was originally found in a Cisco Linksys router, but it was quickly discovered that the same issue could be found on others - not just other Cisco models, but other vendor models as well. That led the researcher to discover that the issue ultimately related to the Broadcom chipset inside, and in particular, with its uPnP implementation. D-Link's DSL-2740U is one...
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