Tag Archives: product news

New products tailored for how you live online


GFiber started on the premise that symmetrical 1 Gig at an accessible price is a necessity. As the internet has become ever more central to our lives — in how we work and learn, how we buy and sell not just goods but ideas, how we connect with our family, our friends, our communities, and our world — and bandwidth demands have continued to grow, this has proven ever more true. And how we offer internet needs to evolve to meet customers where they are online. Because one thing is always true at GFiber — we’re working to build the internet we all want, and as the internet changes, our products will keep up.  We are looking beyond speed and price to build the products that make sense for our customers.  

That’s why we’re rolling out a new suite of lifestyle-based products. As you may have heard, we’ve been piloting them in Tennessee and Alabama over the past couple of months, and today, we’re launching them in Arizona and North Carolina, with plans to make them available in other locations over the next month.

These new products — Core 1 Gig, Home 3 Gig, and Edge 8 Gig — are great on speed (both up and down), as you would expect from GFiber. But, fast is just the beginning, these products were designed to ensure your home network ubiquitously meets the needs of your household’s unique internet lifestyle.  There’s a product for everyone whether you just need fast and reliable internet for the basics, or internet is the lifeblood of your home with multiple people using many devices and several smart home connections, or you need internet for a no-limit gaming experience.  

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And while we think these products do offer a lot in addition to symmetrical speeds, great service, and good value — including new features based on your product selection, like tailored wired connections where you need internet most, an app that automatically keeps score and helps maximize performance, an advanced router capable of powering your Wi-Fi needs in every corner of your home (with WiFi 6E), battery backup to keep you up and running even when your power is out, and an Uptime Guarantee — we’re just getting started. We’ll continue to deliver new ways to enhance and personalize the internet experience to serve your evolving needs, preferences and lifestyles.  

Our new products are about finding the internet that fits you. Core 1 Gig is a premium product at a price that hasn’t changed since 2012 that makes it easy to set it and forget it. Home 3 Gig is built to meet the needs of today’s typical home, with multiple people working, learning, streaming, and anything else-ing simultaneously (at the same price as our previous 2 Gig plan). And Edge 8 Gig offers advanced tech capabilities at less than 2 cents per Mpbs (the best rate you’ll find on the market). But it’s not about just getting “more,” it’s about getting it right for you.

GFiber will keep working to evolve products and give customers an experience that meets their needs, and anticipates and exceeds their internet dreams. Just as we’ve done since the beginning, we’re working to build the internet we’ve always wanted, no matter what your online life looks like. So the only question is - what’s your lifestyle?

Posted by Liz Hsu, Head of Product


  


GFiber Labs: Exploring the path to 100 Gig

A year ago, GFiber Labs announced 20 Gig + Wi-Fi 7 at Network X in Paris, and just this summer, we went a step further, testing 50 Gig on our network in Kansas City. As 2024 Network X gets underway, we’re excited to continue our work towards 100 Gig with the publication of a white paper with Ciena on Optimizing Passive Optical Networks with Coherent Innovation. I’d like to say a special thank you to the peer reviewers, as always these types of projects are always a true collaboration and exemplify the kind of work we do at GFiber Labs.  


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This paper explores how 100G CPON could potentially future-proof fiber networks with consideration of growing demands for bandwidth and service, discussing the requirements and opportunities to make this technology a reality and to get it widely deployed. GFiber is committed to ensuring that our network anticipates consumer needs and is ready to support increased demand in advance. Understanding and exploring advanced PON technologies is a key piece of delivering on that promise. 


The future of the internet is wildly exciting. GFiber Labs will continue to further the conversation and innovation around what’s next for internet and how we can bring these opportunities to life to make the internet better for everyone. 


Posted by Hani Elmaky, Head of Network Planning & Engineering



Stay connected with mesh extenders

At GFiber, we are committed to providing you with a great internet experience at every point in the network, both outside and inside your home. You should have access to quality internet anywhere in your home, not just in certain areas. Having a strong Wi-Fi signal throughout your home is important for seamless browsing, streaming, gaming, and working. If you’ve ever dealt with dead zones or slow speeds, you know the struggle. Mesh extenders can be a game changer by boosting your signal and expanding your coverage. Let's dive into what they are, how they work, and why you might need one. (For GFiber customers, our plans come with GFiber Wi-Fi 6E Mesh Extenders included at no extra cost.) 

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How Mesh Extenders work

Mesh extenders strengthen your home network by capturing the Wi-Fi signal from your router and sharing it in hard-to-reach spots. They create additional access points in your home, expanding your network’s reach. This is especially helpful when your router’s signal can’t cover every room or area, which can happen for many reasons, like if you have thicker walls, several floors or the home is more spread out.

Setting up your mesh extenders

A mesh extender can be added to your network in just a few simple steps 

  • Connect the mesh extender’s adapter to a power source.
  • Connect the mesh extender to the router using the ethernet cables. 
  • Wait for the blinking white status light to turn green on the mesh extender. (The green status color means the mesh extender is now paired to your router). 
The GFiber App can also help you pair the router and mesh extender, easily find the best spot for your mesh extenders and also check your mesh extender’s internet connectivity, speed, and coverage with the app’s Network Health feature. If eligible (not all routers are compatible) to use Network Health, you can tap on “Show my network’s health” and it will run a test and score the spot either excellent, good, or poor. If the signal isn’t quite as strong as you’d like it to be, you can adjust the extender’s position for optimal coverage.

Placement matters
















Once the mesh extender is connected to the network, you need to find the perfect spot for your mesh extender, which is key to a strong Wi-Fi signal. The sweet spot is usually halfway between your router and the area with poor Wi-Fi coverage. 

Start by placing the first mesh extender no more than one or two rooms away from the router and close to the area with weak coverage, ideally 5-10 feet high and away from obstructions like walls and furniture. Pro Tip: Placing the extender in the dead zone won’t work, since the mesh extender needs a strong signal from the Router to be effective. 

If you have a large home with multiple dead spots, you can add additional mesh extenders. Remember, thick walls and materials like concrete and metal can interfere with the signal, so place your mesh extenders carefully. 

Some additional things to consider 

Each extender adds to the network’s workload. While mesh extenders are generally better than traditional repeaters, too many Mesh Extenders close to each other can actually slow your Wi-Fi down and lead to lag, interference, and other annoying issues. Plus, managing a large number of extenders can be a headache if you need to troubleshoot issues or tweak your network settings.

Also, you’ll need to make sure your mesh extenders are compatible with your router. For GFiber customers using the GFiber provided router, the included mesh extenders will work with your system, but you can also use your own compatible multi-gig router. Just make sure you get mesh extenders that are compatible with your particular router.

Mesh extenders are a great way to expand your home’s Wi-Fi coverage and performance by eliminating dead zones and improving your online experience.  If you’d like more information or still have questions, head over to our GFiber Help page or contact us.

Posted by Ishan Patel, Product Manager




GFiber Labs: Tomorrow’s internet today

When we launched GFiber Labs last fall, we asked some big questions designed to help us meet the audacious goal of figuring out what’s possible for the internet and what tomorrow’s internet experience should be. While we don’t have all the answers, one certainty is that tomorrow’s internet will need to be faster. Which is why GFiber Labs is on a journey to push speeds to 100 Gig and beyond. Delivering 20 Gig symmetrical speeds was the first stop in pursuing that goal, but journeys are made by next steps. And we recently took that step in our hometown of Kansas City.

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For the first time ever, GFiber Labs, using Nokia’s technology, tested 50 Gig on a live network. We put Nokia’s 50G PON technology to the test in one of our KC fiber huts (where we house our network equipment):


GFiber’s philosophy when it comes to our network is that all our customers should have access to the latest technology — whether they’re in the first neighborhood we served in Kansas City or in our newest construction areas in our most recently launched city of Omaha and everywhere in between. That’s why we’ve upgraded our network holistically to XGS-PON wherever possible, enabling 8 Gig speeds and above in all our cities. We are already seeing high interest in our multigig products. And it’s why we’re now working to deploy Nokia 25G PON in all of our markets by the end of the year, so that we can extend access to GFiber Lab’s 20 Gig plan. We already have customers putting this new level of service to the test in North Carolina’s Triangle, and we’re adding new customers to the early access program in select markets. 

So when we start testing new technologies, like 50G PON, you know that it’s more than just an experiment or fun stunt for our engineers to geek out over (although, believe me, we did that too!). GFiber sees a future where the internet must meet the demands of increasing users, devices, and bandwidth hungry applications, including immersive video streaming, virtual and augmented reality experiences, artificial intelligence integration into everyday life, and quantum computing. Multigig is already the new norm. But to meet the challenge of this connected future, we are preparing to further densify our network so when bandwidth needs inevitably multiply, we’ll be ready. We are building a state-of-the-art network and we always want to stay ahead of demand when it comes to our infrastructure. 50G PON has the advantage of co-existing with XGS-PON and 25G PON to make the technology transition easier, which may make it the solution for the future.  

These technologies don’t just mean we can deliver benchmark speeds to the home, they ensure our network is reliable and can meet fluctuations in demand. . .say when a certain hometown team goes to that big game in February, EVERY February. GFiber Labs is working to make sure that customers get the experience they deserve at every point of their service — the fastest speeds to the home, using the latest Wi-Fi technology to take advantage of those speed inside and even outside the home, and making sure all of that is supported by a network that fixes problems before they even occur. 

A customer experience that changes the way we think about internet - that’s what GFiber has always strived to deliver, and as internet needs evolve, we aim to continue to meet that challenge for our customers. Testing 50 Gig brings us one step closer to tomorrow. The journey continues.

Posted by Liz Hsu, Senior Director, Product & Billing

Business at Full Speed in San Antonio

Google Fiber has a lot going on in San Antonio — with the recent launch of 5 Gig and 8 Gig and ongoing construction efforts across the metro area, and today, we’re excited to share another big announcement. GFiber Business is now available to local businesses in the SAT metro area.

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Starting today, businesses in San Antonio can sign up for our Business 1 Gig ($100/month) and Business 2 Gig ($250/month) plans to serve all their internet needs. Both plans come with symmetrical uploads and download speeds, no annual contracts or data caps and include a Wi-Fi 6E router with Guest Wi-Fi capability. Business 2 Gig also includes up to 2 mesh extenders, a 99.9% Service Guarantee, and a static IP address. Business customers can also add phone service.

SMBs run on fast, reliable internet. GFiber understands the integral role that great service plays in allowing businesses to provide great service to their customers. When it comes to that reliability, we’re all business.

Posted by Sasha Petrovic, Southwest Region General Manager





An upgraded network to deliver next generation multi-gig internet service


At GFiber, we are striving to be an internet company for the next generation of Internet users — meeting the challenges of today and building for the demands of tomorrow. This only happens by anticipating what’s coming and being ready for it before it gets here. We’re striving to always be one step ahead, so our customers never have to worry about their internet. From continuing to push multi-gig speeds to the home and in the home to using AI and machine learning across many facets of our business, we’re working to make next gen internet the reality right now. 

A Modern Network Built for Today. . .and Tomorrow
Last month, we rolled out 5 Gig and 8 Gig in San Antonio. While we’ve been making announcements like this regularly over the last 15 months, this isn’t just an empty promise designed to make headlines. This milestone marks a huge step forward for Google Fiber’s entire network and our ability to serve our customers well into the future. With the San Antonio launch, nearly all GFiber customers in single family homes can get our full range of symmetrical multi-gig products. This is a fundamentally different way to deploy a better network. GFiber is upgrading our entire network infrastructure — proactively replacing our GPON network with XGS PON — not picking and choosing specific neighborhoods or streets, to ensure we have a cutting-edge network for today and one that can support our customers’ future internet needs. 


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This also means that no matter the age of the network — whether in our “hometown” of Kansas City or our newest metro of Omaha — GFiber customers are served by the same state-of-the-art network architecture. GFiber is investing in the holistic customer experience to ensure that customers have exactly what they need when it comes to their internet. To do this right, speed to the home, speed in the home, and the quality and reliability of that speed are all equally important. By the end of 2024, we expect almost all our new customers to be on XGS infrastructure, which will set them up for future needs. But we’re not stopping there - we are also deploying Nokia 25G PON technology across our cities to go beyond 8 Gig (more on that later).

Powerful Wi-Fi that Complements our Network
But speed to the home is just the beginning. No matter how much internet is coming into your home, Wi-Fi will dictate the speed reality for the vast majority of customers. GFiber is just as obsessed with speed in the home; that is, speed over Wi-Fi. Over the past year, we’ve retired legacy routers and moved to deploy Wi-Fi 6E to all new customers. We’ve also proactively replaced our legacy network boxes with newer devices and all 1 Gig+ products include mesh extenders — both at no cost to our customers. And by the end of 2024, we’re planning to incorporate new Wi-Fi 7 devices into our offerings as they become readily available. In fact, we’re already using a custom built Wi-Fi 7 solution with our GFiber Labs 20 Gig product.  

These advances make multi-gig speeds over Wi-Fi possible. More importantly, they ensure that customers get the experience they expect and that they can truly use the internet they are paying for. Consumer devices and apps will continue to evolve to be able to harness more and more speed. As GFiber customers upgrade their devices, they will be rewarded with speed boosts because they already have the right network, routers and extenders in their homes.

Quality you can count on - literally
GFiber’s quality of service approach doesn’t stop at the front door. To make sure that we’re delivering on our service promise, we’re continuing to up our game to keep our network strong. We’re obsessed with proactively identifying potential issues, so we’re doing proactive sweeps of our entire network daily and using advanced telemetry technologies to monitor both our network and equipment. Our technicians and support reps also have these same tools.  

We want our customers to have visibility into the quality of their in-home internet experience,  so we’re launching a personalized home network quality score in the next few months. It’s also why we are intensely focused on providing a whole home quality score. This score sums up the robustness of our network for each customer on connectivity, speed, and coverage  — all the way to the GFiber Wi-Fi router and beyond to the mesh extender. It includes the quality of the internet coming into their home and to the router, how well their network is working inside their home, down to whether the extender is positioned ideally in the home to maximize coverage. Through the GFiber App, customers will have more transparency into their network, and have the tools they need to ensure their network is working as intended. 



Preparing for what’s next — GFiber Labs

This is really just the beginning. How we use the internet is only getting more advanced and what we demand of our network today will seem laughable in retrospect. GFiber Labs is aiming to take on this challenge, in partnership with other companies, working to push the internet forward. We announced that we would be deploying Nokia 25G PON to enable us to offer symmetrical 20 Gig in every city by the end of 2024. We’ve begun incremental upgrades from XGS to 25G as part of our GFiber Labs early access to this product. Response was incredible, we had over 4000 people express interest in being one of the first to try out 20 Gig, and we started installs in the Triangle in North Carolina in April.

We’ve already seen some pretty incredible use cases from some of our 20 Gig testers. Austin PBS is using 20 Gig to upload the entire archive of 50 years of Austin City Limits, and in Provo, the United Way of Utah County is putting 20 Gig to work to serve the community and better connect their clients. 

Our goal is to anticipate what’s coming and build the ISP for the next generation of internet customers. What’s at stake? Everything! Our customers, our employees, a better internet, and an innovative online experience that drives progress across the industry for all of us. We are working to be better at every point in the internet delivery process and to help move the entire ecosystem forward with us. This isn’t just the next gen internet we know that our customers deserve, it’s the one they will need. 

Posted by John Keib, Chief Technology & Product Officer



Now, everything’s really up-to-date in Kansas City – 8 Gig available in all GFiber KC service areas


We’re launching 8 Gig in our largest and oldest market — the original Google Fiber metro — Kansas City. The city was recently designated as one of the country’s 31 Tech Hubs by the federal government, a move that recognized both the incredible assets and resources already in the area and the potential for innovation that that infrastructure represents. GFiber is proud to have been part of that growth and development over the past twelve years, helping to drive innovation and testing the limits of speed as our first test site for 20 Gig. 

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KC was also one of the first GFiber cities to get our 5 Gig service. We’ve been steadily rolling out our new multigig products in Google Fiber cities across the country since early last year. To do this, we’re updating our network in each city to XGS PON to ensure that we can meet our customers’ needs as they grow over time. We’re upgrading our network holistically across all our markets. 

Included in the monthly cost, 8 Gig customers get symmetrical upload and download speeds of up to 8000 Mbps (wired), along with the GFiber Wi-Fi 6E Router (which allows for up to 1600 Mbps over Wi-Fi) and up to two Mesh Extenders for strong whole home Wi-Fi coverage and, as always, unlimited data, professional installation, and access to GFiber’s highly rated 24/7 customer service.   

You may be wondering why it’s taken us about a year to bring 8 Gig to Kansas City when it was one of the original cities to get 5 Gig in 2023 while other cities have gotten 8 Gig sooner. KC is our largest market — so supporting 8 Gig speeds across our entire service area required us to touch infrastructure across every part of the Kansas City metro area. This is great news not just for our newest 8 Gig customers, but for all our KC customers (and in other cities too), because it means that GFiber’s network is set up to support rising demand for more speed for years to come.

Kansas City has been on the forefront of internet speed since the very beginning, and it’s still very much on the fast track — sign up for 8 Gig here!

Posted by Nick Saporito, Head of Product




Speed on Business-Trimming with Speed

Our small business blog series Speed on Business relaunches featuring Thomas Powell, owner of Tru Skills Barber Shop, a barber shop/ clothing store (SnSlivelife) in Atlanta, who also owns a convenience store called The Village Bodega. He shared with us how access to fast reliable internet has improved service and impacted customer satisfaction in both of his businesses and helped him build on that success.

At Tru Skills Barber Shop, we pride ourselves in putting smiles on every customer that walks through our doors. I opened the shop in 2017, inspired by the understanding and ideology that everyone should look and also feel the effects of a good haircut in a safe and professional environment.

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We are located in the Buckhead Optimist Lofts in downtown Atlanta- ready to serve customers with the best hair cuts, hairstyles and our urban motivational wear clothing and accessories. 

Our experienced professional barbers/ stylist engage in detailed discussions to understand your hair goals, preferences, and the look you’re aiming for. Then using a combination of skills, top tier products and styling tools create amazing haircuts and hairstyles. Our customers always feel valued and satisfied as their hair is transformed into an art form- at the end of the appointment. 
   

Barber shops historically serve a unique social function for community gathering, conversations and camaraderie in the black community. We showcase and sell our SnSLivelife urban wear products at the shop and host events such as podcast interviews to discuss important topics that benefit the community. The motivational clothing brand was initially curated in 2003 to promote the importance of taking struggles and creating a strong powerful life. The two businesses go hand in hand- creating a one stop shop to look and feel good.


An important factor to achieving all this, is having reliable internet. I switched over to Google Fiber four years ago, as soon service was available in my area- and I have been with them ever since. Prior to switching over to GFiber, I experienced issues with download speed and Wi-Fi latency with the internet service I previously had in the shop.

Now, with GFiber internet, booking appointments has been seamless. Customers can easily schedule their preferred time slots with no delay. Credit card transactions are processed swiftly, making the payment process smoother and more efficient. We often have several customers come in for appointments at the same time, and they can all enjoy uninterrupted streaming of their favorite shows or music on their devices or on our tv monitors during their appointments. 



Having reliable and fast internet has been a game-changer for us. The speed and reliability we’ve experienced have not only enhanced our operational efficiency but have also elevated the overall customer experience. Customers give us great reviews for having a premium grooming and shopping experience from start to finish, and our internet is an integral part of that experience.

So come on out and visit us anytime you are in the Atlanta metro area. In fact, if you bring this blog, you can get 10 percent off our products and services this month.

Posted by, Thomas Powell, Owner & Designer at Tru Skills Barber Shop/ SnS Live Life Clothing



CES 2024: Wi-Fi 7 and the future of connectivity

The dust is settling from the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but one thing is clear: the dawn of Wi-Fi 7 is here. The Wi-Fi Alliance officially certified the Wi-Fi 7 standards on January 8th, marking a pivotal moment in the journey toward bringing this faster, more reliable wireless technology to market. Most of our lives depend on Wi-Fi every day — the technology allows our home devices to connect with the internet, giving us access to information, entertainment, education and so much more. That is why the advancement in Wi-Fi technology is important, for it impacts our connectivity experience.

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This news of the next generation of Wi-Fi definitely made waves at CES 2024. The event buzzed with announcements of lots of new devices that support Wi-Fi 7 — from smartphones, to smart home devices, to more innovative devices — the industry has begun gearing up to embrace the power of Wi-Fi 7. Google Fiber is no exception — we’re excited about the Wi-Fi Alliance’s certification of Wi-Fi 7 because it opens the door to even more multi-gig speeds and reduced latency over Wi-Fi networks.


The biggest innovation with Wi-Fi 7 is Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which allows packets to be sent over multiple frequencies simultaneously. Prior generations of Wi-Fi only used one frequency band at a time.This means that one device which supports Wi-Fi 7 can talk to an access point over multiple radios and frequency bands at the same time.

Wi-Fi 7 devices can select from either a 2.4, 5, or 6 GHz band and are able to choose the Wi-Fi band that offers the most efficient and reliable path to the router. The result is lower latency and improved reliability, resulting in a better experience for internet users.

We know that great wireless internet is key to our customers’ in-home experience, so we spend a lot of time working on making it better (even when it’s already good). In 2023, we deployed Wi-Fi 6E routers with tri-band connectivity, built to handle more devices with fewer slowdowns.

Our focus and commitment to delivering speed to the home and in the home is exactly why we’re including a Wi-Fi 7 router for GFiber Labs 20 Gig customers. Wi-Fi 7 is a longer-term solution, if you’re thinking about purchasing a new smartphone, TV, tablet, computer, or other devices in 2024, you may want to consider whether they are Wi-Fi 7 compatible. You can have the latest high-powered router but the compatibility of your Wi-Fi devices also impacts your online experience. Our device guide can help determine Wi-Fi compatibility for your devices.

CES exhibitors unveiled cool new devices and products that support Wi-Fi 7 and are coming soon. Dell introduced two new laptops — the Dell XPS 16 laptop and the Dell Alienware M15 R2 gaming laptop, which are expected to be released in Q1 '24. Samsung announced its Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphone, and Acer announced a new gaming router; the Wi-Fi 7 Predator Connect X7 5G CPE, which offers dual connectivity (an ethernet network and 5G service).

Wi-Fi Alliance’s certification of Wi-Fi 7 ushers in a host of new possibilities, and GFiber is committed to making sure that our customers can harness the speed of their internet. Expect more from us soon to help make your in-home internet even faster.

Posted by Ishan Patel, Product Manager



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Wi-Fi Focus: How to Get the Best Wi-Fi On Your Devices


Understanding your Wi-Fi technology and how it was built to support your devices is the key to getting the most out of them. Why? Because many of the Wi-Fi enabled devices in your home were built on a Wi-Fi standard, which impacts the Wi-Fi speeds you'll get. 


What’s a Wi-Fi standard?

A Wi-Fi standard is a set of rules created by the The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization that defines how Wi-Fi devices communicate with each other. In short, it’s the system your devices use when connecting wirelessly. There are many different Wi-Fi standards, also called Wi-Fi technologies. Some standards you may be familiar with are Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E and the soon-to-launch, Wi-Fi 7. Each new Wi-Fi standard is faster and more efficient than the previous one. (That’s why older devices may not go as fast as newer ones.) 


Want to see what we’re doing with Wi-Fi 7? Check out our demo


How do Wi-Fi standards impact devices?

Some devices only support certain standards of Wi-Fi technology. So when you're shopping for a new Wi-Fi router, it's really important to make sure that it supports the Wi-Fi standard your devices or future devices are enabled for. For example, if you have a phone that supports Wi-Fi 6 or 7, you'll want to get a router that also supports those standards so you can take advantage of faster speeds and better performance. Making sure that your devices’ technology is compatible with your router technology will help you utilize the fastest Wi-Fi speeds available and avoid lag times.


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Want to know how fast your devices can go? 

Wi-Fi speeds depend on the technology your devices are able to support. To make things easier, we’ve put together a list of common phones, laptops and gaming consoles along with their Wi-Fi capabilities. Use this chart to check which Wi-Fi technology your devices are built with so you can make the most out of them. Check out the comprehensive list here.


Posted By Sydney Lauer, Product Strategy Analyst