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Google is expected to announce a new mesh WiFi router at its hardware event next month. It’s expected to be renamed to Nest WiFi, after it renamed Google Home products earlier this year.
It is also expected to put Google Assistant speakers inside the Nest WiFi.
That would kill two birds with one stone, and get Google Assistant into more rooms in your home.
Google is taking the same approach as NETGEAR
You might remember, last year, NETGEAR announced something very similar. The NETGEAR Orbi Voice.
It was a satellite Orbi that can be added to your existing Orbi setup, and it had Amazon Alexa built-in. It was also a really good speaker, thanks to NETGEAR working with Harman Kardon on the audio.
At the time, I stated in our review that we will see more companies doing the same thing, as it was such a smart thing to do. Especially if you are looking to get your assistant into more homes.
Well it took a little bit, but Google is doing the same thing, if this report is to be believed.
Making your router a smart speaker is smart
No pun intended.
It’s smart because it allows you to have your assistant in the living room and even other places in the home. It also means that people are going to be spending more time using the digital assistant. Which is what companies want anyways. More people using their assistants mean more money in their pockets, especially when it comes to Google.
Nest WiFi is expected to be very similar to the eero home WiFi system that Amazon has (it bought eero earlier this year). That would be a router, with two satellites that you can put elsewhere in your home. That would blanket your home with WiFi so that there would be no other deadspots in your home.
The only downside here is that Google is just putting Nest Mini’s into the satellites of the Nest WiFi. Basically, don’t expect any crazy audio performance out of these, compared to the Orbi Voice. It’s really just meant for giving Google Assistant commands and that’s it.
This is expected to be announced on October 15 alongside a number of other products from Google. Which of course includes the Pixel 4 series. It’s unclear what the pricing will be for the Nest WiFi right now, but I would expect similar to Google WiFi’s pricing. So around $229 for a set of three.