Stepping away from the Apple

I don't know how it works in your home but here at the Siegel household there are several devices/appliances that are a constant pain in the ass.

My oldest daughter is 21 years old.
I think we've been through 22 toaster ovens.

Dustbusters have also been a bust. I don't know why but we have had a string of portable dirt sucking machines that never held a battery charge. And consequently didn't suck. Which, ironically, did.

And months ago, on these very pages, I detailed our infernal wireless network that was eternally disconnecting from the Interwebs, leaving me with three woman and no access to Netflix, Hulu or online Solitaire. That's an Estrogen Tornado you don't want to get close to.

I can't tell you how many times I rebooted the router.
Or updated the firmware.
Or ran around the house plugging and unplugging Airport Extremes, Airport Expresses and Apple Time Capsules, hoping to sooth a flashing amber light and woo it back to the green.

Nor can I calculate the amount of time spent on the phone with Apple Genii, Chad, Jeremy, or Crystal, reconfiguring the ethernet connections, rearranging the WAN and LAN ports, and reconfabulating the Java-scripted, HTML-based, hyper flick flacks.

Last week, I thought I had figured it all all when I relocated one of the network extenders to the crawl space under the house for a perfectly triangulated arrangement guaranteeing maximum coverage.

The lights were green for THREE consecutive days. A record in my house. And then...

"Dad, the internet went out. I was right in the middle of Game of Thrones!"

That was the digital straw that broke the router's back.

To hell with you Apple, I thought. And went and bought myself the new Google Wifi, a new mesh type network that promises better dependability, easier operation and a stronger connection throughout the entire household.

Even to our detached garage, where you will find boxes of discarded toaster ovens and dustbusters.

I connected the first Google Wifi point to the modem and it lit up immediately. I unplugged the SIX Apple network extenders and replaced them with TWO new Google cylinders, which are not only pleasing to the eye but incredibly efficient.

There was a bit of trial and error, but within 10 minutes, I had the system up and running. And it's still running. With not one outtage.

Moreover, with a handy dandy iPhone app (oh the irony) I can monitor its performance and even redirect stronger coverage to certain devices.

So the days of listening to my daughter's whine about the shitty connection in my house are over. Dear Google, I would have easily paid twice the price for your incredible product.

All of which makes an interesting point about consumer behavior. One, often stipulated by my online friend and truth teller Bob Hoffman, the Ad Contrarian.

People aren't loyal to brands.
They're loyal to brands who put out out better products.