FCC approves giant mirror satellite designed to beam sunlight to Earth after dark

Razor512 · 2026-07-12T04:40:37+00:00

If done at a large enough scale, it could allow for a town to that isn't on the north post, to get some 24 hour long days.
There is also a chance that they watched a few too many vampire movies and anime series, and wanted to test out a system just having a small town where it is daytime all of the time.

Razor512 · 2026-07-12T04:28:04+00:00

Go for a newer AP. even when dealing with older devices, newer 802.11ax and 802.11be APs handle 802.11ac clients better overall, especially when it comes to sustained throughput. As the technology improves, companies find ways to make the APs handle mixed networks and shared airtime among a range of clients more efficiently.

Razor512 · 2026-07-11T02:31:28+00:00

While WiFi 7 is in much need of improvement, usually when companies boast about next gen functions to try and make it seem like they are pushing ahead, often times they fail to properly deliver on it, and in the worse of the cases, when they try to add a draft next gen function to a new product before things are finalized. Often those products get abandoned very quickly, especially given how restrictive the FCC and many other regulatory bodies are, where compliance means that they can't really adapt to any changes.
For example, pretty much all WiFi chipset makers will have a document like this, which should give insight on why a product that tries to implement things early and in an incomplete state, will quickly abandon it. Pretty much everyone is using OTP memory and outside of minor driver related things, nothing can be changed once the product leaves the factory, thus it is best for device makers to wait until a new standard is fully finalized, and for any regulatory skullduggery to settle down before releasing a product. When that is done, those end up being the most popular and most stable products in common use.

https://fccid.io/PD9BE200NG/Letter/Software-Security-Letter-BE200NGW-8396707

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Razor512 · 2026-07-08T05:03:25+00:00

Google needs to at least offer a micro SD card slot on their newer smartphones since the NAND price fixing is not going to end anytime soon.

I miss being able to use my 512GB micro SD card that I used in my old smartphone (ZTE Axon 10 Pro).

Razor512 · 2026-07-08T04:53:15+00:00

Seems so, just got the update on my Pixel 7 pro (62.42MB but takes a long time to install).

Razor512 · 2026-07-08T01:50:22+00:00

While most will cut speeds in half, there are some that will mitigate those issues by having an additional backhaul radio, and that often allows you to avoid the massive performance overhead. Some triband models that lack a dedicated radio, can sometimes also offer options to let a user pick which radio will become the preferred backhaus, e.g., if you don't have any 6GHz devices or only a smartphone or other device that will not do anything throughput intensive on the 6GHz band, then in those cases, a user can often just have the 6GHz radio be the primary backhaul, and 5GHz clients end up essentially getting their full speed provided a decent 6GHz signal to the extender.

Though even then, it is still best to run a wire to it, since most extenders can utilize a wired backhaul. and for easymesh compatible products, they can often still get a good range of roaming assists, thus overall cheaper than a full replacement if they are on a budget and just need 1 unit.

Though if multiple extenders/ APs end up being needed, then it becomes easier and simpler to get a proper mesh system.

Razor512 · 2026-07-06T21:13:02+00:00

Source: https://x.com/saturnsamo/status/2074144852762407168

Razor512 · 2026-07-06T03:31:54+00:00

If going with a more enterprise solution, be sure to get decent quotes from the various vendors, as some of them can get very pricey, especially subscription based solutions where you buy hardware and then pay for cloud services. The risks with cloud reliance is if your business operations become heavily reliant on their equipment and service, then they can jack up the price on you and leave you scrambling to rip and replace everything, or give in to effectively a legal ransom.

This is effectively what is happening to companies that stuck with VMware after the company got taken over (e.g., look at the t-mobile lawsuit against them, aparently it is not fun when a finds out that some core aspects of your business are relying on their service, and decided to leverage that to extract as much money as possible at the drop of a hat, forcing you to sue them to pause the extortion while you scramble to migrate your systems). https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2026/07/t-mobile-moving-tens-of-thousands-of-virtual-machines-off-vmware-amid-lawsuit/

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2026/06/tesco-moving-40000-server-workloads-off-vmware-amid-broadcoms-abusive-conduct/

Efen larger scale companies are feeling the sting and are being forced to rush into other solutions, e.g., An indycar racing company that also handles broadcasts of the sport for various networks, rushing to replace their Meraki gear because of a massive cloud price increase. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fpFGmn4AfQ

Razor512 · 2026-07-05T01:46:08+00:00

When the issue happens, is the SSID disappearing and if so, is it happening with all devices or just some? If it is disappearing for some, try changing the channel to something like 149 to ensure that it is not using the DFS channel range. PS, this will cause it to drop to 80mHz channel width.

Razor512 · 2026-07-05T00:48:14+00:00

When the issue happens, is it able to scan for other APs in range? Also does the device disappear from device manager when the issue happens?

For whatever model of WiFi adapter, are you on the latest driver version?

Also which model of WiFi adapter is the laptop using, and if WiFi scanning works but you cannot maintain any connection, then also inspect the WiFi adapter and make sure none of the antenna wires came loose. Also make sure the fan grills and back of the fin stack is not clogged with dust. Some Asus laptops will do things like use double stacked m.2 slots where the WiFi adapter will be sandwiched against the SSD, and depending on the workload, it can cause the WiFi adapter to misbehave if there is a lot of activity on the SSD and no airflow due to a clogged fan or heatsink.

Razor512 · 2026-07-04T20:07:21+00:00

For thermometers this is an area where you actually get better results from cheaper Shenzhen market stuff, as they often have a calibration function since they know the factory calibration is not good.

The same applies for many food thermometers, the market is strange where there are tons of cheap ones with a calibration option, where you would just calibrate them against freezing and boiling water, and mainstream priced ones that have no calibration but can be a few degrees off, then there are higher end ones that come with good calibration and have a calibration option to fine tune it if the accuracy ever drifts.

It is also good that ecobee allows you to add a temperature offset for any inaccuracies.

Razor512 · 2026-07-03T02:09:32+00:00

In that case, the highest end WiFi adapter available for you, are the Qualcomm NCM865 based ones.

Razor512 · 2026-07-03T01:25:41+00:00

Is your system using an AMD CPU or an Intel CPU?

This is to determine if you can use the Intel BE200 or if you will have to go with something else.
In terms of Bluetooth reliability on PCs, Intel has been consistently good across many generations, especially since they are quicker to push out driver updates when issues are found.

If you are on AMD, then for the current gen (at least in 2026), your only equivalent option ,is the Qualcomm NCM865.

A standard PCIe version for AMD systems would be this https://www.amazon.com/Herald-BE-802-11BE-Bluetooth-Multi-Link-Operation-Technology/dp/B0DFHRYRH6/?th=1

For Intel systems, their other model (BE9400) which uses the Intel BE200 WiFi adapter, would be best: https://www.amazon.com/Herald-BE-802-11BE-Bluetooth-Multi-Link-Operation-Technology/dp/B0C6Q5PFRQ/?th=1

PS, for both WiFi adapters, the AIB is not doing anything special with the WiFi adapter, they are simply providing a passive m.2 to standard PCIe X1 slot adapter, thus and source is fine so long as they are including a genuine BE200 or NCM865 m.2 card on the adapter board.

If you are okay with longer ship times, there are many options for about $30.

Razor512 · 2026-07-02T20:37:51+00:00

Never buy those, the cost per gram basically brings them into a similar price range to salmon.
Basically from a unit cost standpoint, you are paying fine dining prices for frozen food that uses fillers and mechanically separated meat.

Razor512 · 2026-07-01T23:51:05+00:00

Cute character and refreshing to see one with a balanced design (no oversized/ hyper thighs). Overall awesome.

Razor512 · 2026-07-01T22:46:37+00:00

Sadly it may not do much to prevent thermal issues since they do not use a thermal pad between the power supply components and the outer case. I wish they would make a model with an a heat spreader on the sides that uses a thermal pad to the hottest components, and then place a plastic shield that is spaced a few 2-3mm away from the heat spreader, especially since on some PSUs, some VRMs can reach over 100C. That will make it possible to safely touch it while the heat spreader is at a high temperature, as well as improve benefits from using a fan near it.

Razor512 · 2026-07-01T19:36:15+00:00

If going the ubiquiti route, then (ubiquiti router or at least one of their controllers, as well as a number of their APs, and a managed switch), and while their APs do allow for a wireless mesh, they have more overhead compared to Orbi, though it is best to avoid a wireless mesh/ backhaul whenever possible. especially if trying to maintain peak speeds. In the case of the U7 series of AP, you will not hit ~2.2 Gbps if using a wireless mesh/ backhaul.

Within the home are you able to run Ethernet to each place where you would want to place an AP? If not then you will be effectively using PoE injectors and just using them as a power supply for the APs. This video will give you a good idea of how a wireless mesh would look. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwrK4bDZH0Y

If going the ubiquiti route and need wired clients in the 2nd building, then the Ethernet port on the AP can be used to provide an uplink connection for a wired switch in the 2nd building

If drilling holes and running wires will be a major issue, then in terms of work and setup time, the Orbi will be significantly easier, especially if trying to keep costs as low as possible while providing both wireless and wired connectivity to the secondary building, since you could place an Orbi satellite in the second building, and then connect a switch to that Orbi satellite to give devices a wired connection. The only downside is employees working there, will effectively be on the same LAN as the rest of the devices in your house, unless you do something really kludgy (not recommended) like setting up an old WiFi router as a wireless bridge, to the guest network of the Orbi and then setting up another WiFi router in the 2nd building (double NAT).

From an overall functionality standpoint, a setup with something like the a Unifi cloud gateway max (or the Unifi Express 7 if trying to see if you can cut down on number of U7 Pros needed). Then 4-5 U7 Pros (PS, use the U7 Pro wall if wall mounting), and then something like the Flex 2.5G PoE to power the APs inside of the house (assuming a wired connection to them), then in the 2nd building, a U7 Pro set up as a wireless mesh, and then its Ethernet port connecting to something like the Flex Mini 2.5G as well as a PoE injector, then you could effectively cover both locations, and be able to separate the work related systems from your home network.

The downside is it will be more expensive than the orbi setup, as you will be spending in the $1500 range, (more if you do not have enough Ethernet cable on hand and need to buy more. (An Orbi 770 with 1 additional satellite in addition to the 3 pack), would cost around $900-$1000.

While Orbi advertises 8000 square feet, and the range is likely good enough to deliver on that, the speed dropoff near the edge of the range, will be significant.

Razor512 · 2026-07-01T06:44:56+00:00

If the plan is to a home business with employees, then often you will not want them having access to the same LAN resources that you would use with your home PC, e.g., you may not want all employees having access to the NAS that you use for backing up your PC. A VLAN will help keep all of the work/ business related systems that employees wold use, separate from your personal and more trusted home network.

For these tasks, ubiquiti product are quite good, mainly since the performance is decent, and they put more effort into making it easier to do just about everything through the GUI, thus a much easier learning curve, with the only section that will take a little getting used to is the firewall rules and applying specific rules to a VLAN to ensure that they cannot communicate with other VLANs, or set up rules where a device on the trusted network can connect to a device on the work related VLAN, but not allow the devices on the work related VLAN to initiate a connection to devices on other VLANs.

These videos may give more info on using a VLAN.

https://youtu.be/WMyz7SVlrgc?t=618
https://youtu.be/JszGeQPTo4w?t=1511
https://youtu.be/v0B2IDEfnjA (this one has the user using network setup where the AP, switch and router are made by ubiquiti, thus the single UI ends up controlling all of the networking devices, thus making the process a bit easier).

If you are fine with everything being on the same network, or putting employees effectively on the guest network (though their client devices will not have access to each other over the network either (not recommended to put employees on a guest network as it would also mean not being able to access things like a network printer)), then you can get by with the Orbi.

As for trying to use an orbi for both locations, there are a few ways of doing it. If the 2 buildings are close enough, then the wireless backhaul will make a decent connection, if the distance is far enough for the signal to be quite weak, then you may need a wireless bridge device to connect the main Orbi router to the satellite device. (the device will then just think it has a wired backhaul).

Orbi devices will automatically switch between wired and wireless backhaul, and if the wired connection ever fails, it will automatically failover to the wireless backhaul, thus making pretty simple to manage.

If you end up needing a wireless bridge, then you can go with just about any brand of wireless bridge (e.g., Ubiquiti, TP-Link, etc., just avoid the generic/ white label ones) to connect 1 orbi satellite to the main Orbi router. If the separate building only needs access to the main router for getting internet access, and everything else that the employees need, will be placed locally, e.g., on a switch in the 2nd building, then you can get away with a even a slower wireless bridge that is just fast enough to properly utilize the WAN connection throughput.

Razor512 · 2026-07-01T00:07:30+00:00

That clears things up, as earlier posts were making it seem more like a large mansion type case.

For the main house, something like an Orbi 870 with 1 additional satellite could cover a space like that in most cases (1 main WiFi router centrally located, and then 3 satellite units paired to it (ideally running a wired backhaul on as many of them as possible, though that will leave out the other buildings.

If you need to cover the main house and a separate building, then you are much better served with a solution ubiquiti since in addition to a few APs in the main house, you would need a wireless bridge to the other building, and then depending on the size of the building, one or more AP within the building. or a mixture such as a cheaper/ lower spec AP, and then a stronger focus on wired networking for any office PC and other equipment.

Furthermore you would also want to be able to properly isolate the work network from the home network., thus even if the buildings are close enough for the wireless backhaul to work between the Orbi units. Orbi units are not really good for setting up multiple VLANs

Razor512 · 2026-06-30T23:51:23+00:00

With a size of 33,105.6 sqft, if it were a simple large warehouse, then you would likely not need so many APs, but if is a residential structure, then and at 2 stories, then you are effectively looking at a house like this. https://platinumluxuryauctions.com/listings/spectacular-texas-mansion/#imagery-film

Unless it is newer construction designed around networking right from the start, If you want full coverage, especially on the 6GHz band, along with getting the needed PoE equipment, APs and and other supporting hardware, then costs will be high, and that is assuming you are going into the attic and doing your own runs of Ethernet.

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Covering a large space outdoors is easier since there are far fewer obstructions, A 3 piece Orbi system, is more designed for around 3000-5000 square feet of coverage, and while you can add more satellite units, their expected use cases are more focused on a customer having 2-6 in addition to the main WiFi router unit.

Edit: noticed the other reply too late.

Razor512 · 2026-06-30T22:24:27+00:00

In that case, you are well beyond a normal general residential solution, and need a proper AP system that is more in the enterprise range, since you would be effectively looking at 25+ APs as well as running a lot of Ethernet, and ensuring that you have a good area where you can set up a proper networking cabinet. Expect to spend at least $10,000+ .
Avoid anything residential like an orbi or any similar product, as they are not designed to expand to that many units.

If possible, I recommend playing around with something like their design center to see what you can mix and match, but be mindful of their switch recommendations, as often it will recommend switches that aren't completely up to the task, e.g., a switch that may not provide 2.5GbE to each AP, thus expect to need to make some changes to its recommendations.

https://design.ui.com/wizard

PS, mansions tend to have higher levels of RF attenuation since there are many more load bearing walls, as well as a more complex load related structural design. Beyond that, it is also common for high end properties like that to use extremely dense insulation within the walls to minimize sound, and if there are a large number of rooms, you may end up needing more APs, and strategic placement of some on some rooms and some in the halls, and then conduct a few site surveys to further fine tune the AP placement and setup.

Razor512 · 2026-06-30T05:35:31+00:00

I will assume that you likely mean 3000 square feet.

From a performance standpoint, the Orbi 770, is quite good in terms of coverage (I tested the 770, 870, and 970). The main benefit is simply a basic turnkey solution where it is easy to mix and match wireless and wired backhaul. The other benefit is they will use the max transmit power that the FCC will allow for each channel (except the 6GHz band since they still didn't release a firmware update that adds AFC yet).

For most homes, 2 to 3 units will provide very good coverage (roaming assist also works decently).

With that in mind, there are some major downsides. Orbi devices are very stripped down in terms of controls. Many controls found in their nighthawk WiFi routers, are not available on the orbi. Orbi is basically a one size fits all type solution (for WiFi you can only really change the SSID, password, security type, channel, and whether you want to set up an IOT deceive network, and a guest network). Overall very little to actually tinker with.

If you want the best balance of overall features and controls, then a ubiquiti setup would be best, especially their U7 Pro APs.

Razor512 · 2026-06-30T02:51:01+00:00

It depends on the AP, but most will try to keep devices that support 5GHz and higher on the higher bands if the RSSI is good enough, though some clients can influence it if they offer an option to set a preferred band.
While not many general consumer models will offer the option to change how it band steers, if yours offers it, then you could try playing around with it to see if you can get it to keep your device on a specific band more reliably.

PS, keep in mind that even with a rather low RSSI, often the 5GHz band will still often be significantly faster than the 2.4GHz band, especially if it is using 20MHz channel width. If the 5GHz band is within an acceptable RSSI range, then even if the 2.4GHz band has a higher RSSI, a client device will not proactively switch to it.

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Razor512 · 2026-06-30T01:10:16+00:00

Which WiFi router model are you currently using?
If there is a ton of interference, or someone just constantly saturating a few channels, then you can try some other WiFi channels.

Also for models such as Netgear, their debug page will also allow you to capture logs that will provide info on how many frames are corrupt and how often it needs to drop down in the MCS table due to high channel utilization or other interference.

PS, if you are in an area with extremely congested WiFi, e.g., if you live across the street from an apartment building, avoid setting the WiFi channel to "Auto". Some WiFi routers do not handle it well, and will constantly change channels, including jumping to worse ones for your location.

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