So, I have a visitor from overseas named Dirk. He’s a bit of an IT guy. Well, he pushed me over the edge to do a few upgrades around here.

It started with a lamp. I have this annoying light in my living room with a broken switch. You can only turn it on and off by unplugging/plugging it in. A problem. Well, Dirk talked me into buying a smart plug for the crazy thing and hooking it into Google Home. It was an easy job. Now, if I want the lights on, I simply say “Hey Google, lights on” to the Google Home Mini that he brought as a housewarming present.

Pretty cool. Plus I can ask Google all kinds of other stuff.

But that was just the start, even though I thought it was pretty cool.

Turns out he had been researching my internet situation, too. In short, I was being ripped off by my old provider with seriously inferior DSL internet.

The best solution was T-Mobile wireless internet. He did his homework; in theory, I could pick up the cool black internet modem shown above to replace the old, crappy internet at considerable monthly savings. Plus there was supposed to be a performance upgrade, as well.

With some trepidation, we went to the T-Mobile store. I picked up the modem and signed on for an internet plan. We got it home, followed the instructions, and fired it up.

Holy cow, what a difference! On average, the wireless internet was SIX times faster than my old DSL, for less money and hassle!

However, we soon found out that my old router was weak and would need to be replaced.

Enter the Google Nest Wifi mesh network, available on Amazon for less than two hundred bucks. For complete WiFi coverage of the entire house, it was a must. Within two days, the hockey-puck-looking things showed up in the mail, and we wasted no time setting the network up.

It was easier than it sounded. First, the master router had to be plugged into the T-Mobile modem via an ethernet cable and electricity. Not a problem. Each mesh component had to be carefully placed and then entered into Google Home in turn and each had to be registered to the new house network.

After a few minor hiccups and three-quarters of an hour, the household mesh was up and running.

Each mini modem covers about 1500 square feet, and we had three. This was more than adequate coverage for my house. However, you can add up to twelve mini modems for truly large applications.

Three will do most houses just fine.

To summarize, this old house now has a pretty darn good internet system for a minimum output in money and time. T-Mobile and Google Home components come together to make for a pretty user-friendly and modern experience.

You should try it yourself, especially if your current provider thinks they own the market and can charge you exorbitant prices for inferior service. You should convince them otherwise.

So far, recommend.