Always Fast
Don't you hate it when your Internet is running slow, and no-one will own up to downloading? When you're trying to video chat and it keeps cutting out? Net-Angel protects your fair share of the bandwidth.
Happy Housemates
If you are the big downloader, Net-Angel looks out for you too. Download whenever you like knowing that you won't be inconveniencing anyone. Downloads run at full bandwidth, but lets urgent traffic through as a priority.
Fair Sharing
Everyone who's downloading gets a fair share of the bandwidth - it's impossible to hog the
Internet connection.
How it Works
External Router
Net-Angel is a wireless router that plugs into your cable modem or ADSL router. Your home's devices should now connect through Net-Angel. You may need to disable wireless on your router.
Sharing Strategy
Each device that connects is tracked, and gets it's own account. If you are the only person downloading, you get all available bandwidth. If another person starts downloading, you each get half the available bandwidth.
Anyone who is simply web browsing will get priority up to their fair share. So is two people are downloading, and another is browsing the web, the web browser will get priority for up to one third of the bandwidth. In practise, Net-Angel prevents all web browsing delays.
The Information Super-highway
Your Internet connection can be thought of as a road to the Internet. Every bit of information that gets sent to the Internet is packaged up into a small discrete packets - you can think of these as cars.
Each packet (or car) will be associated with a specific person. For the sake of this explanation, the color of the car represents which person the car will be delivering it's information to or from.
Net-Angel is like an intelligent set of traffic lights before the motorway, controlling which cars or packets can travel.
When the road is lightly used, Net-Angel lets every single car or packet onto the road.
Just like a real road though, if too much traffic is trying to get through at once you get a traffic jam, and the cars/information takes forever to get through! This is why web pages typically slow down when someone is downloading on your connection, and why Internet phone calls can't work properly.
Net-Angel learns the size of your road (how much bandwidth you have), and allows as many cars through as possible while preventing traffic jams. The traffic jam moves to Net-Angel, where we can deal with it intelligently
The first clever thing we do is let traffic onto the main road/connection fairly. If everyone is trying to download, Net-Angel will give an equal share of the available capacity to everyone.
If only one person is attempting to download (fill the road with cars), Net-Angel will let everyone else's traffic straight onto the main connection, but it will give the downloader any spare capacity.
Tech Specs
Software
Net-Angel is based on Gargoyle and OpenWrt.
Hardware
Hardware specifications are subject to change as we pick a hardware supplier. Below are sample specifications from one of our potential suppliers.
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Antenna
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5dBi detachable antenna | |
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Standards
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IEEE 802.11b/g/n | |
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Security
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64/128bit WEP |
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Interface
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RP-SMA antennas connector x 1 |
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Sensitivity
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802.11b 11Mbps: -90 | |
| 802.11g 54Mbps: -75 | ||
| 802.11n ( 20MHz) MCS7 : -71 | ||
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Data Rate
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802.11n ( 40MHz ): up to 150Mbps 802.11n ( 20MHz ): up to 72Mbps 802.11g: 54,48,36,24,18,12,9,6Mbps 802.11b: 11,5.5,2,1Mbps |
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Operation Mode
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AP Bridge |
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Frequency Band
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2.400GHz ~ 2.484GHz | |
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Operation Temperature
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-20°C ~ 60°C | |
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Power requirement
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DC Jack: 12V DC PoE: 12V Passive PoE |
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Dimensions
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93 x 70 x 26mm | |
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Weight
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74g | |
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Storage Humidity
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10% ~ 90% (Non-condensing) | |
Pricing
Frequently Asked Questions
Firmware License
Net-Angel is based on Gargoyle, which is released under the GNU General Public License version 2.0. Net-Angel's modifications are also released under the GNU General Public License version 2.0 and will be available for download.
Can I Make My Own?
Yes! If you are comfortable installing OpenWRT and Gargoyle, then you should be able to build one of these devices. Once our special firmware is complete (and before we start shipping the devices), you will be able to download our modifications.
My Router Already Does QoS?
If you are confident configuring QoS on your existing router, then you may not need Net-Angel. Please remember that Net-Angel will automatically configure fair sharing, and won't need you to update settings whenever new devices connect to your network.
What is QoS?
QoS stands for Quality of Service, and is the technolgy behind Net-Angels fair routing system.
Practically all routers these days have QoS functionality, however their settings may be confusing unless you are a technical expert. Net-Angel makes it easy!
Buy
We are launching on Kickstarter soon. To help us bring this to market quicker, please show your support by joining our mailing list. We will tell you when the kickstarter starts, and give updates on progress.