Portal: Turbocharged WiFi

Crowds can slow WiFi to a crawl, but not Portal. Stream ultraHD videos without buffering and play Internet games without lagging.

About this project

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WiFi has become a victim of its own popularity.   Over the past 5 years, WiFi data usage has increased 100x, and the technology behind it is struggling to keep up. While router manufacturers have increased their maximum speed limits, they have not addressed the primary cause of poor performance: traffic and congestion.

Billions of WiFi devices now compete for the limited radio airwaves we all share, causing invisible traffic jams and congestion, making WiFi slower and more unreliable than ever.

Portal is the first and only router specifically engineered to cut through and avoid congestion, delivering consistent, high-performance WiFi with greater coverage throughout your home.

Its proprietary spectrum turbocharger technology provides access to 300% more of the radio airwaves than any other router, improving performance by as much as 300x, and range and coverage by as much as 2x in crowded settings, such as city homes and multi-unit apartments.

Spectrum is a beautiful thing.   Spectrum is at the heart of how wireless works. The more of it you have, the faster and more reliable your Internet experience. 

Why your WiFi sucks... the problem of crowds.   Think of spectrum like the lanes of highway.  Most home WiFi routers today operate on just one shared WiFi lane; maybe two if you're lucky.   If you live in a city or apartment, your WiFi network could be competing with 35 or more neighboring WiFi networks.  And the problem isn’t just the number of neighboring WiFi networks, it's also what they’re doing. A single neighbor running a bit torrent, or simply folks all streaming HD video at 8pm every night can consume most of the spectrum you all share.  This is called congestion, and it's like being stuck in rush hour traffic all the time. 

Spectrum Turbocharger.   Portal’s unique FCC-certified technology (FastLanes™) enables your WiFi network to operate in a special protected portion of the 5GHz radio spectrum that was originally reserved for weather radar systems.  This is a huge swathe of spectrum, about 3x wider than the spectrum conventional WiFi uses today, and it's relatively uncrowded which enables your WiFi data to speed past your neighbor's WiFi data that is stuck in congested traffic.  

FastLanes™ is like having your own private highway to the internet!   

And Portal has other unique and super-cool technologies, like SmartLanes™ which actively monitors for congestion and intelligently changes WiFi lanes steer around network congestion to give you a reliable, uninterrupted and hassle-free Internet experience.  

SmartLanes™ is like driving that private highway in a super agile sports car.

And best of all, Portal works seamlessly with all the WiFi connected devices you already have.  

Did you know that congestion also saps your coverage?  

Ever wonder why Netflix and Youtube work great from your bedroom in the afternoon, but at 8pm it slows to a crawl everywhere except in the same room as your router?   Don't blame your internet, it's probably your WiFi.  

Rate versus Range.  WiFi coverage is like a waterfall, the taller the waterfall the stronger the flow of water further away, meaning that a strong router will allow you to enjoy your streaming video or gaming experience at the furthest corners of your house.  This is called rate versus range, and yes the actual measurements do look like a waterfall.  

Bigger and more antennas certainly help, but in congested environments like city homes and multi-unit apartments, even big antennas can't cope with effects of congestion.  Think of congestion like a big wall that blocks your data flow, leaving you only a trickle of internet goodness that now reaches only half the distance it did before your neighbors all came home and started watching "Game of Thrones".    

More Speed and More Range!  Portal's ability to operate in uncrowded spectrum that is virtually empty of congestion, together with nine (9) powerful antennas, enables your network to reach every corner of your home with no dead zones consistently any time of day or night, even in the most crowded environments.

Enjoy greater speed, greater coverage, and lower latency than your neighbors.  

Stop waiting and start enjoying your media or gaming the way it was meant to be experienced.

Say goodbye to unsightly antennas.  Can a powerful router be sexy? Absolutely. You don’t need ugly “dead bug antennas” to achieve range and coverage.  Portal cleverly folds nine (9) powerful and very specialized antennas into a smooth aerodynamic body for a clean elegant design.  Together with ten (10) state-of-the-art radios and advanced technologies like MU-MIMO Beamforming, Portal achieves amazing range and coverage rivaling any "dead bug" external antenna router today.  

A single Portal can offer complete coverage for a home of approximately 2500 sq. ft.  And two Portals can be daisy-chained together using our proprietary enterprise-grade mesh technology to extend your network range up to 200 ft or more; more than enough to cover large or multi-story homes up to 5000 sq.ft.

Power and Beauty with no compromises.  You'll never have to hide your router again.

Simple one-touch smartphone setup, secure dynamic guest networks, real-time notifications and remote management enable frustration-free setup and effortless management of your network, because we believe that your router shouldn’t get in the way of an awesome Internet experience.

Enterprise-grade Security.  We made Portal secure with enterprise-grade security technologies to protect your network and your family’s Internet experience 24/7.

• Proprietary “Rolling Code” dynamic secure Guest Networks, easy smartphone setup 
• Continuous Intrusion Monitoring and remote alerts to smartphone 
• Ultra-secure Web GUI interface with proprietary 2-factor authentication for (optional) 'old school' control by super users. Other Functions
• VPN for secure remote access 
• WiFi Protected Access® (WPA/WPA2—PSK) 
• Parental Controls to manage web filtering and accessibility 
• Double firewall protection (SPI and NAT)

Don't just take our word for it, let us show you Portal in action. Head-to-head versus the best router's available today, Portal consistently performs above and beyond in speed, simplicity, and latency with virtually no buffering or lag.  

(The details:  Portal versus Netgear R7800, two Apple iPad Air 2, measured at distance of 33 feet plus 2 walls, Ookla Speed Test, Netflix HD ("Marseille") and ultraHD-4K ("Moving Art: Forests") video streaming, two Xbox One (PC Streaming) + Gears of War) 

 We've worked hard to produce the highest quality WiFi experience that technology can offer. Portal integrates new, advanced technologies to seamlessly provide the latest in WiFi advancement. We believe a router should look great and work well without compromise.

Quad-Stream Wave-2 IEEE 802.11ac

• AC2400, Dual-concurrent architecture allow for simultaneous operation in 2 Bands (5GHz and 2.4GHz).  
• Multi-User MIMO for simultaneous streaming and gaming on multiple devices
• Active Beam Steering delivers maximum speeds at range and coverage

Seven (7) Operating Bands

• Band I: 5.150 – 5.250 GHz (5G, UNII-1) 
• Band II: 5.250 – 5.350 GHz (5G, UNII-2, DFS 
• Band III - V: 5.470 – 5.725 GHz (5G, UNII-2e-i, ii and iii, DFS) 
• Band VI: 5.725 – 5.825 GHz (5G, UNII-3) 
• Band VII: 2.400 – 2.4835 Ghz (2.4G ISM)

Advanced Radios

• 5GHz: Quad (4x4) high-powered agile wide-band, IEEE 802.11ac/a/n, Wave-2 Multi-User (MU) Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO). 
• 2.4GHz: Three (3x3) high-powered, IEEE 802.11b/g/n, supporting legacy devices
• Bluetooth Smart: 4.2 Low-Energy supporting smartphones, tablets and IoT devices
• Dual super-wideband radar detector + traffic monitor 

Adaptive Smart Mesh

• For larger homes (multi-story and greater than 3000 sq. ft.), daisy-chain 2 or more Portals for super extended range out to 200 ft plus. 
• Enterprise-grade Mesh with dynamic layer-2 routing. 
• Near Zero-Interference, Auto-Detect, Easy one-touch setup

Ethernet and USB Ports

 Other Functions

• QoS prioritizes network traffic by application and device
• DLNA® server to find and play your media on TVs and game consoles

We've all been there: Buffering, loading, pulling our hair out, waiting for the Internet to let us be productive or have fun. Our team is made up of people, like you, who know how frustrating WiFi has become. That's why we decided it was time to make it better.

As engineers, we're passionate about technology and beautiful design. We’ve been together for nearly a decade building WiFi and Bluetooth solutions for some of the most iconic names in consumer electronics.

We became frustrated that the industry wasn't solving the real problems that were making WiFi networks slower, less reliable and overly complicated. With billions of WiFi devices competing for bandwidth, WiFi has slowed to a crawl. So we started our own company to fix this problem—and Portal is our solution.

With your help, Portal will begin its journey from our team to your home, where it can dramatically improve your WiFi and your life. Here are some of the key events that will happen once we've reached our Kickstarter goal.