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In many homes, the wireless router is the weak link between the web and your actual internet experience. It may be too slow, coverage might be uneven and it doesn’t often have the features a consumer needs to control their devices and home network without becoming a network engineer.

[company]Verizon[/company] is solving this issue with a new gateway it built in partnership with [company]Greenwave Systems[/company]. The FiOS Quantum Gateway can deliver speeds of up to 800 Mbps inside the home. It also separates high bandwidth activities like video streaming to the 5GHz network, while other web-based activities are shunted over the 2.4GHz network that tends to be more crowded. Z-wave is integrated into the router for controlling certain connected devices and sensors. Eventually, Verizon will update the router with software that lets the homeowner (or renter) control access on a device-by-device basis.

This means, for instance, that you can control your kids’ iPad so they can’t access the web after a certain time. Many of the third-party router providers are building in such features, as well as features to help handle more devices in the home without having to know your router’s IP address or even the MAC address of every device on the network. I’ve been a big proponent of better routers for a long time, so it’s good to see a major ISP getting on the bandwagon.

I’m actually hoping to see [company]Comcast[/company] do something along these lines as well, since it purchased PowerCloud Systems last summer and PowerCloud had some of the best network management software around in its Skydog software. It had enterprise class features dumbed down enough that a consumer would feel good playing with them. As for the Verizon Quantum Gateway, new customers who sign up for a FiOS Triple Play package will receive the router.