Google making its own $199 Wi-Fi router in latest bid to provide better Internet connections

Google is making a Wi-Fi router as part of its ambition to provide better Internet connections that make it easier for people to access its digital services and see more of its online advertising.

Pre-orders for the $199 wireless router, called OnHub, can be made beginning Tuesday at Google's online store, Amazon.com and Walmart.com. The device will be in stores in the U.S. and Canada in late August or early September.

Google is touting the cylinder-shaped OnHub as a leap ahead in a neglected part of technology.

The Mountain View, California, company is promising its wireless router will be sleeker, more reliable, more secure and easier to use than other long-established alternatives made by Motorola, Netgear, Apple and other hardware specialists. Google teamed up with TP-Link to build OnHub.