Autumn Years Spring 2023

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

H ave your videos been stutter ing or glitchy? Are your Zoom calls freezing, dropping or cutting out? Is the internet loading slowly or sometimes not at all? Does your streaming audio quality degrade for seemingly no reason? The cause for any or all of these things may very well be your Wi-Fi con nection—not your internet provider, your devices, or the programs or applications being used. With so many people working from home, they are discovering just how important a good Wi-Fi connection is. Un fortunately, sometimes their Wi-Fi router is often underpowered or overwhelmed. A bad or out-of-date Wi-Fi router can make your work and at-home abilities… just… halt . Multiple things could be affecting your Wi-Fi quality, including: the age of your router; the router’s location in a home or office; the layout of the building and its construction materials. Perhaps there are multiple people using multiple devices at the same time in your home or office. Or maybe multiple neighbors are on the same Wi-Fi frequency and unknowingly battling for Wi-Fi supremacy. Most important: Is your router right for the kind of work or entertainment you and others do, and the amount of anticipated use? Location, location, location A key change you can make to improve your Wi-Fi is to place your router in a central location—or close to where you use your devices. Most Wi-Fi problems

Mesh Wi-Fi is a game changer Mesh Wi-Fi is a type of router system that uses two or more units to distribute Wi-Fi networking evenly throughout the build ing or property. It uses “signal hopping technology”—a technique developed by movie star and inventor Hedy Lamarr— to keep everything on the same net work. So no more signal-dropping when moving from one part of your house to the other! If lots of people on your block, in your condo neighborhood or in your build ing use Wi-Fi-enabled devices, the Mesh system will create a bubble of Wi-Fi around your location. Mesh Wi-Fi‘s use of this technol ogy keeps your devices on a consistent connection. It provides both higher safety encryption and more power, and lets you connect many more devices over a much larger distance/range. There are lots of Mesh Wi-Fi products available, but some are better for specific situations than others. Choosing the right Mesh product and then configuring it cor rectly is essential for Wi-Fi success.

are caused by a lack of good connection. If your router is too far from your device or is blocked by too many walls, your computer, TV or cellphone will not be able to reliably find the signal. Living in a solid, older home can be great—except that they are often prone to Wi-Fi issues. That is because those sturdy walls may contain thick plaster and chicken wire, which can interfere with your signal. However, walls are not the only barriers that can impede wireless performance. For example, appliances, fireplaces and metal cabinets can interfere with Wi-Fi signals. Even a microwave in use can be an impedi ment. And if you live in a home that has multiple floors, the bottom floor may be a less than ideal location for a router. Wi-Fi confusion: More is not better Additionally, if you have multiple routers or use Wi-Fi extenders, you may be experi encing a conflict of signals that can weak en your connection or cause you to switch in and out of different networks without warning. Sometimes people add multiple devices hoping to improve their Wi-Fi sig nal. However, in this case more definitely does not equal better . The result is simply Wi-Fi confusion. It is important to find a solution that eliminates all these obstacles and keeps you on one network. If you have an old router, too many walls, a building that is too large for one router or neighbors who are also using lots of devices on Wi-Fi, you might try using Mesh Wi-Fi.

Felicia Halpert and Costa Rodis own Bergen IT LLC, an award-winning, client centered, comprehensive tech support company.

Bergen IT provides cybersecurity, managed services, networking, troubleshooting, com puter, audio, TV, Wi-Fi, smart home & home office installations, training and support. Since 2009 Bergen IT has delivered respon sive personal attention, reasonable rate and top-notch expertise. To learn more: www.ber genit.net. For more about Wi-Fi issues: https:// bergenit.net/have-a-wifi-problem/

60 AUTUMN YEARS I SPRING 2023