Gadgetory

now my relationship with Wi-Fi or wireless networking technology is rocky at the best of times because it's slower than wired and often flaky as balls but the alternative is plugging Ethernet cables into phones so yeah since we're stuck with it I figured I'd give you guys some quick tips on making the experience as painless as possible though we'll start with the stuff that costs nothing number one position your access point usually built into your router correctly the coverage area is sphere shaped so Center your access point within your intended coverage area as best as you can avoid putting it directly on the floor on a thick wall or next to a large object nearby dense materials like stone metal and concrete will reduce your wireless signal strength number two check for software and firmware updates for routers go to the website of the brand on the box but for many adapters instead of going to be links website you can actually find newer drivers on the wireless chipset manufacturers website directly examples of chipset makers include Broadcom and Ray link number three choose the right channel for your access point to run on using a free tool like Wi-Fi analyzer for Android gives you a visual representation of the other wireless networks in your area on the 2.4 gigahertz band there are only three usable non-overlapping channels 1 6 and 11 and in a perfect world you would want to pick whichever of these is open unfortunately in apartment buildings and even dense suburban areas this is unlikely to happen and even with the tool like this there will be some trial and error because things like cordless phones security cameras and baby monitors are examples of products that might not even show up on a Wi-Fi network map but can cause serious interference so play around with a little bit to see how you get the best results number 4 and this is where we start getting into tips that cost money is to grab a more sensitive antenna if your access point has external antenna support they come in two main flavors on you directional antennas will keep the spherical network shape but make it bigger while directional ones can be great if you have a long thin coverage area that you're trying to reach just make sure you aim it properly number 5 is to get a repeater repeaters can be configured with the same SSID or network name and password so you can roam between them pretty much without noticing as long as you're not doing something like streaming a Skype call that's likely to get disconnected as you move over a boundary I don't recommend repeaters that connect to both your device and to your access point wirelessly I haven't had great experiences with those so make sure you get one that either connects through powerline or Ethernet finally if all of that stuff didn't cut it it might be time for an upgrade an 802.11 AC access point can deliver real-world throughput over 500 megabit with a strong client and even a dual Bend n1 gives you access to the much wider range of 5 gigahertz channel that also generally suffer from less random interference both of these things are very good things what's great too is that you don't need to upgrade all of your stuff immediately legacy devices that can't be upgraded such as phones or tablets can connect to the 2.4 gigahertz network on your new access point and newer or upgraded devices can connect to the entirely separate 5 gigahertz network to enjoy a totally different Wi-Fi experience I just moved my notebook to AC wireless with a cheap intel mini PCI Express card from Amazon real world bandwidth is about twice as good as my old card so I'm pleased as punch with the snap here file transfer speeds and more reliable movie streaming experience speaking of better streaming experience hotspot Shield hotspot Shield VPN is easy to set up inexpensive and with their elite service you can access all kinds of streaming services that otherwise wouldn't be available to you u.s. Netflix will work anywhere in the world which I guess is less of a big deal for me because Canada has Netflix too but I was in a real bind when Hulu reached out to me about doing a sponsor spot on my other channel and I had never even used the service before since it's not available to me fortunately for me my other sponsor hotspot Shield this one saved my bacon and I was able to use Hulu to do my sponsored spot so I was able to like try it out and actually like make sure it's great before I go talking about how great it is the point here though is not necessarily access to Hulu specifically but more privacy and more freedom in general when you're browsing the web since a VPN on top of high your region from the websites that you're visiting also makes it more difficult for them to find your IP and any information about you that they can track down with that so try hotspot Shield today we recommend picking up an elite trial rather than the ad-supported free one it really is a much better browsing experience and if you like it guys please use the link in the video description with offer code Linus to save a few bucks on it happy streaming thanks for watching guys I hope you enjoyed this episode of fast as possible like and share it if you liked it dislike it if you disliked it leave a comment suggesting future episodes of fast as possible that you'd love for us to do and I think that's pretty much it as always thanks again for watching and don't forget to subscribe