Up Portland April 2021

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Hackin’ The NetBy Ted Fleischaker / PublisherThis is about how much size matters. No, no, not that. Minds out of the gutters, please!This is about a recent “emergency” call I got from a friend who told me he changedfrom one internet service provider (ISP) to another and was baffled as to why his iPadquit working from his favourite chair.“Did they change out your WiFi router?” I asked him.“My WHAT?” he replied, as if I’d asked something truly personal.“Did the new company (a cable firm versus a telephone company) change your WiFirouter and antenna?” I asked again.Again, very vague answers which told me he did not have a clue what I was talkingabout nor was he curious as to why he should care. I pried a bit more: “Did they puttheir box where the old one used to be?” I asked.“Nope, they told me that was not where their wiring came into my house so now it’sbehind the TV in the living room by the fireplace. The old one was upstairs.”Lights in my head went off and I told him that was the whole issue: there simply wasnot enough signal to reach his easy chair reliably with the new location for his router.And on top of that, I wondered (and asked him) if their new equipment was as strong aswhat they took out.I could tell after a bit that I would be getting just as far speaking Swahili so I started toexplain, which is what I plan to do for you readers. The explanation, too, is simple (atleast on the face of it) — the power and the location of your WiFi router will determineif things work and work well on the net in your house or wherever you are. If there’s notenough strength, you will need to relocate the router or add a booster.It’s the same at the local restaurant or coffee shop: only there, you don’t own the placeso if you can’t connect (or connect well) you’ll need to move tables or actually talk (Rememberhow to do that?) to those with you and switch off your computer, pad or otherdevice for a bit.But back to my friend. Turns out he has a house on the Peninsula built in 1929 withwhat he proudly says are “real plaster walls” and not wallboard. The house is also onthree floors — a basement, main and upstairs. Add that up and exactly where the routeris placed and how much “juice” it’s pumping out will determine if and where a laptop,iPad or anything else works at all.There’s also the issue of demand --- as in which rooms are demanding most of the signalwhich does exist. He has an Apple TV, a desktop computer, he and his wife both havelaptops and iPads and he has kids so that means a games console to boot. All of those,while not in use at one time will need their share of bandwidth, but also to receive thatbandwidth, adequate signals from the WiFi.I’ve talked before many times here about speed and bandwidth, so suffice to say I thinkhe made the right choice going from the connection he had (about 10 Megs download)to that cable modem (close to 200 Megs, with options, had he wished to pay for them,up to a gig). He basically multiplied the size of his “pipe” coming in, by 20, but if hecan’t get the smaller pipes from the main hook-up to connect to his TV, iPads and soon then he’s not going to notice any improvement. In fact, in this case he was whiningabout a worse signal because the new location for the WiFi router (and apparently thestrength) left huge open “dead spots” in his house.So what to do? Well, there are a lot of different possibilities. The easiest is to relocatethat router back to where the old one was (if possible, given where the cables enter thehouse) and see if that helps. Going from upstairs to behind the TV downstairs meanslosing a bit of height advantage, plus there’s the ever-present issue of having enoughpower to get a reliable signal through those thick plaster walls — walls I’d be willing tobet contain wire mesh or framing to hold his plaster in place.Think of it like listening to your car radio under a bridge or in the basement of a parkinggarage. Once you go into those cement walls even your favourite FM or AM stationwill get static-filled or vanish altogether due to lack of signal. And FM stations have3,000 to 100,000 watts, not a few milliwatts like that router pushes out. Add the wholething together and it’s not an easy “fix”.Next he has the problem of several floors. WiFi signals are not much better than lineof-sightand they often do not travel well through modern (i.e.: cheap, thin) wallboard,much less brick, plaster and dense materials folks used to build with in 1929. Plusthere’s the issue of which rooms he wants to reach. A kitchen with metal back-splashand microwaves plus signals of its own from appliance motors and controls (the appliancesthemselves are metal) won’t be easy.So the other possible fixes?The second easiest (after relocating the router back to where it was and trying that)would be to add an extender. There are many models and companies making suchdevices (some shown above), and they come in a number of flavours. There are powerextenders and there are powered antennas and there are combinations. Different oneswork slightly differently, but with the same goal in mind — to up the amount of signalfrom your WiFi which can reach the parts of your house or rooms you most often use tosurf the net.To quote from one such device’s description, “Extends existing Wi-Fi coverage area soUp Portland April 2021 In Print * On The Web At: www.upportland.com * On Facebook Page 8
you can enjoy wireless networking on compatible devices, including Apple iPad andiPod, e-readers, mobile phones, tablets and more...” In other words, to beef up coverageby being placed where the current WiFi signal starts to fade and retransmitting it with asecond full power signal.There are also other possibilities.Every device using WiFi has a small receiving antenna somewhere inside. You can tryturning or reorienting your iPad or game console to grab more signal. Or, while thiswon’t work for an iPad or iPhone, an internet radio I have kept cutting out until mypartner opened the back, pulled out the receiving antenna for the WiFi and extendedthe cable. Now the antenna sits on a bookcase — maybe not the prettiest — but it’s onlythe size of a thumb drive — and my reception is rock solid. Problem solved!Then there’s the solution I am using with the computer this is being edited on: I haveditched my WiFi totally for it and have a hardwired connection from the router to thecomputer. It means a cable along the baseboard and under a door frame, but it’s reliable100% of the time --- always.But back to the wire-free method most of you will pick: Remember that there are somelimitations to even the biggest, best and baddest antennas and boosters. Chief amongthem is just like your car has a limit to how fast its motor could go (even were there nospeed limits) there is a limit to what you can cover and what is economical to be worthcovering from your WiFi.If you are shooting a zillion watts out and still can’t reach that favourite chair, youmight consider moving the chair or going with a wired connection (for a laptop or desktop)as we did.I did warn this would be complicated and there ARE limitations, despite what your ISPhas sold you. There will be times and spots where WiFi signals just will not work well.And there will be places where (despite all the claims from makers of extenders andhelper antennas and boxes) that you will only make things work reliably if you use awire. One such example is my computer. It’s wired. It has a WiFi connection, but in thespot where my desk sits and in the Old Port area where I live (with a lot of signals —from mobile phone antennas to police dispatchers, radio and TV stations and more)there’s just not a totally reliable WiFi made that will guarantee what my wired connectiondoes.Is this a fix-all for everyone? Not hardly, so two final suggestions to check.For one, make sure it’s your WiFi and not your device that’s got issues. Remember thatiPads and computer WiFi connections and built-in receiving antennas DO sometimesfail. If in doubt, go to a friend’s or coffee shop and see if it connects reliably there.Now’s The Time To Get The OilChanged, Take Off Those WinterTires & Get Ready For Spring &Summer Trips!Free Summer Check-UpWith Any Service!Or, in a pinch you could ask the folks you buy your internet from to send a tech over tohave a look. They may be able to help, but be warned, there could be a service call feeso do ask first.Finally, if things work just fine now, ask a lot of questions before you consider or makea change. While my friend gets four times the speed he used to with that new cablemodem, in his chair he gets nothing. And what fun’s a nap while enjoying internet radioor Netflix if you have to sit on a hard seat at a desk?In Print * Online * On Social MediaUp Portland April 2021 In Print * On The Web At: www.upportland.com * On Facebook Page 9
Page 1 and 2: APRIL 2021Up Portland April 2021 In
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