All posts tagged: Wi-Fi

Vodafone Pro II Ultra Hub Review: Wi-Fi 6E With 4G Backup

Vodafone Pro II Ultra Hub Review: Wi-Fi 6E With 4G Backup

Published by skeptic

While it works well, the 4G backup is likely a superfluous extra for most folks. If your internet service is stable, as it should be if you have full fibre, you’ll never need the 4G service. Folks lucky enough to live in an area with 5G coverage can get much faster backup service or even consider 5G home internet instead of wired broadband. The Vodafone app is pretty barebones, but it’s easy to use. You can review connected devices, set up a guest network, and easily share login details with a QR code. There’s also a built-in assistance option that attempts to automatically troubleshoot and fix network issues. Parental controls and security features would be a welcome addition. Competition and Availability Photograph: Simon Hill You can pay for fast internet service, but a decent router is required to get the most from it. Sadly, most ISPs in the UK do not supply good equipment. The worst offender is BT (British Telecom), which sends most customers the aging Smart Hub 2, a dual-band Wi-Fi 5 router that’s woefully out-of-date. …

12 Best Wi-Fi Routers (2024): Budget, Gaming, Mesh

12 Best Wi-Fi Routers (2024): Budget, Gaming, Mesh

Published by skeptic

We have tested some other routers we like and have several more in the queue. These aren’t as great as the picks above but are worth considering. Vodafone Pro II from £39 a month: Folks in the UK looking for a new internet service provider (ISP) should check out Vodafone’s Pro II. While ISPs have traditionally provided shoddy routers to their customers, that seems to be changing. The Vodafone Pro II is a tri-band router that supports Wi-Fi 6E, and it delivered lightning-fast speeds in my tests on a par with many of my picks above. The range is limited, especially on the 6-GHz band, but this service comes with a range extender that appears as part of the same network. You can also get a 4G backup that connects to Vodafone’s mobile network to keep you online should your regular internet connection fail. It’s only available with a two-year Vodafone service contract, starting from £39 a month. Firewalla Gold SE for $449: This quirky portable device is perfect for people who worry about security …

What Is 5G Home Internet? Here’s Everything You Need to Know (2024)

What Is 5G Home Internet? Here’s Everything You Need to Know (2024)

Published by skeptic

Sick of slow, expensive, or unreliable internet service? You probably are. Internet service providers (ISPs) came second to last in a study of customer satisfaction by industry in the US last year. For most folks, internet service comes into the house via cable, and choices are limited. But with mobile carriers rolling out fast, low-latency 5G networks, that is changing. For some people, 5G home internet could be a viable alternative to traditional broadband. Carriers are starting to offer 5G home internet packages as they look to recoup the costs of upgraded networks, and that could finally mean some real competition for ISPs. If you’re wondering what 5G home internet is, how it compares to broadband, and whether it might be for you, we have all the answers you seek. Special offer for Gear readers: Get WIRED for just $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com, full Gear coverage, and subscriber-only newsletters. Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day. If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn …

The Internet Was Better When It Was Terrible

The Internet Was Better When It Was Terrible

Published by skeptic

“Was the internet really this bad?” I wondered to myself as I read the September 1995 issue of The Atlantic. I was reading the issue in digital form, displayed on Netscape Navigator 3 on a mid-’90s Macintosh. Or, at least, on a software version of the browser and Mac provided on the website OldWeb.Today. The site houses an emulator that connects to the Internet Archive’s record of websites, providing a full computing experience of the World Wide Web of three decades ago. That experience was the badness I was pondering. Not the magazine itself—which began publishing online with this issue, whose cover story asked “How Lincoln Might Have Dealt With Abortion”—but the way I was reading it. The article page looked awful: The nameplate was strangely positioned, and the text was hard to read. Resizing the browser window fixed the layout, but my eyes and brain still struggled to process the words. I was alive and online that fall 29 years ago, but in my memory the web was magical, like a portal into a …

The 10 Best Mesh Wi-Fi Routers of 2024

The 10 Best Mesh Wi-Fi Routers of 2024

Published by skeptic

The mobile app has a wealth of options, and the web interface is even more in-depth. It’s easy to split bands or set up a guest network. I also found that the app recognized most devices correctly (sometimes, it’s difficult to identify devices from the attributed hardware names in router apps). And there’s support for AiMesh, which means you can easily add other Asus routers to expand your Wi-Fi system. The dedicated backhaul channel, the way the router speaks to its nodes and vice versa, is extremely fast, ensuring you get the full speed of your internet connection even from that node you placed near the backyard. On the downside, my XT8 node initially refused to update its firmware, which took a couple of attempts to fix. I also had an issue with my Sonos speakers disappearing, but resolved it with a factory reset. Overall, using the XT8 has been a smooth experience. It’s easy enough for just about anyone to operate, but the depth of options will satisfy power users. This affordable Wi-Fi 6 …

What Is Wi-Fi 7? Here’s Everything You Need to Know About the Next Wireless Standard

What Is Wi-Fi 7? Here’s Everything You Need to Know About the Next Wireless Standard

Published by skeptic

While many people only recently upgraded to Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E, the successor to those standards has already arrived. Wi-Fi 7 is the next significant advance, and just like its predecessors, it promises faster connections, lower latency, and the ability to gracefully manage more connections. If you are looking to improve your Wi-Fi today, Wi-Fi 7 is not the answer, because support will be scarce. But early adopters will be excited by the news that the Wi-Fi Alliance has unveiled the “Wi-Fi 7 Certified” program. Realistically, it will be a good while before most of us should consider switching. If you need to upgrade pronto, first consider delving into how to buy a router before you check out our picks of the best Wi-Fi routers and the best mesh Wi-Fi systems. Updated January 2024: We added news of the Wi-Fi 7 Certified program and updated details of the specifications and our experiences with early Wi-Fi 7 mesh systems and routers. What is Wi-Fi 7? The seventh generation of Wi-Fi promises major improvements over Wi-Fi …

The 1 Thing You Should Do Before You Shop On Public Wi-Fi

The 1 Thing You Should Do Before You Shop On Public Wi-Fi

Published by skeptic

When we’re away from home, joining a public Wi-Fi network can be a convenient way to be online when we don’t have good service or want to cut down on data usage. But should you buy stuff while using these public networks? In many cases, you should be fine. As the Federal Trade Commission explains, “Today, most websites do use encryption to protect your information. Because of the widespread use of encryption, connecting through a public Wi-Fi network is usually safe.” But sometimes these free Wi-Fi hotspots do get compromised by malware infection, fraudulent networks that have legitimate-sounding Wi-Fi names and man-in-the-middle cyberattacks. “Public Wi-Fi networks often lack robust security measures, which makes them attractive targets for hackers who can intercept sensitive data, such as credit card information,” said Michael Jabbara, the vice president and global head of fraud services for Visa. Amy Nofziger, the director of fraud victim support with AARP, said she’s experienced this kind of cyberattack firsthand. When she was on vacation in Las Vegas, she needed to pay a bag fee …

The Seven Stories to Read Today

The Seven Stories to Read Today

Published by skeptic

Plus: A deliciously deceptive movie about liars Illustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani. Source: Getty. December 3, 2023, 8 AM ET This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. The holiday season is upon us—but before you power through your to-do list, decompress with these seven stories, selected by our editors. A Sunday Reading List Some of the below stories have narrated versions, if you prefer to listen to them; just click the link and scroll to the audio player below the image. The Plight of the Eldest Daughter By Sarah Sloat Women are expected to be nurturers. Firstborns are expected to be exemplars. Being both is exhausting. It Will Never Be a Good Time to Buy a House By Annie Lowrey Life Really Is Better Without the Internet By Chris Moody What happened after my wife and I removed Wi-Fi from our home Have You Listened Lately …

I Removed the Internet From My House

I Removed the Internet From My House

Published by skeptic

Before our first child was born last year, my wife and I often deliberated about the kind of parents we wanted to be—and the kind we didn’t. We watched families at restaurants sitting in silence, glued to their phones, barely taking their eyes off the screens between bites. We saw children paw at their parents, desperate to interact, only to be handed an iPad to keep quiet. We didn’t want to live like that. We vowed to be present with one another, at home and in public. We wanted our child to watch us paying attention to each other and to him. The reality, after our son was born, was quite different. In those sleep-deprived early days, I found myself resorting to my phone as a refuge from the chaos. I fell into some embarrassing middle-aged-dad stereotypes. I developed a bizarre interest in forums about personal finance and vintage hats. I spent up to four hours a day looking at my phone while right in front of me was this new, beautiful life, a baby …

Where Are All the Missing Students?

Where Are All the Missing Students?

Published by skeptic

In 2006, the School District of Philadelphia, in partnership with Microsoft, opened the School of the Future. The idea was simple enough: Establish a learning environment centered on technology—no textbooks, just laptops and Wi-Fi—that would provide students in relatively poor districts the same benefits that those in wealthier areas enjoyed. The district built a handsome, well-lit building and filled it with state-of-the-art trappings including electronic lockers and Italian-marble bathrooms. It was heralded as a path-defining achievement for public-private partnerships in education. Two years later, Michael Gottfried, now an economist at the University of Pennsylvania but then a graduate student there, was part of a team examining whether such a technological revolution actually made a difference in student achievement. But he soon realized that the technology was somewhat beside the point: “We were talking to a teacher [at the School of the Future] and she said, ‘Here’s the thing, we can talk all you want about smart boards and laptops per student and curriculum moving online, but I have a bigger problem: Half of my class …