WirelessComputing

Computer Care: It’s a wireless world, and soon we’ll all be connected

By Arthur Glazerglazer.tech@gmail.com

POSTED: September 27, 2013 6:01 p.m.

Back in the day, if you wanted Internet access, you needed an Ethernet connection; you were tethered to a cable. Then came wireless Internet or Wi-Fi. It’s also called WLAN or Wireless LAN, which is Wireless Local Area Network. The technical term for it is 802.11, which is the set of standards for wireless in the 2.4-5 GHz frequency bands.

We’ve gone from 802.11a to b to g, then to n and more recently to the newly developed 802.11ac speeds. You will soon be seeing equipment with that standard on it.

Just when you think you’ve got the latest technology, something better and faster comes along.

As opposed to connecting your smartphone via a 3G or 4G cell tower, Wi-Fi connects to a computer via an access point, or a router. It’s usually the less expensive connection option with your laptop, tablet or cellphone. If you have access to Wi-Fi, choose it over 3G or 4G to save your data and money.

Wi-Fi is now much more widespread than it used to be. It’s not just free at coffee houses, airports and hotels anymore, either. Whole offices are wireless. Some municipalities are offering free Wi-Fi in their downtown areas or parks.

Santa Clara, Calif., has about 19 square miles of public Wi-Fi for its residents and San Jose’s covers 1.5 miles of its downtown area. San Francisco is working on its version with Google.

Amherst, Mass., has free service in its downtown area as does El Paso, Texas, and Denver, Colo., and some others.

But currently, there are many more European and Asian cities with free municipal Wi-Fi than in the United states, although we are working on it.

Bologna and Milan in Italy offers free hot spots around the city and Dublin, Ireland, offers the same. Bangkok, Thailand, has free wireless service, as does Taipei, Taiwan, Guadalajara, Mexico, and Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand, at select places.

In Paris, the parks and libraries have free Wi-Fi. In Zrenjanin, Serbia, it’s free in the city center, and in Vatra Dornei, Romania, 85 percent of the city is covered with free Wi-Fi.

The list goes on: Heraklion, Greece; Geneva, Switzerland; Luxembourg; Bangalore, India; Montreal and Toronto, Canada; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Not only is Wi-Fi free in these places and dozens more like them, but they have faster access speeds than we do here.

The new 802.11ac standard will make it easier for more cities to accomplish this task in the near future.

With the proliferation of Wi-Fi and number of devices that use it ever increasing, there is a demand for increased performance. The best 802.11n devices top out at 450 megabits per second at close range, with declining performance as the range increases.

In contrast, the new 802.11ac standard can achieve more than three times that performance with speeds up to 1.35 gigabits per second. The new 802.11ac standard has the capability to maintain a higher level of performance at any range.

There will be eight times more channels than with previous standards and we can expect less interference from devices such as microwave ovens, cordless phones, baby monitors, Bluetooth gadgets or metal studded walls.

We may be about to catch up with the rest of the world as far as wireless Internet access is concerned. Not only are U.S. subscribers cutting the cord to their land line phones, but to their wired Internet service as well.

Web connections on the now ubiquitous smartphones, laptops, tablets, televisions and gaming devices make the demand for greater access and faster speeds. 802.11ac should provide for that.

According to consumer surveys by Leichtman Research Group Inc., hundreds of thousands of Americans canceled their home Internet service last year, relying instead on wireless access.

Those people are taking advantage of the growing abundance of Wi-Fi hot spots around the country with their portable wireless devices. The new standard will allow even more users access to the fast new wireless networks as access rates improve.

So be prepared to get a new router soon if you do a lot of streaming with your wireless devices.

Next time you find yourself at a public park or downtown, who knows — you may be able to watch a movie, or at least freely check your Facebook or email accounts.

I know I’ll be watching more Netflix on my tablet than NBC on my television. I will finally be able to listen to Pandora more freely.

Not being a 3G or 4G subscriber on my cellphone, the proliferation of faster free wireless will be music to my ears — literally.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and on gainesvilletimes.com.

Wireless Home Networking

Computer Care: Tweaking your wireless network

	By Arthur Glazerarthur@glazerthepctech.com

Is your laptop across the house from your router or on a different floor? Do you get the same poor reception on your wireless network that you get on your cell phone?

I can't get a decent cell signal inside my house without standing in front of a window. Sometimes I place the phone on the windowsill and use my Bluetooth headset.

But on your wireless network, there is no reason you shouldn't have a good signal. Here are some tips to help you improve reception. Most are easy fixes and many are either free or inexpensive.

First try rearranging your modem and router. If it is one device, move it across the desk; if two devices, put some space between them. Keep them away from cordless telephones that use the 2.4 GHz frequency (the 900 MHz and 5 GHz models are OK).

Try to place them centrally in the house, not in an end room or by a window. Don't put them on the floor, near other electronics or by metal filing cabinets. A DSL modem can connect to any phone jack in the house and a cable modem can connect to any coaxial outlet. You can get splitters for both to accommodate your Internet while maintaining your phone and TV connections.

The signal is line-of-sight, so if it has to travel through block walls, walls with aluminum studs and microwave ovens, the signal will be affected. Higher is better; thus, the placement of cell towers on hills (for all the good it does in my house).

If your router has antennas, try adjusting them to a lower angle. I got good results with this reaching down stairs in my house.

If you want to cut the (Ethernet) cord on your desktop, you can purchase a PCI wireless card for less than $50. Open the case, push in the card on an empty PCI slot, screw on the antenna, load the driver and you're set.

Alternatively and easier to install is a USB wireless adapter for about the same price.

While any wireless adapter will connect to any router, sometimes you get more speed staying with the same manufacturer. If you have a Linksys adapter, try to get a Linksys router.

The standard for wireless is 802.11 and has types g, b or n, each being progressively faster than its predecessor. All will work and are backward compatible.

Another thing to try is updating your router's firmware. Make sure you download the correct version. See the label under the device to be certain. Also update the driver for the wireless adapter in your computer.

To extend the wireless range in your house, you may consider getting a repeater or a wireless access point. Again, stick to the same brand with these.

These won't make the signal stronger, but will stretch the distance it travels. Less expensive than buying a wireless access point, is buying a second wireless router, as the former can be pricey. For instructions on using a router as an access point, go to http://ezlan.net/router_AP.html.

For a You Tube video on repeaters, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft0ji8-y4w0. While there, look in the right margin for other tutorials that may be of assistance.

You could also swap out antennas on either or both the router and your wireless adapter. Depending on placement of the router, get either unidirectional or omnidirectional antenna replacements. These don't cost much and often yield great improvement.

If you are a do-it-yourselfer, watch this short video tutorial at http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/11/20/how-to-extend-your-wireless-range-for-5-cents/. It's a good, cheap antenna fix.

Another option for getting better reception is to try changing channels in your router setup. Although many channels are listed, I suggest you stick with 1, 6 or 11.

To access router's setup, you need to type its IP address in your browser's address bar. Linksys for example, uses 192.168.1.1 for the (private) IP address. D-Link uses 192.168.0.1 for theirs. The User and Password for Linksys is "Admin," while for D-Link it is "Admin" for the user and the password is left blank.

If you want to determine your public or outside IP address, the easiest way is to go to whatismyip.com.

With wireless networks, be sure the information is encrypted. Setup usually does this for you. WEP encryption is good; WPA is better. If it is not encrypted, not only will your neighbors (or passers-by) be able to see your network, they will be able to log on to it.

You will then be sharing your bandwidth with them, experiencing a slower connection. If they can access your network, they can access your computer and your files. So yes, encryption is important.

I can't elaborate here. Like I've said before, that's another column.

So if your wireless network's reception is as bad as my cellular reception, try some of the changes I've suggested. I can check my e-mail all over the house. You should be able to as well.

Can you hear me now?

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly. Arthur welcomes your computer questions and ideas for future columns.