3 Tips to Fix Unreliable Wireless Connections

February 10, 2010

Generally speaking, wireless computer connections are reliable. However, nothing is perfect, and sometimes you may lose your connection or experience a weak signal. There are many factors that impact the reliability of your wireless connection.

For example, if your wireless adapter is too close to a 2.4 GHz wireless telephone, you may notice a decrease in your computer’s wireless single strength. Why? Because the phone and the computer reside on the same frequency and can interfere with each other’s performance.

Handy Repair Checklist for Wireless Interruptions

1. First check to see if your cable or DSL is actually working. Usually located in your basement, most modems have four lights. You have a live Internet connection if the "data" or "status" light is on. If it’s off, or flashing, your cable is out.

2. If your cable/DSL is working, then reboot your computer. Sometimes, if your cable/DSL goes out for even 10 seconds, your computer and the wireless router may no longer be able to talk to each other. By rebooting your computer, a new IP address is assigned, allowing them to once again communicate.

What are Your Internet Connection Solutions?

November 10, 2009

Of primary concern to all internet users is their actual connection to the internet.

A user needs to look at all the factors and weigh the benefits and costs

  • Reliability - is the connection available 24/7, or do you get a busy signal?
  • Speed - at what speeds can a user upload and download files?
  • Costs - what are the setup and monthly costs for the internet connection service?
  • Support - is support available 24/7 and is it free or is there a cost associated with it?
  • Availability - is the desired service available at your location?

    Available options with good and bad features include:

    Local dial up with phone company (local isp) - While this many times is the simplest, often times, they are the most costly and support can be an issue. Speeds are typically the slowest at 26k to 56k connection speeds.

    Software file compression- If you only have 26k dialup isp connections available to you or you want to speed up your DSL connections, this is an important option you should take a look at. With this type of software you can increase your internet connection speeds by as much as five times for very little money. Popular software products that accomplish this are ActiveSpeed, PropelAccelerator, Dr. Speed, and SuperSpeeder, Highly recommended solution to increasing your browsing experience.

  • Time to Redefine Telecom

    August 7, 2009

    Telecommunication, according to Wikipedia, is the extension of communication over a distance. In practice, it also recognizes that something may be lost in the process; hence the term ‘telecommunication’ covers all forms of distance and/or conversion of the original communications, including radio, telegraphy, television, telephony, data communication and computer networking.

    While defining telecom gets more and more difficult, the profit and ethics behind the business keep on diminishing. SBC spent $16B to a company whose revenue stream is declining more than 10% year over year. Verizon bought MCI, and in order to make deal lucrative, they say they will layoff over 7,000 people.

    The reason for scaling-down in telecom is that the technological advancement has terribly been focused on communications. We all owe a thank to nineties for that… Lots of technical people has seen the future in Telecom and made huge amounts of mind investment to the business. Today, we are forced to live in an overly competitive industry where telecom is forced to be cheaper everyday. To make matters worse, a company called Skype appeared. This global P2P Telephony Company decided to make old fashioned definition of telecom a commodity through its software, which allows you to make free calls over the Internet. Other emerging companies like Net2Phone and 8×8 also flocked customers to make cheaper (sometimes free) calls.

    Remotely Connecting by Satellite To the Hospital - 2005

    May 7, 2009

    Hospital’s and the Medical Professionals associated with them across America have discovered during the last few years that a great deal of efficiency can be accomplished by utilizing the World Wide Web to connect Doctors, Surgeons, Medical Transcribers and remote or mobile Clinics together. A specialist can instantly review an X-Ray or medical chart half way around the world or from a very remote area. Although most of this connectivity is accomplished utilizing high speed terrestrial internet connections like a T1, Cable or DSL connections, there are many areas in the U.S. where this type of internet connection isn’t available.

    Satellite internet connectivity has advanced enough during the last year or so to allow a specialist to view highly detailed graphical information (x-rays or scans from MRI equipment) in a HIPPA compliant internet environment that can be deemed "high speed". The equipment needed to accomplish this is more expensive than a DSL or Cable connection and there are somewhat more complicated security measures needed; however, more and more medical group’s are seeing the benefits from this type of connection and adding satellite internet "ground stations" at the remote homes of resident doctors, medical professionals like transcribers and smaller clinics they serve.

    Broadband is State-of-the-Art Internet Access: How Can a Broadband Cable Benefit You?

    February 1, 2009

    We are now well ensconced in a time when the Web is riddled with graphics, animations, sounds, and videos, bringing about a necessity for superior internet access such as that which broadband can provide. The fact is that anything less than the speed supplied by a broadband cable has become inadequate for today’s Web users.

    Of course, if you use the internet only once every so often, you wouldn’t be as heavily dependent upon high-speed internet access as is provided by broadband, however, if you’re a regular user, it’s virtually a necessity.

    But wait a minute?even though you use the internet, it doesn’t mean you know exactly what this high focus form of internet access actually is. So lets start there. In essence, broadband is a very fast form of internet connection. Broadband Will provide you with a noticeably faster internet speed than a dial-up connection.

    Broadband used to be a challenge only because of it’s limited availability, however, today there are many ways that you can have a much faster connection. The delivery methods of broadband have been expanded to the following types of broadband cable:

    Wi-Fi Hotspot Security

    October 31, 2008

    You’ve set up your Boingo account, you’re hanging out at the Home Turf sports bar in LAX and you figure you’ll do a little business or check your e-mail while sipping a Chardonnay. Well, that’s the point of Wi-Fi hotspots; being able to take care of a few things while in a relaxing atmosphere.

    Don’t, however, get so relaxed that you ignore security and give all your confidential information to some unscrupulous hacker. Yeah, you see the guy. He’s over in the corner wearing that fake nose and glasses with the ridiculous Bozo the Clown cap. Yep, drinking a Blatz. Dead give away.

    Sorry, they won’t be that obvious, I doubt they ever drink Blatz and very seldom wear clown caps. When you’re thinking back, trying to remember who was around when your password was stolen, you probably won’t remember the woman in the tastefully tailored business suit, and if, by chance, you do, she won’t be the one you suspect. The best defense is to implement some simple security practices and measures that will safeguard your business and personal information.Hot Spot Security: Simple StuffBe aware of those around you.

    The Coming Television Revolution

    July 30, 2008

    The revolution is just getting started and will be begin to make its mark this year. By 2010, it will begin to take off. By 2025, it will be the standard for all TV viewing. It’s called Internet Protocol Television, or IPTV for short. IPTV works with a set-top box connected to any broadband interface and to a TV. It will allow users to choose among thousands (and eventually hundreds of thousands) of hours of programming, including movies, sports, classic TV, etc., and download their selections from the internet to the hard drive of the set-top box.

    Initially, set-top box hard drives will be able to store up to 300 hours of programming at a time, but capacity will expand as the technology becomes more refined. Also, download times will become shorter and shorter as broadband connection speeds become faster and faster. Eventually, a two-hour movie will be fully downloadable in a couple of minutes. Once the programs are downloaded to the hard drive, they can be viewed on the connected TV at any time via a DVR-type interface provided by the set-top box.

    DSL Internet is a Simple and Easy Way to Get Fast Internet Service

    April 28, 2008

    DSL ? which stands for Digital Subscriber Line ? is a great way to get high-speed internet service, without having to get a cable modem, or live in an area that has cable lines. DSL providers have very fast and comparatively cheap internet connectivity.

    To explain DSL, it is a way to enjoy high-speed internet using your telephone line, just as you would for dial up. Except that it has so many more advantages than a regular internet service could provide.

    Have a look at some of the great ways that DSL internet can benefit your home or business:

    - With a DSL installation, you can keep your internet connection open, and still use the same telephone line for phone calls; both incoming and outgoing.

    - The internet speed that you can obtain with a quality DSL provider is much greater than that of a regular dial-up modem. To compare, you can get an average of 1.5 Mbps with a DSL modem, as opposed to only 56 Kbps with a dial-up connection (that’s 10 times faster!).

    - DSL connection doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll need any new wiring. As long as you have a phone line with which to connect, then you’re already all set.

    Ka Band -Affordable Satellite Internet On The Way!

    January 24, 2008

    Ka Band VSAT* satellite internet technology has enormous possibilities for telecommuters, rural locations and eventually for Motor Home users around the U.S. - if it works! Ka Band satellite internet is an all new approach to sending and receiving internet traffic from space (satellites used for internet are at least 23,000 miles from Earth). *Very small aperture terminal.

    The key improvements in Ka band technology from the "blanket" approach used up to now are:

    1. Ka Band employs "spot beams" rather than broadcasting over an entire Continent?.a far more efficient use of the available bandwidth resulting in lower monthly service cost to end users (as low as $49 per mo.).

    2. Ka Band doesn’t require a very large dish (the dish is about the size of a trash can lid) to produce high speed internet in either direction (downloads & uploads are very fast), resulting in a lower equipment cost to consumers.

    3. Ka Band uses technology that drastically lowers latency (the "lag" created by data traveling all the way to space and back).

    A Cheap Alternative To Broadband?

    October 23, 2007

    Are you a dial-up user looking for a faster connection, but don’t like Broadband prices? If so, you should take a look at a new service called OnSpeed, which has received rave reviews in Internet technology publications.

    What OnSpeed does is to re-route web pages and email via its own servers, compressing the data on the fly prior to sending it onwards to your PC. A small program then decompresses the data, so that you can view it in the normal way via your browser or email client.

    In my own dial-up tests, with a modem running at a nominal 49kb/s I appeared to get speeds close to that of my normal broadband connection of 598 kb/s - very impressive. Image quality is often reduced but the compression for this can be improved, though with an adverse effect on the speed of course.

    Some file types like MP3 also cannot yet be compressed. The company is working on these issues however and expects to find solutions soon.

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