Explainers are posts that explain different concepts or ideas.
This post helps you deal with the situation where you want to improve your home Wi-Fi network yet can’t (or don’t want to) get rid of your ISP-provided gateway (or any existing router). It’s a question of Single NAT vs. Double NAT. If those “NAT” terms seem scary or strange, … Continue Reading
On January 8, 2024, the Wi-Fi Alliance introduced the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 program, making the standard official. However, the Wi-Fi 7 story started way before that. Since the second part of 2021, this latest wireless standard has been the talk of the town, with the first routers becoming available starting … Continue Reading
By now, you must have heard of 5G as a significant upgrade to how mobile devices—phones and tablets with data plans—connect to the Internet. As such, it’s slated to change how all devices connect. First available in the US in 2018, 5G has proven to have a relatively slow adoption … Continue Reading
When it comes to building a home mesh Wi-Fi system, you can pick an advanced approach using one of the five DIY options, or you can get a purpose-built (a.k.a. canned) system. This post includes the five most popular brands of the latter, ranking from the list recommended to the … Continue Reading
In mid-2021, Oculus introduced Air Link, a feature that enables users to use the latest Meta Quest headset—or any wireless one—without being tethered to their computer via a wire. Since then, this approach has become a new trend, especially with the introduction of standalone Wi-Fi headsets that work without the … Continue Reading
The MAC address is a critical element of networking, and you’ll learn all about it in this post. However, the first thing to remember is that a MAC address differs from an IP address, although the two coexist nicely. You can even say one depends on the other. That said, it’s … Continue Reading
You walk around the house and sometimes see the Wi-Fi signal strength bars on your device move up or down. If you ever wonder what changes when you lose a bar or gain one, this post is for you. You’ll learn, in simple terms, what dBm is, how it applies to broadcast … Continue Reading
When it comes to network storage, I’d recommend a real NAS server. However, a good server can be expensive. Plus, not everyone wants, needs, or has time to configure all the features. So, the second-best option is to use what you likely already have: the Wi-Fi router USB port. It’s … Continue Reading
