Category: Wireless

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I switched my WiFi network to Unifi a year ago! How’s it going?

Time flies when you’re no longer troubleshooting your WiFi. Last February I made the decision to upgrade away from my Linksys Velop WiFi system and take the advice of so many, and move over to Unifi from Ubiquiti. At the time, I came to grips with the fact that I had outgrown consumer networking equipment and needed something more robust and could handle the sheer number of devices I had in my home. My switch to Unifi solved all my networking issues, and honestly, I’m back to not thinking about it anymore (as it should be). 

Unifi is like a drug

Although I started with just the Dream Machine Special Edition, U6 Enterprise and U6 LR Access Points, I have added a significant amount of new switches and access points since last February.

Like anything that works and makes life easier, you tend to want more of it. While my initial investment in a Unifi Dream Machine SE (router) and two Unifi Access Points solved all my WiFi woes, I couldn’t stop there. I started looking at everything that made up my network and wondering if replacing those items would be even better.

I switched over to all Unifi switches

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Not Getting The Internet Speeds You’re Paying For? Here’s Why…

Are Your Internet Speeds Trapped In Your Router?

When you sign up for an internet plan with your ISP (Internet Service Provider), you typically sign up for the speeds you need to work and/or cover your entertainment streaming/gaming. However, if you run a speed test right now, chances are the results will be lower than what you signed up for.

I’m on the fastest internet plan available in my area.

This means that my internet speeds can be as high as 1200 Mbps down and 35 Mbps up (geez, this upload speed really needs to be improved). However, up until recently, I never saw that download speed. Like never!

There can be many factors affecting your internet speed. I’m going to cover the top three reasons:

1. You’re on Wi-Fi

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How to Store and Backup Your Photos Like a Pro

Now that my network upgrade is complete (see my Networking gear guide here to see every item I put into my new server racks), it’s time to focus on something I’ve been putting off for way too long. It was time to replace my 2012 Mac mini Server and Drobo 5D. During the COVID-19 pandemic Drobo went M.I.A. They had no products in stock, and it was reported that calls were largely unanswered.

While my Drobo and Mac mini running Mac OS X Server Sierra 10.12 was working fine, I knew I was living on borrowed time. I feared that getting a replacement would be difficult or impossible if my Drobo had some mechanical failure.

Time to upgrade to a NAS (Network Attached Storage)

I had been researching solutions from Synology and QNAP. As much as I pride myself on being tech-savvy, it wasn’t easy trying to distinguish which one was better and which product in their respective product lines would be best for me.

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How I Solved My WiFi Nightmare

I have 1GB Internet (1200Mbps down/35Mbps up), and when everything went downhill, this was the AWFUL WiFi speed I started getting.

I’m not an IT guy. I have had to learn about networking out of necessity, not out of desire or fascination. I view a home network as something that should just work, and you shouldn’t have to think about it day-to-day, just like your refrigerator. You open it and expect things to be cold. You close it and forget about it. You don’t spend hours trying to optimize it. You don’t look for Facebook groups looking for support because it either works or doesn’t. There isn’t much in-between. If it doesn’t work, you get it repaired, replace it, and then forget about it again. In my opinion, a WiFi network should be the same way. You never know how much you depend on your WiFi and internet until it dies!

One day my WiFi just went to hell

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Get The Last Business Card You’ll Ever Need

Popl and Tap Tag Digital Business Cards with embedded NFC tags and QR Codes

Gone are the days of big in-person conferences and meetings where you’d pass out dozens of business cards. Well at least for now. I do miss in-person events and hopefully, we’ll be able to see each other in person again soon. When we do, I won’t be carrying a ton of business cards like I used to. I’ve got one digital business card that should last forever.

My Digital Business Card Is The Last One I’ll Ever Need

Instead of getting paper cards printed and knowing that if anything changes on them I’d have to dump (recycle) them and get more printed, I had a digital card made instead. This digital card has an NFC chip in it that can be scanned by any modern smartphone.

Instead of giving you a card, I would wave my digital card near your smartphone and a notification would pop up for you to tap. Once you tap it, all of my contact/social media information would load in your browser with the option to save me to your contacts.

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Don’t Use an Apple AirTag as a Pet Tracker – Use a Whistle Instead!

Apple introduced their AirTag (a Tile competitor) for those looking for an easy way to keep track of things like keys, purses, wallets, etc. However, many have been tempted to use them on their pets too. There certainly isn’t anything wrong with this thought process, but it really depends on your situation and where your pet may go missing.

How do AirTags work?

With an AirTag there is no subscription fee, no WiFi, and no GPS. It works with Ultra Wideband technology to show itself to the Find My app on your iOS devices. In order for your lost/misplaced/stolen object to show up on the Find My network it would have to be within range of another Apple device such as an iPhone, iPad or Mac. Let’s say you left your backpack with an AirTag attached to it/in it, in the library and you drove home. Now you’re miles away from your backpack.

You are way out of the range of bluetooth or even the 800 foot range of Ultra Wideband technology. However, if someone else is in the library near your backpack with an iPhone, iPad or Mac your backpack AirTag would automatically be picked up by the Find My network and show its location in the Find My app on your iOS device. Luckily the people near your backpack don’t need to do anything special. There’s nothing they need to install or activate. It all happens in the background. Your AirTag in your backpack would privately be detected and shown on the Find My network just being near another Apple device. Cool!

This is not ideal for pets depending on where they may get lost

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No WiFi Dead Spots PERIOD. Linksys Velop WiFi 6 Mesh Router Review

Linksys Velop WiFi 6 Mesh Router

I can’t believe that it has been almost two years since I moved away from my Apple AirPort Extreme WiFi routers. You can see my original Linksys Velop review from May 2018 here. I grew my original three node Tri-band Linksys Velop network to five nodes that year and it worked pretty well for me. However, I’m a speed freak. I want the fastest possible network speeds that I can get and I zero tolerance for dead spots. I have a fairly large network with anywhere from 110 to 130 devices connected at any given time. I also have a smart home and stable fast WiFi is a must for a smart home to function successfully. This need for speed lead me to look at the NEW Linksys Velop WiFi 6 Mesh Router.

The Linksys Velop WiFi 6 Mesh Router is a BEAST!

It’s not only significantly larger in size, but it also improves upon the Velop Tri-band Mesh Router in every way. The specs are mouth-watering.

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The Best Wacom Intuos Pro Small to Date!

Wacom Intuos Pro Small

I’ve had several Wacom tablets over the years. I use them almost exclusively when I retouch photos and if I ever dabble in creating art. I love my 27″ Cintiq QHD display tablet. However, when I need to take a tablet with me on the go I’ve always preferred carrying a Wacom Intuos Pro Small. With that said, I stopped carrying my previous version. While it was “small” it was still bulky enough to take up more space and weight in my bag than I wanted. My backpack is always heavy. I decided to remove some things to lighten the load. Every ounce matters. I figured I could just use my iPad Pro and Apple Pencil as a tablet if I really needed to. While this solution did work, it just wasn’t the same as a Wacom graphics tablet. Wacom has been refining their pen/tablet technology for years! The newer tablets have a pen that offers 8,192 levels of pressure. This level of precision is amazing. The pen also has configurable buttons on the side and the top can be used as an eraser. Apple Pencil is great, but it just can’t do as many things as you can with a Wacom pen.

The NEW Wacom Intuos Pro Small makes its way back into my life and my backpack!

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SliceCharge Pro – the wireless charger you’ve been waiting for

Apple’s AirPower was supposed to be the only wireless charger you would need. One charging mat that lets you charge an iPhone (or Android), Apple Watch and AirPods. Apple decided to cancel the AirPower before it ever shipped. They sited quality/technical difficulties. I can only imagine that this was because you would have been able to put your phone, watch or AirPods anywhere on the mat. Since the Apple Watch doesn’t use a standard Qi charger I’m sure it was hard to make it work when placed anywhere on the mat.

There are lots of Qi wireless chargers on the market. Some are designed just to charge a phone while other bigger mats are designed to charge two to three devices. I originally went with the Nomad Wireless Charger as it was one of the first to have an integrated Apple Watch charger. The Nomad solution works fine, but what I didn’t like about it was that it was one configuration. You lay your phone on it either vertically or horizontally and you put your watch on the dedicated spot. If you want to charge a third device then you put the phone vertically in the middle. What I don’t like about this is that you have to put the phone on it just right (not to far forward and not too far towards the front) or it won’t be on one of the three charging coils and therefore it won’t charge. I have woke up on occasion only to realize that my phone didn’t charge because it wasn’t sitting on it just right.

SliceCharge Pro offers six high speed charging coils instead of three or four

inside view of the 6 total charging coils

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