I bought my home 12 years old from an engineer who designed this house in the mid 1960's. Got all the blueprints, specs, etc. House is build like a civil defense shelter with some very thick walls and ceilings. Bones of this crib is solid! Im being a bit dramatic but its relevent as wifi can be a challange. I have a mesh wifi coming this week to rectify it and increase capacity. Running with a great Apple airport router that has served us very well.

Anyone else upgrading and improving/their home work environment? Painting? renovations?

Knickfury11 wrote:

martin wrote:You can get wifi booster/relays - i'm not sure of the actual term - that will enhance some of your dead spots in home. I've never used but have heard of this.

WiFi amplifiers - plug into socket near your router and watch the magic work. I’ve got two and everything works really well ( don’t want to jinx anything ). I’m in financial services I can work from home to an extent but much prefer to be in the office. My work relies on the performance of these amplifiers. Systems remote access, conference calls etc.

Nice, thanks!

Also, and this is where I am not 100% certain, but I believe with some wifi routers you can set the channel on which it will broadcast (this is outside of 2.4G v 5G bands). Let's just say your 2.4G band has 11 channels it can broadcast over and you should be able to pick which channel your router is transmitting. If all of your neighbors are using the same channel, there may be some interference. Some router will literally tell you how many of your neighbors are using what channels. Pick an unused one.

martin wrote:

Nalod wrote:Mesh is the next evlolution to the boster relay.

I've never even heard of this

OK and now I've learned something. Thanks

Nalod wrote:
Im fortunate I can work anywhere. Its mostly a blessing. I have 1gb fiber optic cable/internet right into the house and have speed tested it to 800 plus. I run 4 TV's in the house. There are 4 of us working out of the house now as of next week. I have 3 ethernet cables to plug into. The Wifi in my study actually works on one part of my desk, but then dies 2 feet away. Not an issue as im wired up but my iphone cell service in the room is ok for calls, but cell data not great and it toggles back and forth from my wifi. Next week daughter and her husband come to stay for a while adn they will be stressing the capicty a bit. She does video editing and uploads to the TV station remote, he runs networks for major luxury brand retail (Tenuous).
We also cut the cord and saving $50 a month using Youtube TV which I lose nothing station wise and get NBA TV as part of the basic package! Picture quality is quite good. Getting all the cable boxes out of the house felt good too!!

I bought my home 12 years old from an engineer who designed this house in the mid 1960's. Got all the blueprints, specs, etc. House is build like a civil defense shelter with some very thick walls and ceilings. Bones of this crib is solid! Im being a bit dramatic but its relevent as wifi can be a challange. I have a mesh wifi coming this week to rectify it and increase capacity. Running with a great Apple airport router that has served us very well.

Anyone else upgrading and improving/their home work environment? Painting? renovations?

You'll be on MTV Cribs soon! No need to upgrade my Wi-Fi or anything, but I have re-trained and bought a new computer and stuff so I can work from home for the foreseeable future. I work as a counselor/psychotherapist, so do online webcam sessions and telephone now. I preferred face to face work, but it okay. I don't so much worry about me catching the virus, but I was getting very anxious before the lockdown, worrying about getting it, being a-symptomatic, and passing it onto my clients (some of whom are very vulnerable or have terminal conditions), so I'm not returning to face to face work until this things sorted (probably a long time away).

I don't actually mind working from home. I worry about the wi-fi signal crapping out mid-session, but I go through backup plans with clients. Don't miss the commuting at all! Also the money saved on transport and therapy room rental, means I can lower my prices so that helps out people who's incomes have been effected but virus. Miss my work with children and families though- can't really do that via webcam or telephone, as a lot of it involved creative stuff, paints, sand trays etc.

This is Amazon's Mesh system and rates very well. I got the the one recommended but with just one beacon for $239.
Seems there is a good selections in the mesh area.

the wifi extender may boost the signal but actually slow down speeds b/c there's a limit on the throughput with the device.

a wifi mesh like amazon eero or google nest not only boosted my signal, it upped my speed from my regular router. but the drawback is that it's a bit pricier. i purchased the amazon eero 2 pack for $169 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0854C6PCP/ref=twister_B0854CTL5N?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1). my video calls were hit/miss prior to the mesh network. now it's all hit - no more freezing/signal dropping.

for those that also require a simple printer, i purchased this compact laser printer (hp laserjet m15w) and it fits the bill. really small for those that don't have the space. https://www.amazon.com/HP-LaserJet-Wireless-Printer-W2G51A/dp/B079QRKWLX

if you need to scan a document, using your phone to take a picture and scan via google drive actually works pretty well. i'm limited in space and didn't want an all in one printer/scanner so i just bought a mini printer for when i need documents (which is very rare) and use my phone as a scanner. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om55cCvQO-Q)

i also had to purchase a legit office chair that's comfortable for 8 hours a day. i had a task chair but after 3-4 hours, it started getting uncomfortable. this is just as important as your network speeds imho. and if you don't want to mess up your hardwood floors and don't want a mat, you can use these wheels as the chair's base - https://www.amazon.com/wheels-replacement-casters-hardwood-duty/dp/B01G643EU6/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=office+chair+wheels&qid=1590059552&sr=8-5

finally, wearing a headset for work calls hurts my ears so i picked these up (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0816KKWPQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) - super lightweight and good clarity listening and speaking.

NYKBocker wrote:

djsunyc wrote:finally, wearing a headset for work calls hurts my ears so i picked these up (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0816KKWPQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) - super lightweight and good clarity listening and speaking.

Do you know if this will work with Linux? I am using a corded earbud and upgrade to wireless would be great.

man you are a super nerd

martin wrote:

NYKBocker wrote:

djsunyc wrote:finally, wearing a headset for work calls hurts my ears so i picked these up (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0816KKWPQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) - super lightweight and good clarity listening and speaking.

Do you know if this will work with Linux? I am using a corded earbud and upgrade to wireless would be great.

man you are a super nerd

Excuse you. "Super Commando Nerd" or I will consider this as a slight.