Multi-gig is the future, and many internet providers are already moving in that direction. A lot of them, like Comcast Xfinity, already have multi-gig plans, or they’re working on rolling them out. Google Fiber also wants to join the fun, with its latest field test reaching mind-bending speeds.

Google Fiber’s internet currently goes up to 2 gigs, but Google is now testing even faster speeds that could be available to customers within a few months. In the meantime, the company is showing us the results of its latest field test, rolled out in Kansas City. The house of Nick Saporito, Head of Commercial Strategy for Google Fiber, is getting download speeds of 20Gbps through Fiber.

The degree to which we rely on the internet for everything from work to entertainment means sluggish Wi-Fi speeds are excruciating. Here are some common causes of Wi-Fi issues and what to do about them.

1. Outdated Wi-Fi Routers Impact Performance

Everybody hates spending money, and it’s frustrating to replace functional, albeit underperforming, hardware. But the reality is Wi-Fi hardware has advanced pretty consistently over the years.

If you’re still using an old router you picked up at Best Buy ten years ago or the lackluster Wi-Fi router built into the router/cable modem combo unit your ISP gave you, you’re not going to have a great time. Further, while some of the tips below might help you if you have an old Wi-Fi router, there’s no replacement for biting the bullet and buying a new one. TP-Link Archer AX10 AX1500 Wi-Fi 6 Router with parental control.

2. Poor Router Placement Dampens Signal Strength

The only thing worse than having an old Wi-Fi router is parking your Wi-Fi router in a terrible location—and if you have both an old and poorly placed outer, you’re going to have a really bad time.
Moving your Wi-Fi router is an easy fix. Just be sure to place it where the signal is most central to your daily activities and avoid placing it near Wi-Fi blocking things.

3. Too Many Devices Bog Underpowered Hardware Down

One of the biggest advantages of newer Wi-Fi hardware isn’t just the improved speeds that come with each new Wi-Fi generation but an overall increase in power and the number of devices the Wi-Fi router can handle.

Even if you’re not chasing performance benchmarks to show off your new 2Gbps fiber line, you’ll benefit from a newer Wi-Fi router if you have a plethora of devices in your home.

We want to emphasise that it’s the number of devices and not the number of users that you want to focus on. Increasingly devices, even when they aren’t in use, have a fairly high bandwidth overhead and place demands on your network you might not expect.

Cloud-based security cameras use a lot of bandwidth, as do a variety of other smart home devices—you’d be surprised how many bandwidth vampires there are around your home. People think about heavy bandwidth use when worrying about blowing through their data cap, but all those devices using the bandwidth are also usually using Wi-Fi too.

Add up all the computers, tablets, smartphones, consoles, streaming devices, smart TVs, smart home accessories, and more found in a modern home, and you’re looking at a list that easily brushes up to or exceeds the capacity of older routers.

While we’re talking about too many devices on your Wi-Fi network, we’d encourage you think about taking devices off your Wi-Fi network. No, we don’t mean living a life with an Xbox or smart TV fully disconnected from the internet—we mean switching any devices you can over to Ethernet to free up airspace for your remaining Wi-Fi devices.

4. Old Hardware and Cables Reduce Speed

This one is really easy to overlook if you’re not much of a networking nerd. While the Wi-Fi router itself and the Wi-Fi capabilities of the endpoint devices like your smartphone or smart TV are a huge part of the Wi-Fi performance puzzle, you don’t want to neglect the simple physical bits that tie your network together.

If you have outdated Cat5 cables or an outdated 10/100 network switch mixed in with the network hardware you’re unwittingly hobbling your network speeds.

For folks with slower sub-100Mbps broadband, you may never notice that old switch screwing up your performance, but if you have faster broadband, those old cables and hardware will reduce your maximum potential speed.

5. Channel Congestion Dings Wi-Fi Performance

Wi-Fi channel congestion occurs when multiple Wi-Fi devices are using the same frequency, or channel, in the same air space.

This is more of an issue for devices on the 2.4Ghz band than on the 5Ghz band, but you should pay attention to it regardless if you live in an apartment or densely packed neighborhood. You’ll need to identify which channels are the most congested and refer to the documentation for your particular router to change to less congested channels.

6. Wi-Fi Extenders Increase Reach, But Decrease Speed

If you’ve struggled with Wi-Fi issues like slow speeds or lackluster coverage, there’s a good chance you’ve considered using a Wi-Fi extender and possibly have one in your home right now.

Despite their popularity, from a sales standpoint, Wi-Fi extenders have a bit of a bad reputation when it comes to actual network performance. While they can certainly extend the reach of your network when properly deployed, they can also introduce a lot of network congestion, latency, and reduced speeds. Try WiFi Mesh System

For over a decade, G Suite was Google’s collection of professional productivity tools. As the way people work has evolved, so has G Suite. To signify this transformation, Google rebranded the service as “Google Workspace.” Let’s take a look.

What Was G Suite?

Before we talk about Google Workspace, let’s take a look back at G Suite. The service started in 2006 as a way for organizations to use Google’s services on their own domains for a monthly subscription.

Rather than maintaining their own network storage, email server, and other various tools, G Suite allowed organizations to use Google’s suite of cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools as the backend of their business.

RELATED: What is G Suite, Anyway?

The original set of tools included Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar, and Google Page Creator. Over time, it expanded to include Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Google Drive, Google Chat, and Meet.

All of these tools are available for free to consumers, but they lack certain features. G Suite customers get custom domain email addresses (@gmail.com vs @xtechno.co.nz), cloud storage, admin tools, 24/7 customer support, and more.

What Is Google Workspace?

Google Workspace continues the evolution of G Suite. In fact, it’s not even the first name change. The service was originally called “Google Apps for Your Domain.” Later, it was rebranded to simply “Google Apps,” before it was eventually renamed to “G Suite” in 2016.

Google talked about how the name “G Suite” had the connotation of a very traditional work environment. As the concept of a workspace changed, it felt the name needed to invoke that shift.

At the core, Google Workspace is the same service as G Suite. It’s the culmination of several changes Google made throughout 2020. The separate tools have deeper integration with each other. Rather than jump between Gmail, Docs, Meet, etc., everything is available in one central spot.

Is Google Workspace Free?

Google Workspace is not a free service, though all the tools available in Workspace do have free consumer versions. There are a few different pricing tiers to match the needs of your organization. At the time of writing, the pricing breaks down as follows:

At the bare minimum, everyone in the Workspace gets a custom and secure business email address, video meetings, cloud storage, and support. From there, it depends on how large your organization is and what advanced features you want.

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The main take away here is Google Workspace is the natural evolution of G Suite. It offers the same set of tools and premium features for a price, with some additions thrown on top. If you used G Suite in the past, Workspace offers the same experience.

Another Windows 10 update – KB4556799 – wreak havoc on end user’s PCs, I woke to find several systems I’m using to benchmark PC hardware riddled with problems.

The update, which claims to improve various security measures also states includes ‘Updates for storing and managing files.’ Unfortunately, this appears to have caused blue screens of death (BSOD), stability issues and garbled audio as files are literally being hidden or deleted and cannot be found by Windows or the software they use.

Contact us if you have the above problem…
Email: info@xtechno.co.nz, M: 0221504265

A number of New Zealand businesses and organisations are encouraging their staff to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. We recommend businesses and staff take measures to ensure they’re working in a secure way while away from the office.

Advice for individuals

• Working securely from home
• Top 11 cybersecurity tips

Advice for businesses

• Enabling staff to work remotely
• Top 11 security tips for businesses

Working securely from home

Working from home is convenient, and even necessary as part of a business continuity plan, but isn’t necessarily as safe for the services and data you’re accessing remotely.
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Microsoft’s new Edge browser is now finished and available for download. This new browser is based on Chromium, which forms the basis of Google Chrome. Windows 10 users will also get the new Edge browser automatically delivered via Windows Update in the next few months.

Edge is available for Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, macOS, iPhone, iPad, and Android. Microsoft has even promised Edge for Linux in the future—no surprise, as Chrome already runs on Linux.

The new Edge browser offers many of the features found in Google Chrome, features found in the older Edge like support for inking PDF files with a stylus, and new features like Internet Explorer Mode for accessing older websites without actually opening Internet Explorer. And yes, the new Edge works with Chrome extensions.

Microsoft is also betting hard on privacy protection with “tracking prevention,” which is enabled by default on Edge and blocks many types of trackers on the web.

After you install the new Edge, the old Edge browser will be hidden on your system. The new Edge browser can automatically import the old Edge browser’s data, so you won’t lose anything.

Microsoft has more information about Edge available in its announcement post. We look forward to using it more.

Even if you stick with Google Chrome, Microsoft’s cooperation will make Chrome better.

How to Upgrade to Windows 10 From Windows 7 for Free
Windows 7 is dead, but you don’t have to pay to upgrade to Windows 10. Microsoft has quietly continued the free upgrade offer for the last few years. You can still upgrade any PC with a genuine Windows 7 or Windows 8 license to Windows 10.