Working From Home?

For those used to working casually at home and otherwise using a residential network for personal reasons, you might find that you need more than you have for constant calls, file transfers, and videoconferencing.

Now is a terrific time to scrutinise your online setup.

This includes your choice of internet provider, how much you are paying for their services, and whether the internet gear in your home is up to date.

Do you have the right provider?

Compare what each provider has to offer.

Home workers may find that a high-speed downstream connection that works great for video streaming is paired with a low upload speed that can’t handle bidirectional video or file uploads and sync with work.

You may be able to get your current provider to bump your plan up or you might need to switch.

Lose the cap: Some RSPs impose a limit on how much data you can use each month, after which you are throttled to a lower speed, cut off, or pay overage fees.

You should talk to your RSP about their current policy and decide whether it’s worth raising the cap if it costs money—and whether your work would pick that cost up.

Some RSPs may also disable caps during the pandemic.

Update your broadband gear.

Broadband providers typically equip their users with rental routers but are not always as interested in swapping out gear that goes out of date.

If you are not sure, ask your provider to check.

This is especially important if your broadband router is also a Wi-Fi router that provides wireless internet access within your home.

Wi-Fi technology is continually evolving, so make sure your provider’s gear is up to the job.

Because this gear is typically shipped from a central office, you can receive it with minimal or no person-to-person interaction.

Time to update your Wi-Fi gear?

If you’re making do with an old wireless router that doesn’t provide good coverage everywhere, consider a mesh system, where each router acts as a wireless node that automatically finds all the others.

Almost no configuration is needed and it can dramatically improve coverage and sometimes speed.