Wi-Fi News
EU Implements 5G Networks
The European Union continues to step up its digital initiatives. Recently, the EU officials have come up with another set of policies that will help European citizens browse the Internet at higher speeds and get access to more content.
The EU plans to implement 5G mobile networks in the entire union by 2025. In case that you didn’t know it, 5G speeds are the equivalent of gigabit Internet, which most of us are unable to get even with standard, wired connections.
It looks like Europeans are ahead of us when it comes to Internet-related initiatives and technologies. Their free roaming plan was rejected, but the fight against extra roaming charges continues. Another interesting proposal is to have free Wi-Fi hotspots in all the major EU towns by 2020.
The European Union also wants to erase any borders when it comes to media services. Digital content should be accessible across the entire EU, according to a recent proposal. This means that any European citizen should be able to watch all of Netflix’s programs regardless of the country that he is currently visiting, for example.
Another proposal would have Google pay whenever they show an article snippet in their search results. It’s no surprise that Google wants to keep people on its search results pages as much time as possible, because this increases the possibility of having them click one of the paid ads. As you can guess, Google is not that happy about this decision.
TP-Link AC750 Significantly Boosts Wi-Fi Range
I’m not sure about you, but I’ve never had access to a Wi-Fi network until ten years ago. But these days, Wi-Fi has become a crucial part of our lives.
Technology – including Wi-Fi – fails us from time to time, though. Routers have gotten better and better as new chips have been developed, but this doesn’t mean that they can defy the laws of physics.
If you’ve got a big house and a single router, you’re probably having a hard time trying to get a strong Wi-Fi signal in every room. Sometimes the problem can be solved easily, by replacing your router antenna with a high gain antenna that’s connected to the router using a long U.FL cable.
Of course, you could also add several routers in your home, but fortunately there’s a much easier, less expensive solution: a Wi-Fi repeater.
Wi-Fi repeaters connect to your existing router and rebroadcast the signal in the areas where the signal is weak.
TP-Link’s AC750 Dual Band Wi-Fi Range Extender, which sells for under $30, is a great little device, and its setup is straightforward. First of all, plug the extender close to the router, and then connect it to the router. Then, unplug the extender and plug it closer to the area that needs a stronger Wi-Fi signal.
Tests show Internet speeds improvements that range from 100% to 3000%. Yes, it’s possible to boost your Wi-Fi speed by 30 using a $29.95 device!
If you have dead Wi-Fi zones in your home, this router is definitely an inexpensive problem solver.
New Wi-Fi Assistant Features
Google has recently added a set of useful features to its Wi-Fi assistant a few weeks ago. If you’ve got a Nexus device, the application can now connect to a non-secure public network, and then secure it by making use of a VPN connection. This means that you can browse the web, update your Facebook status, check email, and more, without having to worry about the security of the network that you are connected to.
Sure, this was possible before Wi-Fi assistant as well, but people were supposed to use separate applications to the that. It’s nice to have these features built right into your phone’s software.
The update has already hit Google’s Play Store, but it may take a few more weeks until it is available for all of us.