Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Marvin: After using a flip phone for years, I finally decided it was time to upgrade to a smart phone.
I found a good deal on a new iPhone at Best Buy, so I bought one. I like the phone ok, but some things about it are really confusing.
For example, my phone’s user manual says it supports both Bluetooth and WiFi wireless connectivity.
What is Bluetooth and how is it different from WiFi? [Read more…]
Question from Natasha: A few days ago a guy rented the vacant apartment next door to mine. He moved in yesterday, and this morning me knocked on my door and introduced himself.
My new neighbor and I talked for a few minutes, and before he left he asked me if I would consider letting him piggyback off of my WiFi connection because he wouldn’t be able to afford Internet service of his own for a while.
He also said that if I’d accept his offer he’d buy me a brand new $200 wireless router kit to replace my old router as long as I’d be willing to accept it in lieu of his portion of the monthly Internet charge.
This sounds like a pretty good deal to me because I really do need to upgrade my router, but I was wondering if you know of any reason why I shouldn’t accept his offer? [Read more…]
Question from Donna: I have a co-worker who said she often uses the free Xfinity WiFi hotspots to access the Internet every time she goes to the beach.
She said Xfinity has hotspots just about everywhere so there might be one I can use when I visit my mom in Cleveland.
Can I use these Xfinity hotspots while I’m at my mom’s house? [Read more…]
Question from Michael: I just bought a Roku box I have the choice of connecting it to the Internet over WiFi or with an Ethernet cable.
Which one should I choose?
The Roku box is close enough to the router to connect them with a cable and the WiFi signal is strong there.
My question: Is there an advantage to using one method over the other? [Read more…]
I have written many times about why it’s so important to protect your family’s WiFi network by enabling encryption on it and locking it down with a strong password.
Well, this old, but still relevant news story is a real-world example of why locking your WiFi network down is so important. I ran across it while doing some research for a related blog post and thought I’d share it with you. [Read more…]