Is Ubiquiti UniFi Cheap, or is Everyone Else Overpriced?

We’ve done the maths and Ubiquiti UniFi comes at a much better price than the likes of Cisco and Ruckus equivalents. Does that mean that their products are actually ‘cheap’ or are the alternatives just somewhat over-priced?

It kind of goes with the territory that as performance increases, prices reduce. The technology industry has a long history of this.

Let’s take the world’s first mobile phone, for example. The Motorola DynaTAC 800x had half an hour talk time before the battery died. Can you imagine? It also cost almost $4000. So just think how much mobile phone technology has advanced since then – And how much your current iPhone or Samsung would cost if the price had increased with the tech?

And what about the first laptop? Well, it wasn’t really a laptop, more a portable PC, if portable is the right word. At 28lbs and the size of a sewing machine, you wouldn’t be sliding that Compaq into a backpack and hopping onto the train to work would you. And again, it was a whopping 3 and a half thousand dollars. Not quite the touch screen and clip on keyboard you can get today.

Thankfully, again, the price for a laptop today does not reflect the leaps in technology since 1983.

And so we found ourselves back to Ubiquiti UniFi. Is it cheap or are it’s competitiors over priced?

We work with these products a lot with our clients as their vision for making networking technology available to everyone very much matches our ethos here at Geekabit.

The Ubiquiti UniFi products are typically found to be 80% cheaper that competitors prices, but offer comparable performance.

Why is that then, if it they’re not just ‘cheap’?

The difference with Ubiquiti UniFi is that their approach to traditional industry practices are a little different and thus avoid what they deem unneccessary costs. This means that these costs don’t get passed down the ladder to the consumer, meaning they can offer a comparably performing product at a much lower price.

Where Ubiquiti UniFi is different:
– They don’t waste money on employing sales people. Their products literally speak for themselves, as I’m sure our clients will agree, and instead rely on word of mouth and internet evangelism to spread the word on why to choose Ubiquiti UniFi over other more pricey options.
– Their user community, ourselves included, have knowledge and expertise that can be shared to provide support outside the realms of what the organisation itself provides. Basically, we help and liaise with eachother.
– Ubiquiti UniFi products are built for their specific purpose. They don’t have unneccessary or gimicky features built in, as they are rarely used or needed by the end user. This means that an exhaustive list of features doesn’t push the price up on what could be a simple and easy to use piece of kit.

We have to agree with Ubiquiti UniFi that it’s all about perspective. Are their products actually cheap? No. They’re built for purpose, allow their performance and ease of use to speak for itself, and rely on their user community to share the love.

They’re not cheap, they are priced what they need to be priced. They’re a cheaper option, but only because the alternatives are at a higher price point, or over-priced perhaps, not because they themselves are cheap.

For more information on the Ubiquiti UniFi products, have a scroll through our previous blogs. And to see how this networking technology could be beneficial to your business, get in touch with our Wi-Fi experts here at Geekabit.

Cat5 vs Cat5e vs Cat6 Cables – What’s the difference?

All we hear about when it comes to Wi-Fi is wireless, wireless, wireless. Everything nowadays seems to be wireless! But there are instances and situations where cables might be better or necessary. Maybe you stream lots of videos, play games or transfer data between computers regularly on your home network – Or maybe you need to do all of these things for work! In these situations, cables are your friend.

But which one? Cat5, Cat5e or Cat6?

While all these cables look almost identical and can all plug into an ethernet port, there are some differences internally.
If you’re looking at your cables now and wondering which they are, look at the text printed on the cable and it will usually state which one it is.
It can actually get rather over-complicated when looking at the differences between them, mostly due to network standards, so this is going to outline the basic differences. All you really need to know is how each cable will affect the speed of your network.

Cat5: A bit older and slower

  • An older type of network cabling
  • Cat5 or Category 5 cabling were made to support theoretical speeds of 10Mbps and 100Mbps
  • It might be possible to get gigabit speeds on a Cat5 cable, but it would have to be a shorter cable and even then it wouldn’t be guaranteed
  • You won’t tend to see these for sale so much as they are an older type of cable, but you might have them already from a previous router or other network device that you’ve previously purchased.

Cat5e: Faster and with less interference

  • Cat5e, or Category 5 enhanced cabling, is a bit of an upgrade from Cat5
  • In theory, it’s faster than Cat5 because it’s made to support 1000 Mbps “gigabit” speeds
  • Sometimes you get interference or ‘crosstalk’ between wires inside cables, but Cat5e reduces this
  • In comparison to Cat5, these enhancements mean it’s more likely that you’ll get faster and more reliable speed

Cat6: Even faster, but maybe not completely necessary

  • Cat 6, or Category 6 cabling is one step up again and has a few more improvements from Cat5e
  • It’s specifications on interference are stricter
  • In certain cases, it is capable of 10-Gigabit speeds
  • It depends on your requirements as to whether this cable is necessary. If it’s a home network then the speeds and interference improvements might not even be needed for regular usage
  • It’s more a case of, if you’re buying new cables then you may as well get the latest one with all of the up-to-date improvements, but not necessary to rush out and buy them to replace your current Cat5e cables.

Decisions, decisions… Which one is best?

  • One thing to note is that your internet speed is different to your network speed. Upgrading your cables isn’t going to make loading websites any quicker. The speeds on your network are usually higher than your actual internet speed.
  • It will, however, be useful if you are transferring files or data between computers, for example backing your computer up. Using using gigabit-compatible hardware can make things move along faster.
  • It’s not just the cables you need in order to be gigabit-compatible. You’ll also need the right router and network cards in your computers. Modern ones tend to have compatibility built in but if you have older PC’s or routers then they might not be.
  • You can find out compatibility with fast speeds by Googling the hardware’s model number.
  • If you have no problems with your current network speeds and it does the job it needs to, then it’s not really necessary to upgrade everything.
  • Perhaps you want or need to increase your network speeds to the best possible, then upgrading from Cat5 to Cat5e could be the way to go for you.
  • Want to find out whether your Cat5 cables can reach gigabit speeds (some do)? You could run a speed test. This can be quite tedious though, and you might instead just want to spend a few quid to get all Cat5e or even Cat6 cales.If you have to run these cables through walls (not just through your office) then that will put the cost up (and effort) in which case you might decide it’s not worth the trouble to upgrade.

Remember…

  • All these speeds we’re talking about are purely theoretical. Your whole network can support gigabit ethernet, but you will still be unlikely to see speeds of 1Gb/s.
  • However, your data transfers will be much faster than those on non-gigabit hardware.
  • Cable length also affects speeds, so if you’re running cables throughout your house and using cables longer than 100m, you may notice a decrease in speeds.

In summary, upgrading your cables from old Cat5 might help you if you’re transferring lots of data over your network, and it wouldn’t be expensive to try out the Cat5e or Cat6 cables if you’re not having to put cables through walls. It’s definitely not something to stress about though, especially for home use, but might be more useful in a business environment.

Did you know here at Geekabit, our installation teams are highly experienced in new builds, retrofitting and extending existing networks. We can help you with all your cabling needs! Why not get in touch?

The Security Risks of Free Public Wi-Fi

Public Wi-Fi is now very common-place in British cities, in fact cities all over the world. You won’t find many places that don’t offer some kind of public Wi-Fi when you’re walking through Winchester, London, Cardiff, anywhere! Consumers are willingly, and gratefully, connecting to these networks assuming that the networks are secure. Unfortunately, that assumption may well be misplaced.

Social media intelligence research has shown that these networks lull users into a false sense of security. These users assume that there are the necessary security protocols in place, but in reality they actually are not in upto 90% of cases.

Someone who intends to cause harm will find it relatively easy to gain access to all sorts of information and data that should be protected.

One of the problems lies with businesses wanting to set up their Wi-Fi themselves. A common misconception by well-meaning businesses who just want to offer their customers a good service, is that by installing a router and password protecting it will be enough to make it secure. However, when you’re handing our the password to all of your customers, you’re enabling anyone with the password and connection to access all the devices in the network. So not secure at all.

This approach is well-meaning, but unfortunately rather naive, and not one that is limited to small businesses. Even large companies and established chains have trouble with this kind of network security.

Having a default username and password for multiple end-connected devices can also cause big problems.

Imagine you walk into a cafe, you buy a coffee, and they give you the Wi-Fi password on your receipt. You sip your coffee, take your phone out of your pocket and log on to the most common web address for their router. Easy access. You could then type in the default username and password, eg. ‘admin’ and ‘password’ and bam, you’re inside their router.

This all sounds a bit malicious, and while there are undoubtedly people out there who would attempt to access private and personal data and information, it’s not just this that can cause harm.

Someone could innocently log in with their device and unwittingly share a virus from their laptop, infecting every other device on the network that have default passwords. Scary stuff.

Even more scary when you consider that upto 83% of the population have accessed their email accounts, shared media online and accessed their bank balances on public Wi-Fi services.

There are also risks from ‘man in the middle’ attacks where someone hacks into the original network, and then rebroadcasts a wireless network with the exact same name. A threat very difficult for end users to ascertain.

These users will then connect to the threat network and unbeknown to them, type in all their bank information to the wrong website.

The public are always going to want to use public Wi-Fi and even with these possible threats, people will still connect and go about their online business. Really, the responsibility of security lies with businesses themselves. They need to make the assumption that users will not necessarily be doing the right thing, or protecting their sensitive data, so the businesses need to make their networks properly secure. Self-made public Wi-Fi services through a standard router and password aren’t enough in today’s internet climate.

Coffee shops, restaurants, shopping centres, airports. There are so many public places that are offering an insecure service. Airport customers are taking huge risks according to the experts. When you were last in an airport, did you log on? Maybe you were travelling for work, so hopped on your laptop before making your way to the departure lounge.

Airport wireless networks rely on one simple check box as part of their terms and conditions, but this is more to protect them rather than the end user.

Next time you connect to a wireless network at the airport, open your network section and see how many devices are on that network. There will likely be hundreds of devices listed there, and all you need is one of those to have malicious software on it for it to cause damage.

In general, the consumers expect the utility of having access to Wi-Fi without the understanding of security issues.

That’s where your business can step up. Coming across a secure public Wi-Fi system is actually quite rare so if you’re reading this wondering if the service you are currently offering is secure enough, it’s time to let the professionals have a look.

Don’t hesitate in getting in touch with our Wi-Fi experts here at Geekabit. Operating out of Winchester, Cardiff and London, we can help your Hampshire, Wales or London based business be one of the secure few rather than the potentially threatened majority.

Get in touch…

London Office – Tel. 0203 322 2443
Cardiff Office – Tel. 02920 676712
Hampshire Office – Tel. 01962 657 390

Wi-Fi For Your Start-Up Office

A common theme of questioning that our team of Wi-Fi experts often get asked is around Wi-Fi connectivity for startup offices, so we thought we’d jot down some of our thoughts for anyone in a similar position.

We have a wealth of experience working with all sorts of businesses and organisations, from huge outdoor festivals, to startup business offices, all with one thing in common – Getting connected.

This blog covers some things to bear in mind when you’re setting your Wi-Fi up. Although, the easiest thing to do would be to give us experts a call! But then we would say that wouldn’t we… So here you go, all things Wi-Fi for getting your new office online.

Factors to Consider

User base and usage patterns
– What’s your number of users?
– Do you use Google Drive / Dropbox? If you have a big user base and use these heavily you’ll need more upstream bandwidth.
– How many devices are going to connect? (Laptops, mobile phones, printers, local servers). If you have many users, all with multiple devices, you’ll need a more powerful router that can handle the amount of devices.
– Do you have employees that work remotely? Do they have to connect via VPN to access local files? This will require more upstream bandwidth, a proper router and might also require a fixed IP address.

Do you need a fixed IP address?
This isn’t usually necessary, apart from the case described above.

Outages and Failover
Basically, how fundamental is the Wi-Fi connection for your office to keep ‘business-as-usual’? If the internet was to go down, would you need an alternative connection? If your router failed, do you have a plan to put in place where you could quickly replace it?

If your business is largely online, or in tech, the internet going down is going to mean that most of your employees cannot carry on with their work. This would support an argument for investing money in a reliable Wi-Fi setup – Get good, reliable hardware and two internet connections instead of just one.

Internet Connection Options

You might be wondering if there’s a difference between the internet connection you would use at home and in the office, especially if you have a small business in a startup office. But there is likely a difference in the connection you need, and generally not as simple as a household internet connection.

The main problems you’ll find are:
– End-consumer internet connections usually come with a lot of downstream but very limited upstream.
– There might be volume restrictions which would lead to bandwidth limits. For example, if your bandwidth was limited to 10GB per day, this could be reached within minute in an office with 25+ people.
– If the internet went down, there would likely be no SLA with your provider in terms of when it would be fixed / back online. It’s generally a lot longer for a household connection that a business one.

Business Connections
These type of connections are mainly available from ISPs for office buildings, although a business broadband contract can sometimes also be arranged for businesses that run from home.
They tend to be a bit more expensive, but this is really worth the money as there will be proper SLA’s in place and as much upstream as there is downstream (handy if you use cloud based services to save and share your files).

Router/Hardware options
If you are a small company, then end-consumer hardware is probably okay to use (up to 30-40 devices). Larger companies will need a proper router which can do automatic failover, more expensive but necessary.

 

If you’re sat reading this blog, chances are you’re in a position where you’re trying to set up Wi-Fi in your office. If you don’t know what some of the jargon means, or are still unsure of what you need, then maybe consider not trying to do it all yourself. If the internet connection is important for your business to run, then we’d really recommend getting a professional to come and get this sorted for you.

Here at Geekabit, our London, Hampshire and Wales based Wi-Fi experts are ready to help design and install the Wi-Fi setup that’s right for you and your business. Wi-Fi isn’t a luxury, it’s an important investment to making sure your business stays online.

What We Do

Get in touch…

London Office – Tel. 0203 322 2443
Cardiff Office – Tel. 02920 676712
Hampshire Office – Tel. 01962 657 390

 

Giving Coffee Customers a Better Connection

We’ve just completed installation of a new customised Ubiquiti UniFi setup for a growing chain of coffee shops in Hampshire.

Geekabit was delighted to be selected by nationally recognised Josies, based in Winchester, Bishops Waltham and Petersfield, for the custom installation to start 2019.

Incorporating bespoke social media logins, capturing data for ongoing marketing and analysis, we have built a customised Wi-Fi management portal to support them in achieving their business aims.

Each site has the latest Ubiquiti UniFi AP Pro installed, with the Ubiquiti UniFi Gen2 Cloud Key Controller, linked to our own AWS-hosted cloud portal. This also allows us to know almost instantly when a site is offline and customer Wi-Fi access has been disrupted, as well as providing live data and feedback remotely for each site.

Steve Cross, Geekabit CEO, comments: “As specialists installing Ubiquiti Wi-Fi products in London, Wales and Hampshire, we’ve been pleased to be working with yet another successful and growing organisation who want to provide a superior Wi-Fi service for their customers”.

You can visit Josies and find out more at: https://www.josieswinecoffee.com/

#NewYearNewWiFi

Who’s currently trying to keep to some New Years Resolutions? We’re over a week into January now, and most people seem to have some kind of aim they are trying to stick to.

This year the hashtag #newyearsameme seems to have been particularly prevalent, with many celebs and social media influencers opting to move away from the traditional time for new years resolutions and instead promote a focus on being happy in your own skin. No crazy diets, no impossible exercise expectations, no ‘be more this’ or ‘become less that’.

I think this is great, although I do also believe that it’s healthy to have goals and ambition, and if they are realistic and achievable then I think New Years Resolutions can be a really positive thing!

I’ve been reading all sorts of lists of resolutions on the internet in the name of research – Ideas on how to introduce exercise into your routine, how to cook healthy balanced meals, to try and read more, get fresh air and – possibly most popular – get offline. Whether that’s heading out for a walk without your phone, or actually switching off your router, the push seems to be on being online less. Many of the lists told their readers to turn the Wi-Fi off, unplug the router, turn phones on airplane mode – Basically use any means possible to get offline.

You may decide that this is the resolution for you, but here is our twist on it…
If you’re going to be making more time in your personal life to be offline, at least make sure your connection is a good one when you are connected. Especially when you are working.

Your business needs Wi-Fi to function well and unplugging your router might sound on paper like it’ll provide your employees with some zen, but it’s actually going to cause frustration and certainly not going to help business practices or keeping things going.

That’s probably a bit extreme (like you’re going to unplug your router!) but slow internet that keeps dropping out will certainly cause frustration too. Your employees will be more productive and work more efficiently if you have a fast and reliable connection.

Have your employees or co-workers been complaining about slow internet speeds? Trying to download a document but it’s taking ages? Having to call back clients while you wait for your computer to catch up?

If these things are something your business has struggled with recently, then don’t delay in getting it sorted out. Start the new year fast and fresh!
And if you’re not the boss but you’re reading this thinking YES then save the link to this blog and slide it into their DM’s…

It might be a new year and the same you, but let’s make 2019 #NewYearNewWifi

We’ve written many a blog on the benefits of Wi-Fi for your business (go on, have a scroll, we won’t tell…). Wi-Fi really is one of those tools that you really can’t afford to mess about with.

So why not give us a call and see how we can help your business in 2019 – From designing your network and installation, to fault finding and fixing, we’ve got Wi-Fi experts working out of London, Winchester and Cardiff waiting to get your business online, fast.

London Office – Tel. 0203 322 2443
Cardiff Office – Tel. 02920 676712
Hampshire Office – Tel. 01962 657 390

#NewYearNewWiFi

Do you need a car with a Wi-Fi hotspot?

New year, new car? And if yes, does it need to have in-built Wi-Fi? You might want it, but do you really need it?

Sure, it probably depends on the situation. If you’ve just set off for a drive to Scotland from the South Coast, with 3 screaming children in the back asking ‘are we there yet?’ then maybe your ‘want’ will sway more into ‘need’ – Anything to keep them entertained! Stream endless movies, provide CBeebies Playtime Island on the tablet, and ask Siri how much further you’ve got to go every.5.minutes.

Then again, if you do most of your commuting using public transport and have a city runner for grocery shopping and errands, then you probably don’t need Wi-Fi in your car. But that doesn’t mean you won’t want it!

Whether it’s a want or a need, there’s no harm in thinking about it when planning for a new car.

Alternatives

A car with a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot is maybe a bit of an unnecessary luxury, especially as there is an abundance of alternatives. So many of today’s new cars have smartphone integration where your phone will link to the infotainment system via Bluetooth so that you can make and answer calls through the cars speakers. If your needs consist of calls, texts and streaming music then your phone’s connectivity is probably all you need.

One up on this is a mobile hotspot device which are small, portable, and come with their own service plans and monthly fees. While they are fast and capable of serving multiple devices (needed for those kids in the back…) they do have a battery which needs recharging, and also have small antennas which limits the signal strength and consistency.

If this isn’t enough for you then built in Wi-Fi it needs to be!

Built-In Wi-Fi

Where Wi-Fi is factory-installed by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), they are designed specifically to perform in the vehicles in which they are installed. This means that the car-makers can locate the optimum place for these units to ensure efficiency. It also means they are integrated more completely with the car’s design and infotainment systems.

In contrast to the portable device, these units have significantly larger antennas meaning much stronger and more consistent signals. This is particularly important when it comes to streaming video and downloading movies or apps. They tend to provide more flawless connections with less signal fade or dropout.

 

Aftermarket-Installed Wi-Fi

You might be reading this having already bought a new car recently, and are now kicking yourself, wishing it had Wi-Fi built in. Not to worry! There are routers you can install into your current vehicle. While they don’t integrate with a car’s touchscreens or infotainment systems, they do have comparable connections to the OEM’s factory units. Unfortuantely however, they are rather expensive to buy and need to be installed by a professional.

Whether you want it, or do genuinely need it, there are definitely Wi-Fi options out there for you and your car.

5G versus Wi-Fi? It doesn’t have to be one or the other!

There’s a lot of chatter at the moment about 5G and whether or not it will replace WiFi. Obviously it’s in our interest to be asking, once you get access to wireless connectivity that is faster, more robust, and has greater capacity than Wi-Fi, why would you need that and Wi-Fi? Why wouldn’t 5G replace Wi-Fi? Over the last couple of years people have been asking this question again and again, because theoretically it is possible.

EDN asked a Wi-Fi industry specialist about 5G replacing Wi-Fi, and at first they didn’t even understand the question. The reason for the confusion became clear after a bit of discussion. Simply, it makes no sense. For 5G to replace Wi-Fi, the wireless carriers would have to want to make it happen, and obviously they have no reason to want it to happen.

Wi-Fi is most widely used for the residential market, distributing broadband bandwidth among a growing number of devices. Of course there are public hotspots and other things that rely on Wi-Fi too but residential service is where Wi-Fi is used most.

Logically, there are many reasons why homes will continue to rely on Wi-Fi.

We already use thousands of products where Wi-Fi is already built in, and there are thousands more coming. All the tech that we currently use, like tablets for example, have nothing but Wi-Fi and so need to be supported for a long time yet. Maybe some people will decide to get 5G broadband,  but the signal is more likely going to go to a gateway and get distributed via Wi-Fi from there.

Even if, for whatever reasons, carriers decided to replace Wi-Fi, it would not be an immediate thing. There are 90 million to 100 million homes that would require femtocells. So even if consumers demanded it, or operators wanted to do it, it would take years to deploy that many devices. Also, consumers wouldn’t replace all of their tech straight away, and would continue using legacy devices, so even if things were to turn towards 5G, it would still have to co-exist with Wi-Fi for many years after that.

There is also no compelling technological reason to replace Wi-Fi anyway. Technology is always improving and subsequently getting faster, more robust, and capable of supporting an increasing number of Wi-Fi devices simultaneously. Repeaters are becoming more common and mesh networking is also on the way in the forthcoming IEEE 802.11ax generation of Wi-Fi technology, which is being branded as Max Wi-Fi.

5G signals are a shared resource. If you have a hundred homes served by a single base station, that 1 Gbps gets distributed, averaging out to 10 Mbps to each home. But if people want gigabit service, they want a full gigabit, and that service is still best provided by cable or DSL which will get distributed throughout the home by Wi-Fi.

Those conditions likewise apply in the enterprise market, which is unlikely to give up Wi-Fi any time soon. Urban access, in areas served by public hotspots can do this with LTE now (a 4G telecommunication standard).

In simple terms, if Wi-Fi was going to be replaced in urban environments, then it would be happening already. If it’s not happening for LTE then it’s unlikely it’ll happen for 5G.

The only place where 5G might possibly end up getting used instead of Wi-Fi would be where wireline connectivity is lacking or inadequate in rural areas, but even this is purely speculative. In most experts minds, 5G will never replace Wi-Fi.

There are 3 challenges that Wi-Fi equipment developers are in the process of overcoming: more devices in more places, most requiring greater speed, with some requiring significantly lower latency.

For example, the Amazon or Google home devices that are becoming more prevalent need to be answering consumers questions in well under a second.

According to the experts, 802.11ax will address all three issues. It will be faster, and will support mesh networking. It will also support more channels to handle more devices concurrently. Max Wi-Fi will adopt the OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) modulation scheme to support traffic scheduling, which will be kind of handy in residential environments but immensely valuable in situations where thousands of users are packed together, arenas and stadiums, for example. There are also provisions for spatial reuse.

Work is always being done to improve Wi-Fi to complement other connectivity options that include 5G. There are several local and personal area network (LAN, PAN) communications options, and they will have to be made to work with each other.

Wi-Fi operates in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channels, but Bluetooth 5, Zigbee, and Thread – three low-power technologies – are all operating in the same 2.4 GHz band. Wi-Fi is more powerful and can overwhelm the others, but they’re going to have to co-exist. (By the way, Max Wi-Fi has a low-power profile as well, and might end up competing with the other three in some applications).

We are seeing gateways specified with all four radios: Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Thread, and Bluetooth. It’s up to infrastructure companies to sort out the coexistence issues.

So 5G versus Wi-Fi? It doesn’t have to be a competition; they will very much be co-exising with each other.

 

 

 

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Top 10 Wi-Fi Blogs of 2018

Christmas is creeping closer and all the festivities bring thoughts of the year coming to a close and what 2018 has brought us.

It seems customary at this time of year to do some kind of ‘top 10’ so we thought we’d join the party and do a little round up of our top 10 blogs from the year – What got the most hits and what did you readers find the most intriguing in the world of Wi-Fi this past year?

 

#10

In at number ten, and by no means least interesting, is Alexa and how her simple Wi-Fi set-up could stop you forgetting to lock the door, turn off lights that you always leave on, and generally run your life for you.
https://geekabit.co.uk/2018/09/26/remember-lock-door-one-simple-wi-fi-set-alexa-run-life/

 

#9

Next up is how ‘High-Tech Stickers Turn Anything into Smart Device’. This one got quite a few of you talking, and what’s not to like? Imagine having something as simple as a sticker, and being able to stick it to anything in your home to make it into a smart device, something you can control with the touch of a button through a Wi-Fi connected device? So many exciting possibilities!
https://geekabit.co.uk/2018/10/24/high-tech-stickers-turn-anything-smart-device/

 

#8

Not far ahead was how good old Wi-Fi could help detect weapons and bombs. A relatively and simple and cost effective approach to security, and not surprising that this topic was a popular one in today’s climate.
https://geekabit.co.uk/2018/09/19/basic-wi-fi-help-detection-weapons-bombs/

 

#7

In at lucky number 7 was ‘7 Wi-Fi Performance Challenges in Hospitals’. Hospitals are one of those places where Wi-Fi is used for a whole host of different things. The importance of reliable wireless connections is paramount to the running of hospital practices but there are challenges that stand in it’s way.
https://geekabit.co.uk/2018/09/10/7-wi-fi-performance-challenges-hospitals/

 

#6

Narrowly missing the top 5, this blog celebrated the efforts of a small Welsh village who went to extreme lengths to improve their Wi-Fi speed. This community pulled together and dug a 15 mile trench so that they could get the super-fast wireless connection they so desperately needed. We love a story like this, and so did you!
https://geekabit.co.uk/2018/08/21/lengths-go-improve-wi-fi-speed/

 

#5

Should venues provide free Wi-Fi? Apparently that’s one of the burning questions from this year, and this blog with a dialogue of arguments both for and against was one of our top reads of 2018 making it into the top 5.
https://geekabit.co.uk/2018/08/07/should-wi/

 

#4

Nothing quite like a sex symbol to draw people’s attention and Hedy Lamarr did it again with this one. The co-inventor of Wi-Fi was also a beautiful Hollywood star – Very much the brains and the beauty.
https://geekabit.co.uk/2018/09/01/know-1940s-sex-symbol-invented-wi-fi/

 

#3 and #2

A huge hit from this year was our series of blogs on Ubiquiti UniFi. In particular Part 1 and Part 2 which focused on how it could help your business and the brains behind the whole thing.
https://geekabit.co.uk/2018/10/03/ubiquiti-unifi-help-business-part-1/
https://geekabit.co.uk/2018/10/10/part-2-ubiquiti-unifi-brains/

 

#1

And finally, the time has come; the most popular article we shared in 2018 was the disadvantages of wireless repeaters. And by quite a long way! It seems you know what you like, and what you like is technical information about Wi-Fi and how to get it working to the best of it’s ability in your homes and businesses.
https://geekabit.co.uk/2018/01/21/wireless-repeaters-the-disadvantages/

 

We’ve rather enjoyed taking a look back at what’s made Wi-Fi news this past year – From the likes of sex symbols like Hedy Lamarr, to home systems like Alexa, the top technical stuff like the benefits of Ubiquiti UniFi, how Wi-Fi could help security systems and even the unbreakable community spirit of a small Welsh village who just wanted super-fast internet.

We’re looking forward to what 2019 will bring!

Top 10 Wi-Fi Themed Christmas Cards

As it’s nearly Christmas we thought we’d round up our favourite festive Wi-Fi cards – Perfect for the internet geek in your life!

#1 – This little gem of a card is funny because it’s true! 

https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/doyoupunctuate/product/all-i-want-for-christmas-is-the-wifi-password-card?istCompanyId=aa76f5e6-d733-4e56-8409-574cea196cc9&istItemId=xmxqqttimp&istBid=t&DGMKT=FID__TID_pla-344707128621_PID_640383&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3_bq2-CV3wIVh7TtCh0p5QQpEAQYBSABEgIl0vD_BwE

#2 – Taking the millennials standard questioning when looking for a room for the night and transcending it back to Mary and Joseph themselves. 

https://www.zazzle.co.uk/funny_christmas_card_does_it_have_wi_fi_holiday_card-137472725514685119

#3 – Because who doesn’t wish this for people? 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/479690647/funny-christmas-cards-funny-holiday

#4 – A wise man and a shepherd doing it for the ‘gram.

https://www.johnlewis.com/woodmansterne-wifi-password-christmas-card/p3673318?sku=237644553&s_kwcid=2dx92700036666466072&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0f7t8uKV3wIV573tCh12UgvNEAYYASABEgLtmvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

#5 – Where would we be without Wi-Fi and non-buffering viewing of our favourite festive shows, with a belly full of turkey and Christmas pudding.

I’m Dreaming of a Wifi Christmas

#6 – Okay okay, so it’s not a card, but it got us at ‘Signals Greetings’. And could quite easily be a stocking filler for the Wi-Fi expert in your life.

https://www.cafepress.com/mf/89512621/signals-greetings_mugs

#7 – More for the coding extraordinaire than the internet geek this one, but it made us chuckle. 

zazzle.co.uk

#8 – We’ve reached number 8 of our top picks… Has your Christmas cheer almost loaded?

https://www.cafepress.com/mf/94005897/greeting-cards-pk-of-20_greeting-cards?productId=1676849500

#9 – Not a card per se, but this came up a lot in our search for Christmassy Wi-Fi greetings cards! Do you have a sign in your home with your Wi-Fi password on it? We’re not saying this is a brilliant idea… Maybe one for the guest bedroom?

www. huntandhost.net/lifestyle/

#10 – And last but not least… One for the Scrooges of the Wi-Fi world. Bah Humbug! 

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/641096726/christmas-family-svg?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=wifi+christmas+card&ref=sr_gallery-1-6