Security | Bandwidth Place

Range Extenders Can Improve Your Home Network

Depending on the layout of your home and the location of your wireless router, you may encounter difficulty keeping a strong Internet signal throughout the residence. This problem becomes obvious when you are trying to stream video or other rich media content a significant distance from your router. Expect copious buffering and poor resolution in […]

Amazon Echo — Internet Appliance for the Future

The Amazon Echo is an interesting Internet appliance. Picture a combination between Siri (the Echo’s virtual assistant is named Alexa) and a Bluetooth speaker. You simply give the Echo any number of voice commands, and the device quickly responds. It can play music from your Amazon Music library, read you audiobooks from your Kindle, give […]

Home Automation Internet Gateway Bandwidth Requirements

When turning your residence into an automated 21st Century digital smart home, do you need to worry about using too much Internet bandwidth? If every light, door lock, refrigerator, and window shade in your house is part of a home automation setup, will your data allowance get used up in a matter of days? Thankfully, […]

Can Man Survive on Free WiFi Alone?

In the spirit of celebrating our nation’s independence this weekend, let’s consider the possibility of breaking free from our ISP and smartphone plans. Is it possible to get by on free WiFi alone these days? With the plethora of restaurants, coffee shops, retail establishments, libraries and more offering free WiFi it’s definitely worth considering. While the […]

Can Apple HomeKit Make Your Residence a Smart Home?

With the Internet of Things making home automation a reality for many gadget gurus, there’s little surprise that Apple is getting in the game with their own HA platform. HomeKit promises to easily turn your house into a 21st Century smart home with Siri giving you a hand controlling your abode’s lighting, thermostats and more. […]

UTM for Home Users: Protect your Network from Hackers

With the Internet of Things and home automation entering the consumer electronics mainstream, hackers now see the home network as a new target for their nefarious activity. Recently, the news reported a story of someone’s smart refrigerator getting hacked and sending spam emails all over the world. While probably an isolated incident, it still emphasizes […]