PowerLine is a lesser-known and lesser-used network technology compared to Ethernet (wired) and Wi-Fi (wireless). But just because it’s less common doesn’t mean that it’s not ideal for your home network. In fact, PowerLine lets you extend your network to more devices than you could reach relying solely on Ethernet cables or the strength and range of your Wi-Fi signal.
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On the radio, your favorite band may include a bunch of scruffy musicians. But on your wireless network, your band is full of channels. Your choice of band and the channels it contains can have a big impact on the network’s performance.
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Level up! You’ve graduated out of the newbie zone — understanding the variables that affect quality of an online gaming session. You’re ready to tackle your first big mission: tweaking the variables to improve your network’s performance.
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Pew pew! Online gaming seems so straightforward: Fire up your favorite title, connect to the server, and off you go into a digital fantasy world to light up some dragons, shoot some counter-terrorists, or sail a pirate ship over the high seas. Play over your home network, though, and you may find that your trigger finger isn’t quite as quick as you thought. If you want to take your gaming experience to the next level, you need to pay attention to the connection between your network and the servers behind the games you love to play.
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Stuttering YouTube video is the worst. How can you get in on the fun when that hilarious video your friends have been passing around looks like an interrupted mess when you go to play it on your system? Surely there’s a network issue to blame, right?
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A brand-new network switch might seem like the easiest piece of networking hardware to set up. And in many ways, it is. Connect one network device, connect another networked device, and voila — both devices are connected to each other. And they, in turn, will be connected to the third network device you plug into the switch. And the fourth. Get my drift?
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Q: I’ve heard about network switches, but do I really need one on my home network?
A: A switch is a handy gadget that lets you add more wired devices to your network with ease.
A network switch is as easy to operate as a light switch. Each device connected to the switch is automatically connected to everything else connected to the switch. So if you hook up your cable modem to a router, then connect the router to a switch, you can connect other devices to the Internet simply by plugging them into the switch. It’s just that easy.
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