Refresh Computers Tech Talk
Help and advice are given on a range of technical issues from computers to everything internet-related.
Refresh Computers Tech Talk
03-21-26 Why Your Phone Dies Early And How To Fix It
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Your phone used to last all day. Now it hits the afternoon and you are hunting for a charger like it is a daily routine. We dig into what is actually happening to smartphone battery life, from lithium-ion battery degradation to the charging habits that quietly wear batteries down faster. We also talk about why cheap, off-brand chargers can create problems, how heat changes everything, and why background apps and location services keep draining power even when you swear you are not using your phone.
Then we switch gears to a problem almost everyone blames on “an old computer” when the real culprit is sitting right on the screen: your web browser. We explain how tabs eat RAM, why performance tanks when you keep 20 to 30 pages open, and the simplest ways to reset things without losing your mind. If your laptop feels sluggish, you will want these practical steps before you spend money on upgrades.
Finally, we tackle the biggest surprise: many “slow computer” complaints are really Wi-Fi issues. We break down router placement, dead zones, interference, aging routers, mesh networks, and why your internet plan speed is not the same as Wi-Fi performance in your home. We also share when an Ethernet cable or a USB-C adapter is the best upgrade you can buy. If you are thinking about a Windows 11 upgrade or a shiny new “AI-ready” computer, we offer a clear want-versus-need framework to help you spend smarter.
If this helps, subscribe, share the show with a friend who always has 100 tabs open, and leave us a review. What is the biggest issue you want us to troubleshoot next: battery life, computer speed, or Wi-Fi?
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Hey there and welcome to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580, Orlando's News and Talk. I'm Greg Rhodes here with Adam Littlefield, a technician at the Refresh Computer Superstore. And you can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. Or go ahead and leave an open mic using that WDBO app if you have any comments during the show. You can also check out the website at refreshcomputers.net or stop it at the Refresh Computer Superstore in Longwood at 820 East State Road 434, just three and a half miles east of I-4 in Longwood. Store hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. And if you're listening to the show here on Saturday, that means you still have time to stop by. They'll be open until 7 p.m. today. And now for the man himself, Adam Littlefield.
Why Phone Batteries Feel Worse
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Greg, and thank you, everybody, for tuning in to another exciting episode of Tech Talk here with Refresh Computers. My name is Adam Littlefield. I'm one of the floor technicians at our superstore over in Longwood. Anybody that comes by, has your computer checked out, you'll probably hear my voice across the store. You are probably one of the many, yes. Yes, I am. So today we've got, you know, a couple exciting topics, but before we get into them, you know, I just want to give a shout out to our website, refreshcomputers.net. We have a bunch of exciting stuff on there. We've got our inventory that you probably hear me talk about. It's our live inventory. So anything we have in the store, it's available on that website. You can also check out our podcast. We have the podcast link up in the top right corner, and that'll give you episodes going back a couple years now, I believe. So a lot of exciting stuff in there. But today we've got a couple different things we're going to be talking about. We're going to talk about our phone batteries, why everything just seems to be getting worse and worse with them. We're going to talk a little bit about, you know, why your computer's slowing down, the many reasons, but some there there's some hidden reasons that aren't really talked about. We'll talk a little bit about your home devices as well, and you know, probably why you just don't need the most latest tech out there. So starting off today, phone batteries. I don't think I can remember the last time I've charged my phone to 100% and haven't had to recharge it halfway through the day.
SPEAKER_00Immediately. It's unbelievable. It feels like you're you you just do the basic tasks. Like I'm I'm going, I'm I'm not gaming on my phone. Right. And I feel like it's like that. And I have to put it back on a charger. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I got myself, you know, going this morning from my house to to work, already down to 88%. Get into work, get some stuff done, and head here. I'm already down to 79. You know, it's it's a it's just a small trickle that I'm noticing more and more. I've got a uh S23 Ultra. Same. And uh I think uh Samsung just released the S26 line, correct?
SPEAKER_00They have, and they are sure are trying to get me to trade up to get that new one.
SPEAKER_01That's what they're trying to do me as well. And honestly, I'm I'm kind of considering it now because the battery, you know, degradation is a major part that plays in a lot of our phones, and it's the biggest one that we'll really see in our everyday lives because we use our phones every single day. It's something too that you'll see probably in your laptops, actually. You know, you get a brand new laptop, it's it's it lives for eight, ten, twelve hours on a battery charge. And a couple years down the line, you start noticing maybe two hours at most. You know, this is this is normal. That's reality with batteries, they just degrade over time. It's it's kind of like the wheels on your car. It's something you've got to replace, but it's not something that everybody knows is replaceable in a lot of devices.
SPEAKER_00And and uh in some devices, it's easier to replace than others, for sure.
Charging Habits That Age Batteries
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I know you know Apple, they have this running thing with their batteries, they can't decide what they want to do with them. On some of the MacBooks, they glued those suckers in there and you could not remove them for the life of it without damaging the battery. But then you've got the newer iPhones now where they put, I believe, an electrically reactive glue that to remove the battery, you just connect some attachments to it with a nine-volt battery, and battery peels off in just a couple seconds. You know, so it's there, there is the focus on replacing these, but you know, there's so much involved with it. With most smartphones now, they're wrapped in glass, right? So you've got to pry open that glass, doing it without breaking anything, because a lot of smartphones now have curved glass on them, like my phone does. You know, some phones even permanently adhere the battery into the chassis. So you're not replacing just a battery, you're replacing almost the whole phone at that point, you know. But what really causes it? What are we doing that's causing this degradation? And the the main thing I always tell anybody in in our store with their laptops, and it's almost the same thing with our phones now, charging it to 100%, leaving it at 100%, that's one of the major things that's wearing our stuff down right now. I know a lot of vehicles in the EV space, they they strictly say only keep the battery between 20% and 80%. That's your healthy range to prevent long-term degradation. Because that that 20% from 80 to 100, that takes a lot of stress on the battery to be able to charge that. And the same thing discharging it going anywhere below 20%. No, I know I believe I saw Nintendo's newest switch, they actually have a setting involved in it inside of it that lets you set it so the battery does never it never charges above 90%. So I I wonder if we're gonna start seeing more smartphone you know changes with our batteries now because you know, let's face it, it's not easy getting lithium.
Cheap Chargers And Battery Heat
SPEAKER_00And that's a part of why it's so important to use some of these on-brand versions of these chargers as well. Because you get some of these off-brand chargers and they don't recognize some of the some of the cues that some of these smartphones and laptops and things actually produce to make it stop charging, right?
SPEAKER_01Right. Yeah, and that's why, you know, every laptop we sell at our store, every uh charger we sell at our store is a genuine charger because it it just works. It works with the system as it's supposed to, as it's intended to. When you start getting these third-party chargers, these universal 28 and 1 adapters, they can cause a lot of damage to the battery sometimes. You know, these chargers, they're cheap. They don't have the voltage control that these genuine ones do. So it that's another major part. I'm happy you brought that up actually, because what we're plugging our phones into is as important as you know, what we're doing with it every day. Um I know there's a lot of really cheap chargers you can buy at like gas stations, for example. They cost like five bucks, the cable's an extra dollar. You think about what you're what you're spending for it, you're gonna kind of get the same thing out of it. And that's a really cheap thing. The old adage you get what you pay for. Exactly. But another thing that really does it now is heat. You know, lithium-ion batteries, they don't like heat. They're they're kind of a volatile thing where they have to just have a certain range of heat where they're happy. You know, batteries don't like charging or holding a charge when they're too cold, and they don't like it either when they're too warm. So you mean sitting in my pocket all day is not good for it? It's not good for it, but I mean, again, what are we supposed to do? Right, strap it to our chest and have the wind cooling it or something. You know, but uh as far as just our everyday phones, we there's so much more going on with it because, like you said, having it in your phone, you know, it does get warm. Why does it get warm? You know, besides it just being in your pocket and your body heat, everything. Our phones also have just background processes that are running. You know, we have uh apps that share our location, you know, maybe Google Maps, for example. Google Maps will track your location just to give you the the latest navigation news.
SPEAKER_00And that's a big one.
SPEAKER_01That is a really big one.
SPEAKER_00So many of us just utilize that as our GPS device. It used to be that you'd have a GPS for your vehicle or built into your vehicle. Now it's all in one, right? So you're utilizing that tool for more than probably it was actually really designed to be used for continuously.
SPEAKER_01But you know, when you look at it too, Google Maps being used as a GPS device is way better than most old GPSs that used to be a vehicle attachment. Right. Where you had to get an uh, you know, an antenna or something that's stacked that's stuck on top of the car. But now with our phones, we've got that. We have apps like Instagram and Facebook. Those apps, well not you know doing anything with your your data or your location, they are updating in the background, checking for notifications. So if you've got that family member that that sends you a hundred plus Instagram reels a day or something, maybe you can blame them a little bit for why your phone's at 20% by the time you get to lunch. First block that person. Exactly. And then you know, the the thing with batteries that's that's just tough with them right now is again, like I said, getting the materials for them. The lithium specifically is just really, really hard to get sometimes. I know it uses a bunch of water for the processes that they use to extract it from the earth, and that alone is already hazardous to wherever it's being mined from at the time. But, you know, as as we kind of think about it, the phones we have in our pockets, the they're just an extension of our life, and that's just another item we have to keep alive, you know. The main thing I I talk about with phones on a daily basis too, with a lot of my customers is how to go through and kind of shut down some of those background processes, for stop them, or even you know, restrict the app from being able to do it. Because, you know, let's face it, we don't have the what's the word for it, the the ability, I guess, to just plug our phone in anywhere at any time and just be good.
SPEAKER_00Right. Right. And I mean there's so many other concerns that go along with that, plugging into unknown USB devices and things like that. Right. But there's also, I guess I was wondering, and I I know that it does this on Samsung, is that kind of gives you a notification, hey, you haven't used this app for a while, I'm going to put it in a sleep mode or something like that. Yeah. I don't know how if iPhone does that or not. I've never really been in that universe when it comes to my cellular device. But utilizing those tools can be really important to kind of maintaining that health, right?
Background Apps And Battery Drain
SPEAKER_01It can, yeah. You know, the like like like you're saying with Samsung, they have a mode called deep sleep where you don't use an app for a certain amount of time. The the phone will basically just remove all permissions, stop it from pulling any sort of information from your internet, anything like that, until you pretty much reopen the app. So it's still installed on the phone, but it's just kind of in limbo. Right. So a lot of these issues with smartphones right now, they they make me beg one question. How long are these things supposed to last? Because with with me getting my S23 Ultra, I think that was around$1,300 when I got it a couple years ago. You know, paying that kind of money, I don't want to be replacing that again in three years.
SPEAKER_00I just got done with those payments, Adam, on my ATT account. I don't want to pick up another new phone just because I think it might be getting a little too hot. Exactly. Or because the battery's not lasting as long. What are some of the ways that we can we and we've mentioned a couple of them already. What are some other ways that we can help prolong the life of some of these devices?
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, the the one thing I was saying with battery percentage, that's one of the largest things. The the push of 80 to 100% or the drain from 20 to 0%, especially if you hit, you know, flat out zero and off, that battery itself causes a chemical reaction reaction inside of it that just wears away at it. So the best thing really to do when using a device is try to keep it between, you know, those those percentages, 20 to 80%. But with our smartphones, that's not really possible anymore. And you know, I was I saw a couple weeks back and I've been doing some research into solid state batteries now. You know, they're lighter, they're not volatile, you know, like these lithium ion batteries are. And the degradation on them is showing way better tests than I'm seeing out of lithium ion right now. Lithium ion, you get anywhere between 500 to 2,000 charge cycles before you start seeing some major degradation. Where solid states, they're they're saying about 5,000 cycles. Oh, wow. Before you have any noticeable degradation. That's a vast improvement. That is a vast improvement. You know, so you think about it, these devices we're spending thousands of dollars on, it's gonna be something that I think in the future we're gonna start looking at solid state batteries.
Solid State Batteries And Updates
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, and again, you you mentioned how these batteries are becoming more and more a part of the device. They want the largest battery they can possibly put into these, so they kind of build it in, like you mentioned, to the chassis and the actual framework of the phone. Solid state lends itself to that as a more viable option.
SPEAKER_01It does. And you know, it it uses more readily available polymers, ceramics than you know, lithium is available right now. And I I don't I don't have any experience with mining, but I I can think to my head, in my own head, that probably getting ceramics and and things like that is probably gonna be a little better for our for the environment than lithium mining, you know. But the the one thing I've been seeing lately is you know this kind of degradation you see almost after software updates. You know, the newest maybe the newest phone comes out and the new version of your your operating system comes out. It's exciting, there's so many new things with it. And then your battery lasts, you know, maybe three-fourths as much as it used to. You know, and that's just because when we when we do these upgrades in in smartphones and and their software, they're gonna be using more resources. They're just using more of the phone, which the newer phones are designed to handle. But when you're starting to look at the older devices, you kind of start seeing the the trouble almost immediately on some devices.
SPEAKER_00Right. And that's fair. And it's I think it's also fair to point out that Apple did lose that major lawsuit a couple of years ago now, where they actually reduced the battery capacity on phones based off of the software upgrade. Right. They lost that lawsuit. So they don't do that anymore, supposedly. So if that is what you're thinking is happening to your phone, it's probably not at this point. But I mean, there's I I don't blame you for being a little skeptical about it. Right.
SPEAKER_01And you know, end of the day, with most of our devices, again, it's lithium-ion batteries. They're like your cars on your tire, the tires on your car. You're gonna have to replace them at some point. With uh laptop batteries, that's something we are able to do at our store. You can give us a call, 407-478-80200. Any of our technicians, they'll pick up the phone, they'll give you some details, just let them know you're wanting to replace the battery. Normally we have to take a look at it in store so we know exactly what battery we're gonna be ordering you, but that's something that's definitely replaceable and we can do. So I think we're going to uh a little bit of a break here, and after that break, we'll be getting into uh a little bit more about the hidden reason why your computer's slowing down.
The Hidden Cause Of Slow PCs
SPEAKER_00Why is it slowing down? Adam will give us a little bit of insight on that. You've been listening to Tech Talk right here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580, the FIFA. Hey then, welcome back to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580, Orlando's news and talk. I'm Greg Rhodes, sitting here with technician Adam Littlefield from the Refresh Computer Superstore. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. Or if you have any other comments during the show, we'd love to hear them. Use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. And now back to Adam.
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you, Greg. And again, thank you, everybody, for tuning into this episode of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. If you missed anything from our previous segment talking about the batteries in your phone and just why they're not lasting like they used to, I would suggest going to refreshcomputers.net. Check a little check out our website. We have our podcast there. You can listen to years back of this podcast, and we also have our live inventory there. So you can check out everything that we've got in store. And you know, you can also subscribe to our email. We have a uh subscription at the bottom of the page. You'll get our advertisement email at the beginning of the week, and you'll get our podcast email towards the end of the week.
SPEAKER_00So you can also learn a little bit more about the new trade in program.
Tabs Eat RAM On Any Device
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Yeah, the new trade-in program that we have. There's a little bit about it on the website, and if you have any questions about it, you can give us a call, 407-478-8200. We can give you all the details on that. So, why do you think your computer is slowing down, Greg? There are so many reasons, but it's probably me. Yeah, you know, sometimes I think that too. Maybe I'm just being a little too impatient. But, you know, a lot of people we we talk every day about what can slow your computer down. Maybe the age of it, the hard drive. We always talk about that. But there's a little thing that we use every day that, you know, is kind of a big problem on it. And we can't avoid it. And probably all of us are guilty of doing this. Right. And that's your web browser. You know, you you have Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, whatever you like to use on your computer. Ooh, Opera. I like that you threw that one in there. I I love using Opera. It's one of my favorite browsers. It the amount of tabs you have in your browser just directly impacts your computer. So when you've got 30, 20 to 30 tabs open at a time, you're gonna start seeing some major slowdowns on your computer real fast. And why is that? You know, our computers, they're they've got everything in them, the CPU processor, that's you know, your your RAM, hard drive, everything. Your browser immediately impacts your RAM the moment you open it. Sometimes the moment the computer turns on without you even opening it, you know. And whenever you open up a tab, that just opens another instance of memory being used. So I've got 32 gigabytes of of RAM on my computer at home, and I've got uh, I'd probably say around 20 tabs open. And I can say Opera itself is using about 10, 11 gigabytes of RAM.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. And one of my favorite things to do is to open up the task manager when you have when you're starting to have those issues and you're like, what is bogging everything down? And you just filter it by whatever's pulling the most memory, and you see it right there at the top. Yep. Google Chrome, 39 tabs. Yep. Especially during March Madness season, like I was here during this week.
Practical Ways To Tame Tabs
SPEAKER_01And just keeping track of everything exactly. It's so difficult. But you know, if if you're a stock trader out there, for example, you wonder why everything's not updating, you're probably you probably got a little too many tabs open. What you're you're looking at, you know. It is something that's just a a personal thing. The more tabs you have open, the more RAM your computer's gonna need. And that goes for your phone, too. You know, I how many how many tabs do you think you have open right now on your phone? Don't don't ask me that question, Adam. I can tell you, mine is a smiley face. I have so many, you can't even show me a number. So that good that just goes to show you. And our smartphones, they've got, I think this S23 Ultra has 12 gigs of RAM in it. Most smartphones have eight. So, you know, I've got over a hundred open on mine, and I'm wondering why my battery is going dead so fast. But I've got a hundred tabs open. So, what can you do about it? You know, besides just the personal within you of you know what keeps those tabs open, what you're attached to to every single one, you got to close out some of the unused ones. And, you know, some browsers, they even have it built in that if you don't use a tab for a certain amount of time, it'll actually gray it out and unload the tab, trying to save you some resources. But it's still kind of there in the background. You know, it doesn't fully forget it. You can also just try to restart the browser if you're just scared of going through every single one. Just close everything out, just start new. Sometimes I have to do that with my browser. Just a clean slate. And you know what? Most of the time, those tabs that you had open and you're trying to remember what you had open, it probably wasn't important enough to keep. Probably a reason you can't remember it. Exactly. So you can also group the tabs as well. So you can set an entire group of tabs to suspend. So that's, you know, 30, 40 you set aside. Instead of going through every single one, it's just a quick button that you can click instead. So I think we're going to another break here, I believe. So when we get back, we're gonna be talking about, you know, some home devices and why your Wi-Fi is probably causing you some more problems than you imagine.
SPEAKER_00We'll go ahead and clear out some of these browser tabs. We'll be right back. You've been listening to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580. Welcome to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580, Orlando's News and Talk. I'm Greg Rhodes, sitting here with technician Adam Littlefield from the Refresh Computer Superstore. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200, or of course you can leave an open mic using that WDBO app. Don't forget to check out their website at refreshcomputers.net, or you can always stop in at the Refresh Computer Superstore in Longwood at 820 East State Road 434, just three and a half miles east of I-4 in Longwood. The store hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you're listening to the show here on Saturday, that means you still have time to stop by. They'll be open until 7 p.m. today. And Adam, I couldn't think of a better time to stop by the Refresh Computer Superstore than now, since you guys have that new trade-in program.
Wi Fi Problems That Look Like PC Lag
SPEAKER_01Right, yeah, the new trade-in program that we have, it's it's an exciting new thing that I believe in the first time in the 26 years that uh David Levitt has owned and ran refresh computers that we're offering trade-ins. So we have a whole trade-in program available in store. It's only available in store for quote. We can give you some information over the phone if you call, ask about it. The number's 407-478-8200. But in store, we can give a full trade-in quote just to see if your computer is worth anything and put it towards a new computer. You know, a lot of systems still have to replace to go from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Right now with this trade-in program, I believe we are offering any systems that are a seventh generation or higher. So again, if you if you think it's eligible, give us a call. We can give you some information, bring it by the store, and we can take a look at it. So getting into our uh next topic, man, this is this is a tough one. This is uh this makes me pull my hair out sometimes dealing with this.
SPEAKER_00I have less hair currently because I just recently went through this.
SPEAKER_01And you know, this is the main thing that everybody probably has dealt with, at least once at home. It's just, you know, my computer is so, so slow. And what really causes it, it's probably your Wi-Fi.
SPEAKER_00It's connected to everything, it seems like. And it's uh, of course, it's the problem. It's obvious when you say it, but before that, you're like, oh, it has to be this device, right?
Router Placement And Home Dead Zones
SPEAKER_01And you know, that there's so many devices that we have now that rely on our Wi Fi, our televisions, our smartphones when we have them at home, our you know, maybe our toasters. Don't give them any ideas, Greg, please. I mean, our our uh our smart fridges, those are even connected to the internet. I know they're starting to run. ads through them because of that. So you know you're you're really wondering why is my computer slow? Why does why does pogo take 20 minutes to pop my game up for me? I just want to play a game of Majong. It's most likely your Wi-Fi. You know, it's a lot of computers now, there's not much going on on the computer itself. Your computer is a a portal onto the internet to access your email, play a couple games there, and a lot of times it's the performance of your Wi-Fi that's holding everything back. You know, I've had customers come in before I tell them, hey, I think it's just your Wi-Fi that's causing your issue and the first thing I get back is but I'm paying for for this this plan with this company and I'm getting these I'm supposed to be getting these speeds and it's great internet. Well maybe you're getting these advertised speeds but that's entirely different from your Wi-Fi performance. Right. You know it's it's kind of like a sprinkler. You're sending water to it. If that sprinkler isn't spinning it's not getting the water anywhere. What a great comparison. I love that. It's the only way I can think about it and you know that that leads into a perfect thing about what you can do about it. The main thing I always tell anybody when they have Wi-Fi issues, wireless issues, put the put the router on the topmost shelf you have in your house, anywhere it is. Higher that router is, the better connection you're gonna get across the house. And I know you were just telling me on the break you actually were dealing with a little bit of an internet issue recently.
SPEAKER_00So many dead zones in my new house. So we have the we have ATT fiber that was installed. Right. And when they put it in they put it in in the corner of the house. So you have all of this great high speed internet that's accessible right over in this location of the house but then you get to the other side of the house and you can't even connect to the internet barely. So uh we just recently put in a couple of access points for us to be able to kind of extend that Wi-Fi range. And it's worked out pretty well. Okay. Um but it's it's it's still a battle it seems like you're still trying to figure out the right combination and maybe where to set these best for that coverage. Right. Because ideally you could put your main router with its great signal in the middle of everything and it would send that signal out evenly throughout the house. That's not really how it works, right, Adam?
Mesh Systems And Powerline Networking
SPEAKER_01It's not really the thought that ATT has in mind. They want to run it to your house get it terminated the closest they can to the street because I mean for them it is a cost a cost cut. You know running that much more fiber to get it to the middle of your house probably the construction they're gonna have to do to your house to get it in the middle of your house is not worth it to you really want the ATT technician constructing your house probably I don't think so. You know I have the you know similar issue at h at my house where our almost entire home is cinder block. It is a a heavy durable house it's great for hurricanes let me tell you but the the interference and the walls between every like router I have I have a mesh system because I I've been having just Wi-Fi issues just to a next room sometimes. And the routers I ended up getting have I think what was called PLC. It's basically power line over copper. So it'll actually send why or the internet through my power lines. So I had to figure out what breaker this room was on, make sure that the satellite was connected there but close enough to the other one it was a mess.
SPEAKER_00That's a that's an in that's a unique system. I haven't heard of that one.
SPEAKER_01And it it's something I I you know just blindly bought and did a little research as I was waiting for it to pop up on my door next day from Amazon and you know after I got everything set up it it worked so much better than the the default router that we had from Spectrum.
SPEAKER_00I'm utilizing a mesh system as well but mine is more of like a repeatered system. Right. So more traditional for if you're trying to buy like a more budget friendly I imagine this one was a little bit of a higher higher dollar.
When Old Routers Hold You Back
SPEAKER_01It was it was a higher dollar it was a higher Wi-Fi version. But you're of course going to get that better performance out of it as well exactly and you know I still do have trouble where sometimes I try to print something and the printer doesn't want to connect. Well that's definitely the printer's the printer it's always the printer but you know when we're always just thinking about our our Wi-Fi issues, you know, I I've seen before that people keep it under their desk, behind their computer, right where Spectrum put the the the jack through the wall and that's probably one of the worst places you can have it for any other devices in your house. Now a lot of customers I had or you know now a lot of them I've been pushing to have hardwired connection. Because a lot of times when you have an office set up in your house you set it up where your router is that's just kind of the normal thing. And you're right there at the router there's almost no point in trying to use Wi-Fi because even though the router's right next to the computer it's still bouncing a signal everywhere before it gets to your computer. No, whether or then you have hardline where you're just directly connected it's just a thoroughput. That's it. You know you're not you're not looking at interference. You're not looking at you know the walls blocking any signal. But sometimes it's even just the router that you have can be a problem. You know outdated equipment is a very very difficult issue especially just taking a retrospective thought of what you've bought. Because when you're you know told hey it's time to replace your router oh I only got that you know I don't remember when I got that maybe a couple years ago.
SPEAKER_00Oh here's that receipt showing it was bought 14 years ago you know three Wi-Fi versions before there have been some major revisions to the Wi-Fi uses that you can act the the the speeds that it can send now are so impressive if you have it set up the right way.
Band Compatibility And Network Confusion
SPEAKER_01Exactly and there's some devices that you know these newer routers now that are utilizing Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7, your older devices may not be able to see those anymore. I know my printer just last night was complaining because I made a couple changes on our network and basically combined it so you know it would use 2.4 or 5G whichever was better and the printer had no idea what to do with that because it only sees 2.4. So to the printer itself it's like well I just lost my only connection to the internet I don't know what to do now. So a lot of blame I would say sometimes gets shifted to your ISP that's that's kind of a big misconception now. You know I I know that there's times where you call Spectrum, you know, my internet's slow. All right well have you tried unplugging the router plugging it back in have you tried unplugging this plugging it back in you know the normal diagnostics tests for slow internet. And a lot of the times when we when we come down to doing that it does fix it momentarily right because you've disconnected everything that was on it.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01And you know that gets into a a great second point here is the congestion you know I can almost say for a fact that Greg you probably notice Wi-Fi speeds get a little bit slower later at night than they do like during the day. When everybody's home exactly not just at my house nope but at everyone's house. Exactly you know a lot of our internet systems are off of the same line I know fiber is a little bit different but if you're talking about regular spectrum spectrum's the only name I know off the top of my head right now that's biggest internet especially here in Central Florida that's the only one that you have as well you know they they use a shared junction for everybody's internet so you're kind of dealing with traffic of everybody else later at night when everybody's at home off of work. So what can you really do to try to fix this? You know I I already made the mention of maybe moving the router to a higher location. You made a mention of moving it to a more central location as well which you know I'm sure if requested maybe ATT or Spectrum whoever could try to figure out a way to do it but it's probably going to cost some money.
SPEAKER_00And be careful how much you ask because I remember the last time that I had them do that, they punched a hole through the wall in my closet and just ran the line through the closet tight as a board across my closet.
SPEAKER_02Huh.
SPEAKER_00So you couldn't use a very large portion of that closet otherwise you'd risk ripping out your uh your internet so just be aware of that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah that's not to call out anybody or anybody in specific but it's a it's a very good point. You know be careful what you ask for. You can't have your cake and eat it too when it comes to that. But definitely moving the router to a higher spot that's going to be way better because now you've got your sprinkler going everywhere instead of all the way down trying to you know go over a mountain to to get your signal where it needs to go. There's also just upgrading your router you know Spectrum I know that their kind of motto has always been with the routers that you use them until they they need to be replaced. And I know that my family a couple years ago we were complaining about slow internet before we got that mesh system and we had that router I think from 2009. It was a very very old router and I'm surprised it was still keeping up honestly you can also try to reduce interference you know avoid having any other electronics nearby the Wi-Fi router any anything large like don't put it on top of a filing cabinet. I learned that one myself actually filing cabinets are a great way to ruin your Wi-Fi signal but also sometimes again just try restarting it you know I already mentioned that that's one of the first things that your ISP will mention. And sometimes I've noticed that routers they have a sort of internal memory that they kind of just remember what was connected what's going to probably reconnect and you know as you kind of get new devices get rid of them that stacks up. And especially too with a lot of our uh Wi-Fi systems they sometimes they detect a device differently and think it's a whole new device every single time. Right. So when you're when you start doing that and the memory in your in your routers kind of get into the top maybe it's time for your router to close some of its own browser tabs.
SPEAKER_00Close its own browser tabs. And kind of like you mentioned with the uh the 2.4 to five uh gigahertz range for some of those sometimes it connects to those separate devices twice because it's connecting to both of those different ranges. So you've got to be aware of that as well.
Congestion And Shared Neighborhood Lines
SPEAKER_01And you know that that's an excellent point because with a lot of mesh systems now they give you the option to do beam forming where they'll try to send a signal from multiple satellites to get you a a better connection but they also do roaming. So you know you're walking around your phone in your pocket it's figuring out where the closest one is all the time what the best signal is and it'll using up your battery heating it up in your pocket. But again you know that's just kind of a convenience factor of it. But sometimes it doesn't decide the best one either. I know that a lot of times right now in in my house the my phone will actually rather connect to the router on the other side of the house than the one that's in the room next to me. And that's because the one on the other side of the house I believe is more glass windows where on the other side of the wall the closest one just cinder block.
SPEAKER_02Right.
Better Wi Fi With Simple Fixes
SPEAKER_01So you know and again when I'm running speed tests it's awful. So a lot of times and when I'm at home I've just been using my own phone data because my phone data for some reason gets into my house better oh no than my than my own Wi-Fi inside of the house easier through those asphalt shingles than it is through those through the the cinder block wall. So and again I mentioned it before but a wired connection is something really to consider. If you've got an office set up where your computer is right next to your router anyways a wired connection is going to be the best connection you can ever have. And that works for laptops too. I know not every laptop anymore has an Ethernet port on the side of it. Which is very sad. It is it is very sad. It's it's a loss in my opinion but you know it's kind of it's a cough save it's a it's a size saving measure. Whiter smaller easier exactly even though they're missing it there are adapters that can plug in say with USB that'll still give you better speeds than what most Wi-Fi will now.
SPEAKER_00It is so impressive all the different things we can do with USB C.
SPEAKER_01It is yeah USB C it it is becoming I believe the connector that we're gonna see replace regular USB A at one point. And you'll probably you know that's an interesting point to bring up because Apple they push only USB C on their laptops anymore. I can't remember the last time I've seen an Apple device that came out with a USB A port that wasn't one of their desktop units. So I know we're gonna be getting to a little bit of a break here but before we go I just want to give again another shout out to refreshcomputers.net our website our whole live inventory is right there so anything that we get brand new inventory appears directly on that website.
SPEAKER_00So it's not just it's not just brand new computers.
SPEAKER_01You can just carry all accessories and I'm sure Wi-Fi routers as well yeah we do and you know we we carry upgrades for computers as well you know your RAM your storage anything like that so come on by I would definitely suggest bringing you know your old slower computer by take a look see maybe if it is your router if it isn't but um again check out that superstore our store hours are 9 a.m to 7 p.m Monday through Saturday I think we're located about three and a half miles east of I4.
Wired Ethernet And USB C Adapters
SPEAKER_00And we're still closing those browser tabs but we'll get back to you here after the break you've been listening to tech talk here on WDBO1073FM and AM580. And then welcome back to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580 Orlando's news and talk I'm Greg Rhodes here with technician Adam Littlefield from the Refresh Computer Superstore. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. You can also check out the website at refreshcomputers.net and now back to Adam.
Want Versus Need When Upgrading
SPEAKER_01Thank you Greg and again thank you everybody for tuning into this episode of Tech Talk if you've missed any of our previous segments that we talked about this show we do have our website refreshcomputer.net we have our whole podcast available on there. It's about I'd say the episodes are about 40 minutes long, no advertisements in them. We have those going for a few years back. So you go to refreshcomputers.net click that podcast link up in the top right corner and that'll give you access to all of them. And while you're there again I I really would suggest checking out our inventory just see what we have available. You know I know that with this the shift from Windows 10 to Windows 11 it's caused a lot of people to upgrade and you know I've been seeing a lot of people now start considering buying just a a brand new top of the line computer when really they're only going to be doing you know emails maybe some online shopping just the basics. But it's so nice to get the brand new shiny toy right it is but you know better newer isn't always better especially when it comes down to the costs. You know a new computer now you're looking at you know anywhere between$1200 to$2,000 for a newer system. And you know there are so many systems that you can rather get for what you're using it for and pay way less and save yourself a lot of money because you're not really going to see the performance increase of that newer computer more than likely from what you're using it for. And that goes beyond just your computer as well that goes to phones for example that's the the best example we had at the beginning of this show that we'll bring here is you know my phone the battery's not lasting on it and Samsung is being really good at marketing towards me right now.
SPEAKER_00They're being very aggressive about the new S26 and uh it might be almost kind of working.
SPEAKER_01And you know that's that's kind of what I feel at the moment. They've done a lot of marketing and you know they hype up a lot of their phones every year and it's always their their new function is what they push. And this year is the the adaptive screen privacy on it. And that to me is just interesting. I like having the latest tech, but do I need it? That's the question that keeps me up at night is do I need this?
SPEAKER_00And I guess it's kind of like you've got to have that balance of want versus need. Exactly there are certain things that of course yeah you do need to be able to have a certain level of performance and things but also sometimes it's okay to have that want but you've got to be able to make sure that that want isn't going to overextend you at that point as well.
SPEAKER_01Exactly you know trying to trying to get a computer that's good for Windows 11, especially during tax season right now, I know TurboTax is requiring any purchases for installation on a computer it has to be a Windows 11 computer that's a requirement now. So you know during this tax season that's just another push that's starting to make people think hey okay it was it's time for me to upgrade this computer but you don't need that new brand new computer to run TurboTax because you know if you're only checking your emails doing some some you know document work maybe some light just paperwork on the computer you're not needing the full power that these new computers are giving you now.
SPEAKER_00You don't need a neural chip exactly on your at-home PC.
Where To Listen And Final Thanks
SPEAKER_01And you know most computers now are marketed of AI ready this and you know copilot compatible that but you know me personally my computer I don't use any built-in AI functions I use mostly Grok and ChatGPT which those are more internet interfaces. Yeah they're all like cloud based options at this point. Exactly you know that's not something we're doing local on our computer. We don't need a super fast computer to be able to load our websites either because no matter how fast of a computer you've got going, if your comp if your Wi-Fi's nut speed isn't up to snuff with it, it's not going to do anything for you. Just make sure you close a few of those tabs too exactly you know you can buy a brand new computer 96 gigabytes of RAM those tabs will still just slurp up every single gigabyte they can just a smiley face that's how many that's how many Adam has opened. Yeah it's just a threatening smiley face. So I think we're getting to the end of the show now so again I want to give a big shout out to all of our past podcasts that we've done go to refreshcomputers.net the podcast link in the top right corner that's gonna give you the shows going back years now there's there's shows of just Dave himself Dave and myself just all our different just nerd talks you know talking about the latest and greatest stuff and why this may work why this doesn't work and just everything in between so my name's been Adam Littlefield if you guys have any questions um you can always give us a call at our store 407 478 8200. You'll get connected to any one of our technicians and they can answer probably almost any tech related question you can throw at them. So uh this has been a great episode and I look forward to talking you guys again next week.
