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
You Can Watch The NFL Without Paying For Cable
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Cable is expensive, streaming prices keep creeping up, and somehow the one thing you actually want to watch live is still sports. We walk through a realistic plan for watching NFL games without a traditional cable bill, including how to combine streaming services with a simple over-the-air antenna for local channels. Along the way, we talk about what exclusivity deals mean for fans, why you do not need every subscription all season, and how short-term sign-ups can keep your sports streaming budget under control.
Then we shift to the part that makes or breaks all of it: Wi-Fi. We share what we see on real homes and small businesses in Central Florida, from routers hidden in cabinets to outdated cables that silently cap your speeds. We explain why your internet provider can claim everything looks fine while your streaming still buffers, and how upgrading to the right router or a mesh Wi-Fi system can improve coverage, stability, and throughput for modern households packed with smart devices.
We wrap with a simple tech tip you will use constantly: how to share your Wi-Fi password without crawling under a desk to read the tiny router sticker. iPhone users can reveal and copy the saved password, and Android users can generate a QR code that guests scan to connect instantly. Subscribe for more practical tech help, share this with a friend who complains about Wi-Fi, and leave a review with the one topic you want us to tackle next.
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Welcome And How To Reach Us
SPEAKER_01Hey there, and welcome to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580 Orlando's news and talk. I'm Greg Rhodes, sitting here with Adam Littlefield, a technician 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 a comment during the show, go and use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. And also check out the website over at refreshcomputers.net, or you can 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. Store hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. until 7 p.m., which means if you're listening to the show here on Saturday, you still have time to stop by. They'll be open until 7 p.m. today. And now for the man himself, Adam Littlefield.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you, Greg, and thank you, everybody, for tuning into this episode of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. My name is Adam Littlefield. I'm one of the technicians over at our superstore over in Longwood. We are open today. We're open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. So if you have any questions listening to the show, give us a call on our free tech support hotline. Our phone number is 407-478-8200. Or you can also take a look at our website, send us an email, we have a contact email. There's tons of ways to reach us. We're able to help with a bunch of different things, and we're going to
Cutting Cable Costs With Streaming
SPEAKER_00talk a lot about that in this show. We'll also go over a little bit of some different stuff today. You know, we we talk a lot about subscription services and everything, you know, cutting the cable bills. So we'll be talking on a good admit today of how you can watch the NFL and almost everything else today without having the cable bill involved.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, it's a huge deal. It can save you a lot of money, too.
SPEAKER_00Right. We're also going to be talking about some of our on-site work that refresh computers can do for you, either at your business or at your home. We're also going to be talking a little bit about, you know, Wi-Fi speeds and how to kind of identify where the problem actually lies. And then we'll be ending off our show today with another one of our tech tips that we've been doing. So, Greg, you're a you're a big fan of NFL, aren't you? Uh that's a you could say that. You could say that. Bit of a loaded question. I know. I uh I don't really involve myself in sports. So it's not something I personally watch, but NFL's just like any other platform for watching stuff. You know, you've got Disney Plus for all your Disney content, Hulu, HBO, NFL. You've got what's some of the other sports-related ones? ESPN, I believe.
SPEAKER_01Sure, ESPN has their own standalone app. You can have Fox Sports as well. Uh they've had their Fox One app that they've had out now for about the year and a half or two now.
SPEAKER_00Right. So, you know, a lot of these services now are kind of becoming the replacement for our cable television. You know, we had that massive tran uh transition years ago back when Netflix first started becoming like the mainstream streaming platform. And back then it was really cheap to just cut your cable bill. Cable bill was, you know, about $100, $120 for all these channels you're not watching when you can just subscribe to Netflix for what was it when it first started? I think like 10, 15 a month. It was very cheap. It was something very cheap.
SPEAKER_01It is no longer very cheap.
SPEAKER_00It is no longer very cheap at all. But again, you know, you're looking at the cable bills running still at $80 to $120. You're paying for a lot of channels that you're not watching.
SPEAKER_01And even that is sometimes just a promo rate. Right. After that first year or two, it jumps up to another $50, $60 on top of that.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And that's, you know, real money every year. That's just running out the door because you're paying for channels and just content you're not watching. So, you know, this is this is kind of the transition where, again, we're starting to lean towards streaming. We're starting to see, you know, maybe you only want to watch shows on Netflix and Hulu, and you want to watch Fox Sports. So you've got those three combined together, and you'll land yourself at a fraction of the cost of what that cable bill was charging you for everything that you are actually going to tolerably watch. You know, this with streaming, there's not the inclusion of something like a DVR, which is convenient, but again, with streaming, you do have the on-demand feature.
SPEAKER_01Which really is most of what people utilize the streaming services for. But really, the thing that people really the only thing that people tune in live for anymore is sports and news.
SPEAKER_00Right. So, and that's a that's a very good point, is the only things that's really live anymore is sports and news. And I know a lot of platforms that do stream sports content stream it live. It's not something that you know you have to go back and watch later. It's something that is streamed live. But I I believe you still can go back and watch previous games, can't you, Greg?
SPEAKER_01A lot of them can, yeah. So it's uh we'll use ESPN as the example since you brought it up earlier. They do host like Monday Night Football, they'll host that as well as like a handful of Major League Baseball games and things like that. But you can go back and watch a couple of the previous previous games. Uh like there was a bunch of preseason games on last night. I'll probably go home and re-watch a couple of those today. Right.
SPEAKER_00And that that makes it super easy, right? Because you can you can tune in for a little bit of the live game, but you already have the convenience to know that the game is gonna be there to go back and watch if you ever want to, right? That's something different, whereas with the cable bill, you know, you've got live stream on television. You may have you may pay extra per month for a DVR, but say your power goes out or something. Maybe the DVR just got turned off. Well, now you're gonna miss the entire recording of that show. Or like my dad likes to do, he he'll record entire uh NASCAR races and he'll fast forward through the parts that are just you know 40, 50 laps of just nothing, just circles around the tracks. So you kind of look at it like that, you get the the chance as well with streaming, you can rewind and actually kind of play something over for yourself. You know, that's a bit more than what you can do on a live stream. I know with some live streams you can pull them back and re-watch something, but you're watching it for the live aspect of it. Right. So here's a a part that not a lot of people really think about.
Free Local Games With Antennas
SPEAKER_00Me personally, I don't even really think about is just having a simple over the air antenna as well. That's a a simple, you know, one-time buy, anywhere from $25, about $60. And you can pull a lot of local channels for free through that antenna. You're not paying monthly for it, you just bought the antenna, that's it. And that can mean, you know, channels like CBS, Fox, NBC, ABC, Over the Air, which you know covers, you know, your local Sunday afternoon football, Sunday night football, sometimes even the Super Bowl at you know, no recurring cost. Right. That's even more money you're saving per month. And if you're not really watching a bunch on live television, the simple over the air antenna would be the only thing you'd need.
SPEAKER_01And honestly, I am a big supporter of this. You might not have it at home, but I have multiple antennas at home, and I'm actually looking to upgrade my antenna setup at the house. But the the way that they have it set up right now is all of those digital channels, they come in in HD 7720 or even 1080i. Right. You get those HD signals, you even actually even get some surround sound audio out of some of those uh channels as well. They come in beautifully as long as you set up your antenna the correct way. You've got to, you know, make your adjustments and things like that. It is a little bit more manual still than maybe just turning on your cable box. But there are a lot of advantages to it. It's like you mentioned, there are no fees, there's no monthly recurring payment that you have to make. And you get all of your local local sports typically on those channels. Right. So if you're a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan, you're gonna be able to find the Buccaneers game because that's our area here in Central Florida, the Buccaneers claim Orlando. Right. So you'll be able to catch those Buccaneers games no problem whatsoever, pretty much almost all their games throughout the year. Now, if you're a fan of somebody from outside of the state or outside of our area, that's where you kind of come across some of the difficulties with having these without having the subscription or the cable package. So but I'm totally behind if you are interested in doing that. I really I would recommend looking into what's called next gen TV. Right. That's gonna be the next step that they're gonna be taking with these broadcast channels. And it's already active right now, but it's not as advertised if you want to say something like that. Right. They're talking 4K streams in the future via that for your broad local broadcast channels as that technology develops. They're talking Dolby Atmos surround sound being available through those kinds of channels. So I would definitely recommend looking into that and maybe kind of future-proof yourself if you're in the market for television to keep that uh technology in mind.
SPEAKER_00And that's a that's a very good point to actually put out there is the main thing with streaming services is they can give you almost any any quality that they want to give you. They want to give you 8K if the show's in 8k or the stream is, and you're willing to pay for it, and you're willing to pay for it, they can throw that on their service. Over-the-air uh antenna, it is a little bit uh iffy on that quality that you're getting. But again, you're saying, you know, having this next gen TV coming out, that still means that they're pushing this more and more. It's not something that's just kind of dwindling away.
SPEAKER_01Right. And like I said, you can see that in local areas right now. I'll I'll use an example. Our sister station, WFTV Channel 9, has one of these next gen broadcasts that they brought, that they have the ability to broadcast programs in 4K if they have the if they have that set up in their area. So it's it's it's it's the wave of the future with it. It's not your grandma and grandpa's bunny ears sitting on the top of the old box TV. It's definitely something that's a little bit more advanced than that. I definitely recommend looking into it.
SPEAKER_00And that's something that's uh you know totally different for me is I never grew up with antenna TV, satellite TV. It was always cable and streaming. So I never even had the experience before of having antenna-based television. So, you know, getting all of that over, again, antenna that only costs you, you know, around $60. Yeah, that's a lot, a lot of stuff.
SPEAKER_01Now you can get into it if you want to spend a little bit of money, like just like anything, you can make it a little bit more interesting for yourself. Like I said, I will I'm looking to upgrade my antenna setup before the NFL season starts. And we currently have one of those $25 models that's attached to our main TV in the living room, and it only works for that one television. You have to set up another antenna on another television. I'm looking to do a whole house setup to where I'll have one mounted in my attic that will then feed and split out to all of the televisions in the in the house. So that's the next step that I'm looking for. And again, looking to make sure it's next gen TV compatible as well. So you'll be able to get most of your local games via that. But there's also a lot of games that you'll be able to find on, like you mentioned, these streaming platforms, NBC's games, you can always find them on Peacock, ABC's games you'll be able to find on ESPN. Uh, CBS and Fox are also utilizing their apps for streaming some of these NFL games this coming season as well. So lots of options for you if you're looking for ways to watch the NFL this year.
SPEAKER_00And you know, that to shift gears a little bit with what you just said there, Greg, you know, it's nice to have that one-time fee. You
Exclusive Games And Smart Subscribing
SPEAKER_00know, you pay for the antenna, you get those channels, and you get them for really as long as they're ever broadcasting. However, you know, I have started to notice that they're starting to become an exclusivity shift where some of these platforms are now starting to get exclusive rights to certain streaming. So, you know, I I don't know any off the top of my head, but I do know that there's a lot of deals going on with that where, you know, say you can only see a certain type of football game only on ESPN's app.
SPEAKER_01So you'll be able to only see like so Thursday night football is only available on Amazon Prime. Exactly. So you have to have an Amazon Prime subscription to watch that unless you live in the local market, then they have certain agreements that they have to follow. But Amazon Prime has the Thursday night games. The opening game this season is going to be an exclusive on Netflix. Okay. Netflix also has a couple of games around Christmas this year, I believe, as well.
SPEAKER_00Thanksgiving too, I think, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01There's a couple of restrictions on some of those. There was actually a lot of talk in Congress about how this was turning into an issue because the NFL does have an antitrust situation that they currently utilize. So there were concerns about that, but even still, roughly 89% of NFL games are available on free over-the-air television. So right.
SPEAKER_00So, you know, you're not missing out, I would say, too too much from this exclusivity deals that are going on with a lot of these different streaming services. But again, you know, it is starting to take some of the the big ticketed ones, you know, the ones that everybody pays attention to. Sure. I know that, you know, big ones still, like the Superfull Super Bowl, for example, you still can see on multiple platforms.
SPEAKER_01Right. This year it'll be its first year on ESPN in 20 years, but it'll also be cast on ABC. Right. So you don't have to have the ESPN app to actually watch that one.
SPEAKER_00Now, the nice thing with that though is say you do go out and you get that one-time antenna, you know, you paid your you paid your one-time due there, and you're getting your local channels all around you. Most of the stuff you want to keep up to date with all the time. Those games that are on streaming services only on Netflix, on Amazon Prime Video, you don't need those services all at the same time, and you don't need them all of the time either. That's true. You can only subscribe for one or two months, you know, during a little bit of a season where there's a couple games you want to watch, or just be subscribed for, you know, the whole season and then just shut it off when you're when you're cancel and switch to another when you're done with it.
SPEAKER_01I believe it's FUBO TV. It's a similar to like a YouTube TV kind of cable television replacement. Right. It's actually offering now day passes specifically for you to watch football games. If you want to, if you're if there's a game that's that's behind some kind of paywall that they have access to that you wanted to be able to watch those games, or you didn't want to set up your antenna like we were talking about before. Right. You can pay, I believe it's like a five-dollar fee for the day, and then you'll have access to their full allotment of channels for just the day.
SPEAKER_00Now I like that.
SPEAKER_01So there are there are some there are some streamers out there trying to be a little creative with it to try and figure out ways to give you that access that you would like, but that you don't want to pay for a full subscription for.
SPEAKER_00Right. And I think that's that's the best way to do it because you know, a lot of subscription services, most of all of them, honestly, are month-to-month subscriptions that you sign up for. But then again, different from cable, you're not getting locked into a contract. Right. So you got to think about that too. Streaming services you can cancel at any time, switch at any time. Especially, you know, you're mentioning having just a single day pass that makes it even easier to just spend a little five dollars instead of trying to, you know, finagle your way through subscribing for another $20 or $30 subscription of Netflix.
SPEAKER_01And I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about pretty much the original subscription service, NFL Sunday Ticket. If you are somebody who's a fan of somebody outside of the state, like let's say you live here and you're a Denver Broncos fan, you want to watch all your games, you're gonna have to pay for NFL Sunday ticket. That's just kind of there's no way around that. The NFL's got that pretty well locked down. So right.
SPEAKER_00Well, I think we're gonna be going to our uh break here, but when we get back, we're gonna be talking about some on-site services that refresh computers can do for you and uh get your network going.
SPEAKER_01You've been you've been listening to NFO, I mean tech talk right here on WDBO Orlando's news and talk. Hey
On-Site Networking Help For Homes
SPEAKER_01there, and welcome back to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580, Orlando's News and Talk. I'm Greg Rhodes, sitting here with Adam Littlefield, or technician 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 a comment during the show, we'd love to hear it. Use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app.
SPEAKER_00And now, back to Adam. Well, thank you, Greg. And again, thank you, everybody, for tuning into this episode of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers, a uh 26-year-old Orlando, Central Orlando tech company. A staple. A staple. And you know, we we offer a lot of services in our store, and you know, we do talk on the show a lot about our on-site services that we provide as well, both for in-home and for business visits. So, you know, whether you're a small business, a bigger business, or just a regular person in your own home, we can come out to your house and we can do a lot of stuff on site. And one of the big ones that I haven't really talked about a lot before is our networking that we can do. Well, on site, refresh computers can do a bunch of different networking things. We can help setting up with or help you set up Wi-Fi networks. So we've talked before about setting up, you know, guest networks. So we can help you create the normal network, the guest network, make sure everything's routed correctly, you know, help test out some speeds, make sure where wherever you're setting up your Wi-Fi equipment's gonna be the right place. I know we also do network runs inside of businesses as well. So if you're a business just establishing your location, we can come out to your office, to uh we've done warehouses before, anywhere really, that you're needing network ran. We can come out, do a site survey, and kind of see what it'll cost to get everything set up. So that's not something that I know a lot of places really offer in this central Florida area, especially in the Longwood area. You know, a lot of us in this area, I live in Winter Springs personally myself, are just kind of at the mercy of, well, uh Spectrum, our internet providers. You know, not to throw Spectrum under the bus. All all internet providers really in this area, you know, we're at their mercy of having a technician come out and work with us on site. I know me specifically, if I ever have to contact Spectrum about something, they don't they don't even bother trying to ask me if I turn the router off and back on again, if it's on top of a on top of a bookshelf or if it's underneath a desk. So those are the kinds of things, at least, you know, for us, we go through and inspect every time we do a site visit just to make sure that things are set up well. And if they aren't, we can give suggestions as well of what you can do to get everything up to snuff.
SPEAKER_01What are some of the basics when you walk into someone's home and you do see what are some of the almost like the uh the usual suspects? What are some of the things that you come across?
SPEAKER_00So, usual things I always see are you know, Wi-Fi, the box itself, the modem, the router. It's stuffed into a little cabinet underneath a desk. And you know, that's that's the best way to put it to get it out of the way, right? The problem with that is you've got them trapped. So they get warm. And just like any other technology, modems and routers, they are small computers. So they do generate heat. They don't like being trapped in a small confined area. But also, you know, having a router down and low, your signal is going to be very, very diminished compared to having it just high, just in an open area. Especially for me, if I go to a site that has a mesh system, I try to make sure that not just the main router is in a good spot. I make sure all of them are in high, good spots. We also do look for um, you know, just any any cables. So we do kind of take a look at any cables that are running to it. So if you're having slow speeds, we'll make sure that there's, you know, not any damage because I can't tell you how many times, you know, it's been a couple months, somebody's having slow service at their home. We come out and take a look, and there's one cable that's got just a little a little nick in it, or maybe their cat shoot through it. That's all it takes. Make sure that the cable's the right quality, too.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. If you've got a a gigabit internet coming into your house, but you're running a cat five cable between the uh between the router and your modem. Right.
SPEAKER_00That could be uh that could be your bottleneck right there. Exactly. So we look for all of those things, and you know, we we look for a lot more too. There's so much really that I can't list off just because they're all small edge cases, little tiny one-off things. So um, if that's something that you're interested in having us come out and do, give us a call. Our number is 407-478-8200. Any of our technicians that pick up, they can give you all the details you need to know about that. We're gonna be going to another break here, but when we get back, we're gonna be talking a little bit more about Wi-Fi and if it's really the problem.
SPEAKER_01You've been listening to Tech Talk right here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580. Hey there, welcome back to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580, Orlando's News and Talk. I'm Greg Rhodes, sitting here with Adam Littlefield, a technician 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 a comment during the show, we'd love to hear it. Use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. Don't forget to check out the website over 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. Store hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. And if you're listening to the show here on Saturday, it means you still have time to stop by. They'll be open until 7 p.m. today. And now for Adam Littlefield.
Finding The Real Wi-Fi Bottleneck
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you, Greg. And again, thank you everybody for tuning into this episode of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. Before I get into this segment talking about Wi-Fi, I want to go a little bit more into our website that Greg gave, refreshcomputers.net. So on our website, we have our whole live inventory listed there. So any new inventory that we get in is listed right there. So as soon as we have hands on it, we we have it available for purchase on our website. You can view everything that we have there. So not just computers, you can view cables, monitors, adapters, all of that. You can order it online as well. And you can either do in-store pickup if you're located locally, or you can do shipping. We ship to the entire continental United States. Um, I believe right now, orders of $300 or more, you know, are getting free shipping as well. So take advantage of that. It is a really good deal on those on the computers that we have. While you're on the website as well, check out the podcast link in the top right corner. That's got the the beginning of this show, the rest of this show, all of our shows going back, and the show that we'll be having tomorrow will be on there as well. We talk about tons of different information. We Summarize all of it as well. So you can kind of pick and choose and see if there's a topic in one of those episodes that you're interested in listening in. So getting into this one is probably the biggest tech issue that I can say almost every listener has troubles with or has almost pulled their hair out at one point about, and that's your Wi-Fi. And it is really, really annoying to find the problem with your Wi-Fi. Is it the device you're using? Is it your router? Is it your modem? Is it your ISP, your internet service provider? There are so many variables of what can slow down your Wi-Fi. And, you know, let's face it, we've talked about streaming a little bit in the beginning of this show. Wi-Fi kind of holds our whole life together now. A lot of our content is viewed through the internet. And more often than that than not, it's your router that's quietly holding you back. You know, Greg, you did mention talking about different cables in the last segment on how, you know, cables can really bog things down, which they can, you know, using the same cable you got with your first Wi-Fi with whatever company you have 15 years ago, if you're still using that to this day, more than likely that cable's it's it's done its duty.
SPEAKER_01I'll guarantee you it's done its duty. It's done its danger. I won't say more than likely. I'll go I'll go beyond that.
SPEAKER_00It is time to update that cable. It is. You know, it still gets you signal, slow signal at that. And that's the main thing with cables, for example, is they as we've gotten faster and faster Wi-Fi, faster and faster networks, we've had to get faster and faster cables. So that's one of the things that hold it back. But really, your router this day and age is gonna be the part that's holding you back the most because it's something that we don't really think about. Me, myself, I just replaced our mesh system we had at my house with a Wi-Fi 7 mesh system before we had a Wi-Fi 6 one. And before that, we had the included router that came from our service provider. So it was a separate router and a separate modem. Looking up that model of that router, I think I was just getting out of middle school when they started providing that router to customers. So putting it in that kind of aspect now, I'm 28 years old. So that that was an old router to begin with. Wi-Fi standards changed a lot and they keep changing. You can call your provider all day long saying you're having slow connections. And here's the big thing that really just screws everything up is when you contact them and they say, Oh, your service is looking fine. We're seeing full speeds. They're only testing the cable between the out the outside of your house and their data centers. That's it. That cable, of course, is probably going to be getting a very good connection. I'd hope so. I would hope so too. Now, maybe you just had some recent, you know, landscaping done, and you know, somebody was digging through your yard and they just they hit a cable that just was not marked or they just didn't look for. Adam.
SPEAKER_01Adam, this happened.
SPEAKER_00It happened recently.
SPEAKER_01Oh no. Oh, our neighbor was getting new internet put in and new fiber, and the technician thought that that was their line. Right. Even though it was obviously running towards my house. And they just cut it. They didn't pull, they didn't check, they just cut it, saying, Nope, definitely the line. Really? Cut it right in the yard. I get home from work and I was like, Oh, why can't I access anything? And why is my kid so mad that he can't watch Bluey right now? That was because that was why, and it took two days for me to get my internet back up.
SPEAKER_00So that cable right there, if you called your service provider, Greg, they would have said something's wrong with the cable then. But you know, having an old 10, 15-year-old router, that's gonna be your main bottleneck on a lot of these systems now. A lot of service providers, they don't have a maintenance schedule for your router, which I'll be honest, there isn't a maintenance schedule. If if you unplug it and let it sit off for a minute and plug it back in once every six months, that's good enough. That's it. That's all you have to do. And I'll tell you what, the power systems in Florida, you know, sometimes you just have a good enough power flick, it does it for you. It does it for you. So, you know, that's that's something to really think about. How old is that router? How old is that modem too that you may have gotten from your service provider? Because again, you are paying a monthly fee for the gear that they provide you. You can go to them, I wouldn't say almost at any time, but you can go to them and say, Hey, my equipment, my equipment's a little dated. Can I can I get an upgrade? A lot of times they'll do it and they won't increase your monthly for that device. They're part they're charging you a monthly fee just for the gear.
SPEAKER_01Neither should they, because of how much they charge you for those and how much those items typically actually cost on the retail side. Right.
SPEAKER_00So we also have a lot of devices now that are becoming our our environment, our ecosystem. We've talked on the show before about you know how you can smart up your smart house, you know, put in smart plugs and video doorbells and video security cameras, all of those communicate over your Wi-Fi. If you have an older router, especially one that's still utilizing maybe Wi-Fi 5 standards, it's gonna be bottlenecked extremely because the thoroughput of that, it's like you're trying to push five o'clock traffic through a through a one-way road. Right.
SPEAKER_01That's why you're trying to watch 4K Netflix on one television, and then somebody's ringing your doorbell, and then somebody's trying to find a recipe for something over on the your Amazon Echo over in your kitchen. It all builds up really quickly. And we mentioned the fee that they charge you for some of these routers is I I think outrageous. It is. I personally supply my own router every time. And I know over the Refresh Computer Superstore, you guys have a great selection of routers.
SPEAKER_00We do. And you know, routers are are the again the main thing that's gonna be your bottleneck because it sends that signal out everywhere. If you have something that's hardwired, you hardwire it to the router. If you are using your phone and you've got your what you've got your kid watching Blue E on it, well, that's going over your Wi-Fi, which is the router. So that's something really to think about. Having one that's that's even labeled for Wi-Fi 6 or 6E, or if you've got one that's Wi-Fi 7, you've got a really good router there. That's that's an upgrade that's gonna make streaming, video calls, gaming much more stable because again, you have more thoroughput for that communication, for your network traffic. You're kind of just adding more lanes to the highway.
SPEAKER_01And when they come into the refresh computer superstore, you guys can help match them with the right type of router that they would need for their circumstance, right?
Mesh Wi-Fi For Tough House Layouts
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And a lot of the times, you know, I have customers coming in that that just tell me I've got a router in my office, I've got it all the way up on the highest shelf I can, and I just I can't go in the next room without dropping Wi-Fi. Those end up being ones where instead of having a single router, you can have a mesh system. So a mesh system is two or three small router units that are around the house. You have a main one, which generally they call the main satellite, which is what plugs into the modem, gets the main internet from your internet service provider, sends it out to the two smaller ones that are around the house. These are like Wi-Fi extenders on steroids. So instead of just bouncing signals all over the place trying to get it to you with as high a speed it can, which is normally what extenders do, mesh systems kind of refresh the signal. So you're getting higher speeds, more reliable speeds as well. These systems also provide roaming settings. So, you know, your phone will seamlessly just tell what router or what satellite, air quotes there, it needs to be connected to within the mesh system. So that's that's the main thing I always mention is if you've got some some dark spots in your house where you're just not getting any signal, it may be time to look into a mesh system. And that's uh kind of where refresh computers, where we can come in, you know, have us come out to your house and do a survey of your router, where it's located, what your house, how it's built. You know, I know concrete block houses, mine specifically, really need a mesh system. And I I do hate to say it that a more expensive mesh system in the long run will save you so much headache than just using the overpriced equipment you're getting from your service provider. Because again, Greg, you know, it's you know, I know for my system at home I I forked out a good five, six hundred dollars for a really good mesh system. Yep, but I'm not crying now because I can I can go to the other side of the house and still have reliable Wi-Fi.
SPEAKER_01Right. And if you're already paying the high cost of some of these internet providers to have this high speed access in your home, right. You want it all the way around your home, not just in one small location that's close to that main router's.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And you know, say you're somebody that doesn't really have a lot of uh attention on wireless devices. You've got one computer in your home, you've got cable television, and that, you know, it's you just live simply like that. That's how you you need, you, you, you live. Then, you know, having a wired connection from that router to your computer will be the main thing to focus on. You can have, I wouldn't say having an old Wi-Fi 5 router would be a good one here. But still, even just having the basic Wi-Fi six routers that most ISPs provide now, having a good cable going from your router to your computer will get you all of the connection speed that you'll need. And again, you know, living with just a simple device like that, you probably don't need super strong Wi-Fi on the other side of your house. You know, there's there's nothing of walking over there and you're trying to watch something on your phone. Most of the time you've got your television for that. So I did mention again, concrete block construction is one of the biggest things that that hinder Wi-Fi. And man, I've got some personal experiences with that one. Oh man.
SPEAKER_01It's those those Florida concrete block houses are built different. They kind of have to be built different, you know. It's Florida and we've got hurricanes, but I think that there's definitely something to be said about utilizing those mesh systems that have really developed over the last couple of years. Before it used to be more of like the nodes that you could have set up, and they were much more like, like you said, those more like wireless repeaters as they were compared to what this mesh system does. And I have a mesh system set up in my house, and I'm someone that has a couple of cameras set up outside, I have a doorbell, I have a TV set up on the back patio, things like that that all need this access to the to the internet that really can pull down a lot of speed if you don't have it set up correctly. But that mesh network made all the difference once I got it set up correctly.
SPEAKER_00Right. And just looking at my network at home right now, nobody is home, but I can view how many devices are still connected. I can see 37 connections. So that's something you have to think about. You know, nobody's home, but having a smart home, there are constant connections that are communicating things. I can check my doorbell right now and I know it won't cripple the entire network. That's because I've gone through the trouble of getting a really solid router, making sure everything's in the right places. And, you know, concrete block, it I think I finally, finally have gotten past that finally conquered it. I used to have a uh an older mesh system that would use it would do e internet over copper. So if it was on the same circuit, it could send the signal over the copper power cables on that circuit and communicate it between meshes. That was, I believe, a Wi-Fi six system. Interesting. And that couldn't even get through the concrete block. I have a Wi-Fi 7 system now, and you know, that's that's the one that's done it. But again, the systems are pricey. So you have to think about really what you have in your household, what your need is there as well for a router.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. But if you've only, like you said, you've only got maybe your cell phone when you come home, and that's about it. Maybe a laptop when you open it up here and now, here now and again. That's uh that's about it. You don't need too too intricate of a system. Yeah. That's definitely something to look into.
SPEAKER_00And this is something, again, that that us at Refresh, we we deal with every day. You know, I've got personal experiences myself. All of us do at that store. So if it's something that you've got going on, give us a call. Our number is 407-478-8200, or come by. We can talk about you know what system you've got at your house, give you some tips to try. If it doesn't work, we can set something up to come out and see what we can help out with.
SPEAKER_0137 devices. You must have one of those internet connected toasters.
SPEAKER_00I've got a lot of connected devices at home, Greg. More than I even want to go through and admit.
SPEAKER_01What's your most interesting internet connected device? We'd love to hear about it. Use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. You've been listening to Tech Talk right here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580. Hey there, and welcome back to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580, Orlando's News and Talk. I'm Greg Rhodes here with Adam Littlefield, a technician from the Refresh Computer Superstore. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. Don't forget to check out their website over at refreshcomputers.net. And now back to Adam.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you, Greg. And again, thank you, everybody, for tuning into this episode of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. If you're tuning in just now, this is our last segment of the show. So you've missed the first three. They were a lot of there was a lot of good information there, a lot about, you know, NFL Cs and how you can access it with or without cable, you know, using an antenna. We talked a lot more about Wi-Fi as well. So go to our website, refreshcomputers.net, click the podcast link in the top right corner, and listen back to this whole show because we had a lot of really good information that I think it would benefit a lot of our listeners to listen back to. In this segment,
Share Wi-Fi Password With Your Phone
SPEAKER_00we're going to talk about the one, the one problem I still have to this day, and it's something that I use this almost every every time I have to connect somebody to my Wi-Fi network. And that's sharing your Wi-Fi password without having to dig around for it. That is one of the most infuriating things because, you know, I I can almost guarantee half of our listeners have an experience this where they have somebody come over that they want that wants to connect to their Wi-Fi. They ask for that Wi-Fi password. You got to go dig out that router from underneath that desk where it's not supposed to be brush off the dust and you have to read that 20-character password off the bottom of it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the one that you taped to the bottom of it and flipped it upside down, which you're not supposed to do. You're not supposed to do that either.
SPEAKER_00So it turns out, and you know, this is a really good thing to know. Your phone can hand it over for you. I'm gonna go through both on iPhone and Android how you can do this because it is something that's very useful to do. If this is something you've got to do, you can also go back on our website and look at this show's notes, and you we'll have these steps listed out there. So on an iPhone, if you're an Apple user, go to the settings app and tap on Wi-Fi. There should be a little blue letter I next to the network you're connected to. Tap where it says password, it'll it'll be hidden behind some dots, and it'll normally ask for your face, your fingerprint, your pin, whatever it normally takes to normally unlock your phone. And then it'll show the password. That'll let you copy it and share it. I know with Apple, they've been really just getting into the airdrop sequence. So I know that you can also share the password via airdrop. If it's somebody that's using an iPhone, you can share it that way, or copy it and text it to them. That's what I normally do. On an Android phone, you can go to settings. There's network and internet. I know on some Android devices it may be labeled as connections. So look out for that. Either network, internet, or connections, and then Wi-Fi, and then tap the network you're connected to. So I know for mine, it's our home's internet, and then from there, tap share. It'll confirm it's you again, face your face ID, your thumbprint, your pin, whatever you've got set up for the phone. And then it puts a QR code right on your phone. And all your guests will have to do is point their camera at it and boom, they're connected. They don't have to type in anything, they don't have to select anything. They can just scan that QR code and that's it. Just like that. It's a little magic trick to get someone connected.
SPEAKER_01It's so easy. I did it while Adam was describing the steps. It's really simple. It's one of those things, like you said, it saves so much time and makes something that can be kind of awkward, really, really easy to do.
SPEAKER_00And I I'll tell you right now, those stickers on the bottom of that router, they are not invincible. They are not built of adamantium, they are not going to stay there forever. Like all printed material, it'll fade, it'll get scratched off by something moving, it happens. And that's a password that you need to have. So being able to share it like this is really going to help. And, you know, end of the day, it saves me some me from some pretty embarrassing uh moments because I know a couple times connecting some devices, I've confused a lowercase L and a capital I. Absolutely. That's all it takes to just look at it how I have it written down and just think back to myself. I'm like, man, you really, really screwed the pooch writing it down this way, Adam, didn't you?
SPEAKER_01Now you have to go back through and type in that 20-character password all over again.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Doing it like that, that'll give it just right over to whoever's connecting. It makes it so much easier. Again, if you missed those steps, go back to our website, refreshcomputers.net, click that podcast link in the top right corner, and we'll you'll get these steps here and have it just in your head to share your internet to somebody, whoever comes by. I think we're getting to the end of this show now.
Final Takeaways And Tomorrow Preview
SPEAKER_00So uh tune in tomorrow. We're gonna have another exciting show, a different show. Um, we'll talk about getting your personal information off the internet, robocalls, you know, big questions about new iPhones, all this exciting content. So tune in uh tomorrow at Sunday uh at 8 a.m. and you'll be hearing me as well.
