Ideas from Mark Stout

For something most of us didn’t even have 10-15 years ago, wifi has become virtually indispensable in our homes. Sixty-one percent of American homes have wifi. And wifi can be maddening if it fails to reach all rooms in our home. Wifi provides the internet to more and more devices every year. Our first router back around 2003 served two laptops. Today, in an average home, many more devices are linked to wifi routers including laptops, mobile phones, game consoles, portable gaming machines and more. And more devices will continue to login. Devices such as your refrigerator, washing machine, light bulbs, door locks and those little Dash Buttons from Amazon that let you reorder things at the push of a button. Does your wifi reach all areas of your home? If it doesn’t, you are losing valuable functionality. In this column, we’ll tell you how to easily find dead spots in your home and what you can do to get the internet throughout your home. Read the rest at www.FamilyTechOnline.com

Your Wifi router needs a little love sometimes.  The latest Family Tech to be posted online.

My appreciation of wireless access is this week's Family Tech .

We've had no, or spotty Internet coverage since Friday.  Long story, all to familiar to many. Suffice it to say, my son was groggy one morning not from being up late from on the web.  He stayed up to read a book.  Maybe I should join my provider in knocking down our net for a day or two at a time.  Just thinking. So I'm catching up a bit this morning. Not surprised to see official word (sort of) that Google and Verizon are working together on a tablet .  I just hope there is a wi-fi only version of it too. An Apple/AT&T vs. Google/Verizon grudge match can only help us consumers.  Should be a fun contest.  Apple is stronger than Google on design, but then Google is better than Apple on openness. Verizon network vs. AT&T's network is no match. And Apple has hinted the iPad's wi-fi issues will be fixed in an upcoming software fix.  My improved signal strength coming into the house has improved my iPad reception when in the far re...