2018 Spring & Garden

2018 Spring Home & Garden LINCOLN DAILY NEWS May 2, 2018 Page 5 How to choose an internet service provider Internet is more than just the service coming to your home, it’s also the service in your house. Internet service comes into your house from your internet provider who brings the internet into your home via a cable, and then you the home owner can connect it to a single computer, or in the case of most households connect it to a wireless router and provide WiFi to numerous devices throughout your home. When you look on your laptop, phone or tablet and see bars indicating the quality of your internet signal, what you are actually seeing is the quality of your own WIFI signal (not the quality of your service from your internet provider). Your internet provider is responsible for getting service to your home; you the consumer are responsible for distributing internet via wires and WIFI inside your home. WIFI is incredible for mobility and coverage in your home. In a modest home, a single inexpensive wireless router can often provide corner-to-corner coverage and allow your family and guests to sign on automatically and have access to all that the internet has to offer, whether on the couch with your phone, in the kitchen with your computer, or tucked in bed with your tablet. There are some restrictions with WIFI. First of all, WIFI is usually less reliable and slower than cabled internet. So for applications such as gaming or for streaming tv shows like Netflix or Amazon, it is always better to connect with a wire than wireless to gaming consoles and smart tvs. Cabled feeds to these devices usually result in less buffering, less latency, and more stable connections for gamers. Ethernet cables can be plugged into the extra ports on your wireless router and connected to your game console and your smart tv. Getting those cables installed properly can usually be done by a local electrician or may be a service available from your internet provider. How to connect your Xbox One S console to the internet for beginners How to connect up a Smart TV Wireless routers are rated for speed and versatility. That speed and versatility is Continued ■ ■