The home Wi-Fi manifesto

[Bloomberg] [Fully Charged] From [Bloomberg] [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]][Twitter Share] [SUBSCRIBE [Subscribe]] Hello, it's [Ian King] again, and I still have more gadgets than you. That empty boast came back to haunt me recently as I [delved into the dark arts of home Wi-Fi connectivity.] To get an idea of how my colleagues might also be suffering, I asked them a simple question: "Why does Wi-Fi suck?" Needless to say, the reactions were visceral. The good news is that help may be on the way for millions of U.S. internet subscribers. Comcast is offering customers a new Advanced [Wireless Gateway] and rolling out new software to as many as 10 million homes, with new features aimed at making Wi-Fi more reliable and easier to set up. That's part of a wider effort by web companies, manufacturers and access providers to make sure that home networks can handle the explosion of connected gadgets—everything from light bulbs to air conditioners demanding access. My small San Francisco apartment is currently host to four different wireless networks and two different wired connections. There are nine different pieces of networking equipment currently flashing small lights, and 17 connected devices (that work with varying degrees of success). I upgraded my Comcast internet service to 200 mbps and got a newer router, so I can't really blame them for my Wi-Fi headaches. I've also learned what MIMO, LDPC, CSD, STBC, listen-before talk, port forwarding, MAC, SSID, 802.11n, 802.11ac, mesh, beam forming, access-point hand offs and Faraday cages are, so you don't have to. Seriously, does any other every-day technology require so much expertise? Trying to diagnose problems and fix them by making adjustments to older router settings requires a journey into screens not seen in computers since the 1980s. My suspicions were confirmed. Wi-Fi is a wildly unpredictable technology. If you turn on the microwave, make a cordless phone call, hold your phone in a slightly different way, accidentally ask the network for data from two devices at the same time, or stand on one leg, even something as relatively fast as 200 mbps can evaporate. What helped muffle my screams of rage was new networking equipment from the startup Plume, Netgear and Comcast which seem to offer big strides forward in addressing the problems of stability and performance. Plume's plug-ins depend on the cloud for their brains. The small pods blanket a home with coverage and computers in the cloud manage it. Setup was easy and reliability was excellent, and much more robust in terms of interference. Netgear's Orbi is also easy to install and seem to offer consistently high speeds. But what if you don't want to blow several hundred dollars on new gear? Step one is to ask your provider for an 802.11ac router, with ac being the latest Wi-Fi standard. Then try to put that new device somewhere off the floor, in the middle of the building and away from other pieces of electronics. Avoid big chunks of metal such as boilers or water tanks and anything solid, like a reinforced concrete wall. That will give it the best chance to get you the bits and bytes you want. Be warned though—if you live in a building with multiple residences, you're liable to find numerous other people's networks when you connect something new. That means they're all potentially competing for the same airwaves. During a peak event, such as the beginning of a series of Game of Thrones, you might be out of luck, no matter what technology you have. I do have one absolutely foolproof piece of networking equipment in my setup, and I'm not ashamed to use it. It guarantees all of the data I want in the living room. It's regressive, but it works: a 40-foot ethernet cable that snakes through to the router. And here’s what you need to know in global technology news Amazon is stealing the spotlight. The web retailer turns heads again in Hollywood, with [six Oscar nominations]for a movie it backed, Manchester by the Sea. While Netflix remains the [leader in online streaming], Amazon is going accolades by playing by Hollywood's rules, such as letting movies play in theaters before they are streamed online. Alibaba's digital efforts are showing signs of paying off. China's biggest e-commerce company raised [its forecast for the year], even as its user base remained fairly stagnant at 443 million. Alibaba is betting that cloud computing and [online movies]and entertainment will fuel growth, just like it is for Amazon. It's starting to sound like people are stating the obvious, but batteries are a big problem for smartphones. The U.S. [Company Overview] says standards for lithium-ion batteries in mobile phones [need to be updated], following the disclosure earlier this week of Samsung's [long investigation]into its fire-prone Note 7. Who's getting a raw deal? A report just came out showing that newspapers and other media outlets are [struggling to make money from their social-media partnerships]. They can't make as much on ads, raising concerns over their business models and are starting to question whether Facebook and other platforms are going to help them make money. Toshiba is in trouble again. The Japanese conglomerate [hired Goldman Sachs]to help it sell part of its chip business. Toshiba is seeking to [raise funds] following the disclosure that it may have to take billions of dollars in writedowns at its nuclear unit. The next battle for smartphone customers is taking place in India. Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi and other Chinese manufacturers are [falling over each other] to sell phones in the country, where some 500 million devices are projected to be sold over the next few years. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Bloomberg Technology newsletter Fully Charged. You can tell your friends to [sign up here]. [Unsubscribe] | [Bloomberg.com] | [Contact Us] Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022