Having multiple access points isn’t so much of a hassle, because you can just configure all of them in your wireless network setup and then click to connect to whichever one you want. Here at MUO, we’ve offered some good tips on setting up wi-fi networks, like Tina’s Wi-Fi for Dummies, and Tim’s tips on setting up a secure wi-fi hotspot. The hassle comes in when you switch to a new computer or if you switch computers often. You have to set up all of those Wi-Fi points again, and hopefully you can remember all of the previous settings you were using.

Luckily, there’s an app called the WiFi Network Backup Manager that can capture all of the details for your Wi-Fi connections and save them in a very portable and easy to manage XML file.

Using The WiFi Network Backup Manager

The WiFi Network Backup Manager is a useful tool that you probably never would have imagined needing until you use it. Then you can’t live without it.

Basically, when you first run the program, it will extract your current Wi-Fi network settings and lay them all out in an XML format.

You can explore the settings by scrolling down. If things seem a little hectic, just click on the red minus sign to collapse a configuration category. This lets you explore your current Wi-Fi network settings without a whole lot of clutter. Keep in mind that you can’t change the settings from within this app – it’s primarily a view and backup utility.

If you want to make changes, make them in the Windows network setup, and then relaunch the WiFi Network Backup Utility for a fresh update. Once you’re satisfied that all of the settings for all of your commonly used Wi-Fi networks are good, go ahead and click on the “Save All” button at the bottom of the main window.

This will open up a dialog window where you can tell the utility where to save the backup file. It saves it as a .WifiBackup format, which is supposed to be readable only by the software, but in reality it’s just an XML file. At this point you can save the file – which is your complete Wi-Fi profile – anywhere you like.

Save the file to a USB drive (along with a copy of the install for the Wi-Fi Backup Utility), and you’ll have all of your Wi-Fi settings available everywhere you go. Borrowing a friend’s laptop? Just pop in the USB stick and all your Wi-Fi settings are right there. Getting a refreshed laptop at work? Now you don’t have to worry about wasting time re-configuring everything.

When you’re on the new computer and you want to reload all of the Wi-Fi network settings into the Windows Network setup, just launch the Wi-Fi backup utility and click on the “Load” button. Browse to the .WifiBackup file that you saved, and the software will import the XML file with all of your previous Wi-Fi settings. A dialog box will pop up asking you if you want to load those Wi-Fi networks into your current control panel.

Click Yes, and then go into the Wi-Fi network configuration area of the Windows control panel. You’ll see the networks loaded up, with all of the settings that you had defined on your other computer. That’s it – it doesn’t get much easier than that.

One final note for those of you that feel you want the ability to tweak the settings even after you’ve exported the XML file to your USB drive or your DropBox account. Just open up the XML file in Notepad or WordPress, and you can edit it just like you normally would any other text file. You’ll need to sift through the code, but it’s easy enough to find the settings. You can manually change those settings, and then just make sure to save the file with the .WifiBackup extension.

If you do a lot of traveling, and you tend to switch between several laptops – like a work and a home one – using this utility can save you a lot of time. Once you have a good setup working with all of your Wi-Fi connections, just back up the file and you’ll never have to set them up on another PC again.

Give the Wi-Fi Backup Manager a try and let us know what you think. Will it save you some time while you’re mobile? Can you think of other useful reasons someone may want to keep a backup file of Wi-Fi settings? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

While many people set up their mobile phone – such as rooting an Android, for example – to allow for tethering and accessing the cellular data network with a PC, it is a practice that is generally frowned upon by the mobile providers. However, there are times when you’re just desperate for Internet access, and you need the larger screen that your laptop offers.

In previous articles, I’ve described how you can tether your rooted Android phone to your laptop, and Dave described how you can tether a jailbroken iPhone in much the same way. My preferred method of tethering is using the awesome Wireless tether app that I mentioned recently.

Installing The Emulator

Once you have that tether enabled, and you’ve got your Wireless data Internet connection activated on your phone, the following guide will help you to conserve bandwidth so that you won’t draw too much attention to yourself while surfing.

The first step is to install a mobile phone emulator – a few options include using the Android developer SDK that has an emulator tool, or you can install the Sun Java Wireless Toolkit from Sun which includes a good emulator as well. The simplest solution is to install the MicroEmulator program to your PC.

You will need Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed on your system (if you don’t already). When you launch the MicroEmulator, it won’t look like anything at all special at first. It basically looks like a cellphone with a mobile screen. First, make sure you’ve enabled Internet access by clicking on “Options” and then make sure “MIDlet Network Access” is checked.

The beauty of this emulator is that it’ll run most mobile browsers like Bolt or Opera Mini. As far as I know, Opera Mini is just about the easiest to install – all you have to do is download the JAD and JAR files at the Opera download page. Save them somewhere you’ll remember, preferably in the “devices” folder in the MicroEmulator application directory. Then, you can load up the Opera Mini browser inside the emulator by clicking on File and then “Open MIDlet File…”

You will see “Opera Mini” appear on the main screen under the list of devices. To launch the mobile browser, just select it and click “Start”. The Opera Mini browser will launch just like you’re running it on your own mobile device – along with the streamlined bandwidth that you’d be using if you were actually using your phone.

While this is pretty cool – it isn’t good enough. The whole point of using your computer or laptop is to take advantage of the large screen, right? Let’s resize the display window to a wider display. In MicroEmulator, you do this by clicking on Options and “Select Device…”

Select “Resizable device” and then click on “Add…“  You’ll see a list of devices to choose from. Click the mobile browser you’ve installed, and then type in the size of the window that you would like.

Once you launch Opera Mini again, it’ll now be in a larger window with the size parameters you set.  Make sure to go into the Opera Mini browser settings and enable “Fullscreen” mode and enable “Load images” and set “Image quality” to medium for an optimal browsing experience. Just because you’re browsing over a mobile network with your laptop doesn’t mean you can enjoy it a little!

Now, when you launch any page that has a mobile version, you’ll notice that the site “senses” you’re using a WAP connection and will serve up the mobile version of the page – cutting down your overall bandwidth significantly. Here’s the main page of MUO displayed through this Opera Mini browser running on my laptop.

Clicking on one of the articles, the page loaded in just seconds, used only about 300 KB to fully load the page.

Loading it in a regular browser consumes over 1.5MB of bandwidth.  You can imagine how the data consumption can pile up over time if you don’t use a mobile browser to take care of your Internet needs while you’re on the road.

I am not encouraging anyone to break the terms and rules of their contract, however there are a lot of people that specifically sign contracts that allow tethering, but usage is on a metered basis. The method described above will allow you the convenience of using the nice widescreen of your laptop, while maintaining a lower data usage that won’t break your bank account.

So, give the MicroEmulator with Opera Mini a try and see if it opens up your world to new, mobile possibilities. Do you find that using a mobile browser is too limiting? Are there other mobile browsers that work well with MicroEmulator? Share your own experiences in the comments section below.

Anyone who has played games online has likely had a situation like this happen to them. It’s a symptom of poor network synchronization between game clients. It’s an unfortunate reality that can never be fully banished from online gaming, but there are some things you can do to reduce the effects.

Network Synchronization For Games – A Brief Introduction

Multiplayer gaming has never been easy on developers. A good game net-code has to be able to sync the gameplay of many different players, all of whom could live almost anywhere. There’s no way to know the Internet connection each player will have. Yet, in spite of these challenges, a multiplayer game must provide a smooth experience. Otherwise it isn’t much fun.

The challenges facing games can be summarized as two things – latency and packet loss. Latency, better known as lag, is the amount of time it takes for a game client to communicate with the server and/or other game clients. If you have a headshot lined up and you pull the trigger, you may not actually hit. That’s because the other player moved by the time your action was acknowledged by the server and your foe’s game client.

Packet loss is a self explanatory term. It’s the number of packets sent between game clients that fail to reach their destination. If serious packet loss occurs, the game may become confused about the actions a player is taking, or may not acknowledge those actions at all.

Game developers counter these problems by using algorithms that predict player behavior, thus smoothing player movement. Some games also rely on client-side hit detection to further reduce issues, although this can leave a game vulnerable to hacks. But what can you do to improve your online gaming experience?

Software Solutions

I’d love to tell you that there was some software utility that could dramatically change your network synchronization in games, making all instances of stuttering, freezing and other issues a thing of the past. Unfortunately, I can’t, because I’ve never run into software that could accomplish this.

However, security software can interfere with game performance, and it’s worth checking into if you’re experiencing unusually bad online play. Sometimes a problem with an online game can be related to a firewall or anti-virus program that doesn’t know the game is legitimate software.  Issues such as this are usually resolved by adding the game to the security software’s list of permitted programs.

Network Solutions

Issues with multiplayer gaming are often related to network connectivity problems. Two main types of issues can occur – those that exist between your modem and the Internet, and that exist between your PC and your modem.

Sometimes a game can have trouble communicating with a server because of a problem with your Internet connection. Some users mistakenly come to believe that this happens due to a lack of bandwidth. In fact, latency and packet loss are the real issue. You can check to see if there is a problem with your Internet connection by connecting your computer directly to your broadband modem with an Ethernet cable and then using a line quality test. If you find that ping times and/or packet loss is high, you may want to call your ISP and ask them why.

If your Internet connection seems fine, your problem may instead be related to how you connect your PC to your broadband modem. A wireless Internet connection that is suffering from interference may drop packets frequently, for example. Even a wired connection is not immune to problems, as router misconfiguration or even damaged Ethernet cords can cause latency and packet loss issues.

Hardware Solutions

In rare cases, games can lose synchronization because of actual hardware problems inside your computer. An Ethernet controller chip that’s on its way out, for example, could cause serious disruptions. You might also encounter problems if your networking hardware has the wrong drivers installed.

Obviously, the driver issue can be resolved by installing the correct drivers. Actual hardware failure, however, is a different problem. If your Ethernet or WiFi controller is built into your motherboard you’ll have to replace your entire motherboard to fix the problem.

Improved latency and reduced packet loss can sometimes be achieved by installing better hardware. For example, a computer connecting to a network via wireless g might see online gaming performance significantly improved if it is instead connected via wireless n. Most Ethernet controllers provide similar performance, but there are speciality Ethernet cards available for gaming, such as the Killer NIC products. Although most reviews agree that these products aren’t worth the price, they can slightly reduce latency.

Conclusion

As you’ve now learned, online gaming is effected by many different variables. A game can become desynchronized for a variety of reasons. Figuring out the exact cause of the problem usually requires a trial-and-error approach starting with possible software conflicts and ending with an investigation into possible hardware failure.

Some users try to hide their WiFi network as part of their wireless security. Hiding your WiFi network effectively cuts it off from people who don’t know the SSID ““ or at least, that’s the theory. In truth, this technique has flaws, but it’s easy enough to execute.

A Quick SSID Intro

The SSID (Service Set Identifier) of a router is the name that it broadcasts to identify itself. This is a feature you’ve already used if you have ever connected to a wireless network, and it helps users separate the many different signals riding the airwaves. When you visit a coffee shop with free WiFi, for example, you usually know the right network to connect to because it is labeled with the shop’s name.

SSIDs are broadcasted voluntarily, however. Every router broadcasts one by default, but the option can be turned off. When you turn off SSID broadcast, others won’t be able to pick up the broadcast of your wireless network and they won’t know to whom the network belongs to.

The Limitations Of SSID Hiding

At least, that’s the theory. The problem with SSID hiding is that hiding wireless signals is impossible. SSID or not, your router is still broadcasting radio waves in all directions, which means that those waves can be intercepted. They won’t have an SSID attached to them, but there are other ways to separate wireless networks.

This means that hiding your SSID won’t hide your wi-fi network from someone using a WiFi network scanner.  Anyone who is going to try and crack a wireless network will be using one of those anyway, so the utility of hiding an SSID is fairly limited.

How To Hide Your SSID

If you’re still interested in hiding your SSID, I have good news ““ the process of doing so is quite simple.

First, you’ll need to log onto your router. This is done by entering the local IP address of your router into your web browser ““ in most cases, this is 192.168.0.1. You’ll be presented with a login page prompting you with a username and password. Hopefully you will have customized this, but if not, refer to your router’s manual for the default information.

Once you’re in, navigate to your router’s wireless settings page, find the SSID broadcast option (usually a checkbox) and uncheck it. Then, save your new settings. It’s that easy. Just make sure you know your SSID, because you’ll need to have that information if you want to connect ““ if you’re not using a WiFi sniffer, at least.

Conclusion

I’ve already said that hiding your SSID isn’t really a method of improving your security, but I want to stress that point. Many people want to know how to hide their SSID, and I can only assume they would want to do so under the assumption that it will make them more secure.

Wireless just doesn’t work that way. The only protection this offers is against an uninformed user who is trying to find a specific network, perhaps as a means of identifying where a person lives, or trying to guess the network’s password (you do have a secure password, right?).

One common thing many people do to protect their identity when visiting certain websites or while working on the Internet while away from home, is to make use of proxy servers. Anonymous proxy servers will hide your real IP, which is useful if you’ve been banned from certain forums or websites for any reason, but people also use proxy servers for business reasons as well.

When you’re at the office, you may want to use your company’s internal proxy servers to access the Internet, but while you’re roaming or at home you just want your computer to automatically detect proxy settings.

Where A Proxy Server Is Configured

Before we get into the ways that you can automate your computer through scripting, let’s take a quick look at the manual way people would have to do this. Most people know how to configure their LAN settings – it’s one of the first things you should check if you’re ever having Internet connection problems. Typically you want your proxy settings to be set to “Automatically detect settings” when you’re at home or at a public hotspot.

However, at work, you’ll need to set up a proxy server. You do this within “Internet Properties” in the control panel by clicking on the “LAN settings” button.

Inside your network settings dialog, you’ll see the two settings – you either have a proxy server enabled or you don’t. This is the setting that you want to toggle when you switch from your home network to a work network, or if you want to switch to running under a “cloaked” anonymous IP server.

You can also find these settings in your registry (click Run and type “regedit“), and this is what you want your scripts to edit. By changing the registry settings, you’re essentially changing those settings in the LAN Settings window.

What we really want to do is toggle those settings only when and where you really want to. There are three scenarios that I’m going to cover, and you can copy and paste the code to tweak it to your liking. You can put the script in your startup folder so that it launches whenever you boot your computer, or you can just run the scripts whenever you want your computer to automatically set the correct IP settings.

The three scenarios I’m going to provide scripts for include the following.

1. Prompt the user whether or not they want to use an anonymous proxy for Internet access.
2. Prompt the user to type in the name of the proxy server they want to use.
3. Automatically check whether you’re home or not, and set the appropriate proxy server settings.

The cool thing about Windows Scripting Host is that each of these options aren’t that hard to do.

Ask User To Enable A Proxy Server

This script will pop-up a message box asking whether or not the user wants to use a proxy server. If yes, then the script will enable proxy servers and fill in a hard-coded anonymous proxy server. You can tweak the script to use your favorite anonymous proxy.

Here’s what the script looks like.

<job>
<script language="VBScript">
Option Explicit
Dim valUserIn
Dim objShell, RegLocate, RegLocate1
Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
On Error Resume Next
valUserIn = MsgBox("Use A Cloaked Proxy?",4,"Cloaked Select")
If valUserIn=vbYes Then
RegLocate = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyServer"
objShell.RegWrite RegLocate,"http://www.youareanonymous.com:80","REG_SZ"
RegLocate = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyEnable"
objShell.RegWrite RegLocate,"1","REG_DWORD"
MsgBox "Cloaked Proxy is Enabled"
else
RegLocate = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyServer"
objShell.RegWrite RegLocate,"0.0.0.0:80","REG_SZ"
RegLocate = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyEnable"
objShell.RegWrite RegLocate,"0","REG_DWORD"
MsgBox "Cloaked Proxy is Disabled"
End If
WScript.Quit
</script>
</job></textarea>

When you run it, the user sees the following prompt.

A “Yes” loads the anonymous proxy as your proxy server and sets “ProxyEnable” to 1. A “No” sets the proxy to default all zeros, and disables the proxy setting.

Prompt User To Type Proxy

The other approach is to ask the user what exact server they want to use. This allows the flexibility of changing the proxy server constantly without the need to edit the script itself. You can do this by changing the “MsgBox” command to an “InputBox”.

<job>
<script language="VBScript">
Option Explicit
Dim valUserIn
Dim objShell, RegLocate, RegLocate1
Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
On Error Resume Next
valUserIn = Inputbox("Enter the Proxy server you want to use.","Proxy Server Required")
RegLocate = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyServer"
objShell.RegWrite RegLocate,valUserIn,"REG_SZ"
RegLocate = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyEnable"
objShell.RegWrite RegLocate,"1","REG_DWORD"
MsgBox "Proxy is Enabled"
WScript.Quit
</script>
</job>

When you save this as a .wsf file and run it, the following window will appear.

Just type in your preferred proxy server, click okay, and your Internet settings are automatically updated.

Set Proxy Settings Based On Location

This next script is a little bit more flexible, so it’s also a little longer. But what it can do is check your current IP address, and if it is within the range that you expect when you’re on your home ISP, it’ll disable using a proxy server. If it sees that you’re not on your typically home IP domain, it’ll automatically configure your Internet with a proxy server that you can hard code into the script.

Here’s what the script looks like.

<job>
<script language="VBScript">

Option Explicit

Dim valUserIn
Dim objShell, RegLocate, RegLocate1
Dim objRemXML
Dim objMyIP
Dim strIPAddress
Dim strHostname
Dim strHomeDomain

On Error Resume Next

Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
On Error Resume Next

Const cstrShowMyIP = "http://www.showmyip.com/xml/"

Set objRemXML = CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
objRemXML.async = False
objRemXML.load(cstrShowMyIP)

' Get our IP address
Set objMyIP = objRemXML.selectSingleNode("/ip_address/ip")
strIPAddress = objMyIP.text

' Print info
WScript.Echo "IP address : " & strIPAddress

strHomeDomain = Left (strIPAddress,6)

If strHomeDomain = "69.161" then

RegLocate = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyServer"
objShell.RegWrite RegLocate,"0.0.0.0:80","REG_SZ"

RegLocate = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyEnable"
objShell.RegWrite RegLocate,"0","REG_DWORD"

MsgBox "Cloaked Proxy is Disabled"

else

RegLocate = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyServer"
objShell.RegWrite RegLocate,"http://www.youareanonymous.com:80","REG_SZ"

RegLocate = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyEnable"
objShell.RegWrite RegLocate,"1","REG_DWORD"

MsgBox "Cloaked Proxy is Enabled"

end if

' Finish
Set objMyIP = Nothing
Set objRemXML = Nothing

WScript.Quit 

</script>
</job>

You set set this up to run on startup, and the computer will automatically configure the Internet settings as needed. The program will show you your current IP each time – if you don’t want that, just remove the “WPScript.Echo” line. When I run it here at home, it recognizes I’m on my safe home ISP and disables the anonymous proxy.

If you were on a public hotspot, it would recognize the foreign IP address and enable the cloaked proxy instead.

These are just a few examples of the sort of automation you can build into your Windows PC with Windows Scripting Host. You don’t have to be an expert programmer – just learn a few of the commands in these scripts and you can really work some magic.

Did you try any of these scripts? Let me know what you think, and please offer any tweaks or improvements that could make them even better. Offer your insight in the comments section below.

Image credit: Mr. Gr4phic3r

This article shows you how to measure your internet speed and it sheds some light on all the different factors that affect your internet performance. I propose a host of possible remedies that are easy to apply.

First I would like to recommend a ‘Technology Explained’ article that explains why measured and experienced speed are not necessarily the same: Understanding The Internet Speed.

Test Your Internet Speed

For accurate results, you should go with an internet speed test tool that provides a local server. Otherwise your result may be flawed, simply because the test has to travel great distances.

With Speedtest.net you can connect to a test server that is physically close to you. Open the > Settings (top right menu) to change your > Preferred Server location and > Save your changes.

When you’re done click > Begin test and wait for the result.

My result is 6.17 Mb/s download and 6.32 Mb/s upload. Other tests that did not match me with a local server returned somewhat different results. Speed.io for example determined 5 Mb/s for the download and BandwidthPlace only had me at 3.88 Mb/s for the download. The upload for both was at around 6 Mb/s.

For a more comprehensive speed test, try MyConnection PC Lite, a Windows tool that we introduced here: Check Internet Connection Speed with MyConnectionPC

Now you’re probably wondering what a bad result is and whether there is anything you can do to improve your internet bandwidth. I would say upload / download speeds that are 30-50% below the theoretical optimum you pay for constitute a bad result, especially when measured during non peak hours. Contact your ISP and discuss how you can improve this situation. And yes, you can do something, too.

But first let’s look at what is beyond your reach.

What You Cannot Change

Many factors have an impact on how fast or slow your internet connection is. Unfortunately, there are several that you have no direct influence on.

1. Bandwidth Throttling
   Your ISP can throttle your bandwidth, for example when you’re using Torrents.
2. Distance to Exchange
   The further you live from the next telephone exchange, the slower your speed.
3. Cable Internet
   If you and the majority of your neighborhood have a cable internet connection, note that all of you share the bandwidth, which can lead to reduced speed.

To test whether your ISP shapes your traffic you can use a tool developed by the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems. Glasnost simulates BitTorrent downloads on your computer.

What You Can Do To Speed Up Your Internet

1. Hardware
   The bottleneck could be your hardware. Your modem has a cache, which can impact its performance. To empty the cache, unplug the modem from the power for a few seconds. Make sure your modem supports the output speed your network requires and that cables are properly connected and intact. To find out whether your own network might be at fault in the first place, refer to this article: How To Test Your Home Network Speed (And Decipher The Results)
2. Wired vs. Wireless
   A wired connection is faster than a wireless connection. You may also experience signal interference when using WiFi. To fix this you can either re-position your router or change your WiFi channel number. Also check out our article 8 Tips To Effectively Boost Your Wireless Router Signal.
3. DNS Server
   The DNS servers from most ISPs are not very fast and can thus reduce your bandwidth. However, you can get free and rather fast DNS server addresses from OpenDNS: Find Fastest DNS and Optimize Your Internet Speed
4. LAN Cable
   Although a length of up to 50 m should be ok, try to keep the cable as short as possible. If you depend on a long cable, go with a gigabit rated shielded network cable (STP Cat5e or STP Cat6). In any case, avoid bending or stretching as both affect performance.
5. Running Processes
   Many programs use your connection to transfer data, monitor status, or download updates. You can control which programs access the internet and eat up your bandwidth by using a Firewall. If you use Windows 7, have a look at this article: Manage The Windows Firewall Better With Windows 7 Firewall Control
6. Limit Reservable Bandwidth
   Per default, Windows reserves 20% of your bandwidth for automatic updates. You can reduce the amount and prevent Windows processes from receiving ‘special treatment’. Enter > GPEDIT.MSC in the Windows Vista or 7 > Start menu or enter it into the > Run dialog in Windows XP. Under > Computer Policy expand > Administrative Templates, click > Network > Qos Packet Scheduler and double-click > Limit reservable bandwidth. Per default it’s not configured. Click > Enabled and set the > Bandwidth limit (%) to 0. Finally > Apply and reboot.
7. Malware Protection
   Scan for malware and make sure your computer has not been hijacked. Worms can use your network to replicate and thus will slow down your internet connection. Use up to date anti virus and anti malware tools to prevent future infections. Protect yourself with 7 Essential Security Downloads You MUST Have Installed or refer to our Best Of Windows Software page for alternative tools.

For more tips and tricks on how to speed up your internet, consult these resources:

• Top 5 Vista Tweaks to Increase Internet Speed by Ryan
• Autobahn Accelerator ““ Faster Streaming Video and Downloads for Free? by Ryan
• Faster Internet & Anonymous Net Surfing Through Toonel by Jeffry
• Answers: How can I use my full internet bandwidth?
• Answers: Why does my internet slow down all of a sudden?
• Answers: How can I speed up my wireless internet?

How fast is your internet connection and did any of the tips above result in a significantly enhanced performance? Did I miss a factor or hack that could have a major impact? Please give your feedback in the comments below!

Image credits: Serp, olly

OK, so here’s the situation.  You want to share the Internet but not your personal stuff.  There are actually several different ways of doing this.

Get A Router That Supports Guest Browsing

What’s that?  They actually make routers with this ability already built in?  Yes they do and some of them are really easy to use.  You may think that it would have to be one of those extremely expensive routers but you’d be wrong.  For instance there is Cisco’s Valet which costs about $100 and is supposed to be quite easy to set up and use.

Finding a router with the ability for guest browsing is the easiest way how to make a wireless router into an access point and keep your own network secure.  However, money is involved and we all know how we feel about that around here.

Use One Non-Wireless Router & Two Wireless Routers

You may be asking why I would suggest such an answer when the previous tip fits the bill with only one router.  What if you have some extra  hardware sitting around and you don’t want to go out and buy one of those new-fangled routers that support guest browsing?

OK, so the idea here is to run the Internet connection through the non-wireless router and then connect the two wireless routers from their WAN ports to LAN ports on the non-wireless router.

As long as you don’t add any static routes to the non-wireless router, you will actually be running two wireless networks that can’t “see” one another.  Use one as your own secure wireless network and the other can be the public access point.

Install Firmware On Your Wireless Router That Supports Guest Browsing

Firmware is basically the program that runs on your router that allows it to do what it does.  There is an open source firmware that is compatible with many routers called dd-wrt.

In Jorge’s article about how to turn an old router into a wireless bridge, he is kind enough to explain the process of installing the firmware on your router.  I will caution you the same way he did and say that you really need to follow the instructions for your router type very carefully because it is possible to render the router useless.

There are tutorials out there to show you how to configure the public access point feature (this one is quite easy to follow).  Once finished, you should have a public access point similar to those coffee shop connections with a splash screen and all.

Get Fonera 2.0 & Make Some Money With Your Public Access Point

Visit Fon.com and get an idea of what they are trying to do with their router offerings.  Built in is the ability to make a a few bucks by sharing your wifi signal.  The idea is that when a non-Fon user logs on, they have to pay and this is when you get paid.

Fon spots (what they call their public access points) are free to other Fonera owners so just purchasing one gives you access to any of the one million other Fon spots in the world.

Check out the video introduction.

Now you have no excuse to leave your wifi open and insecure for the world to use.  I gave you four methods how to securely make a wireless router into an access point and I even included one way to possibly make some money doing so.  So tell me, how will you securely share your wifi?

But do you know the speed of your home network? This is tested less often, and there is no easy-as-pie website set up to help you with doing a network speed test. There is a simple utility called LAN Speed Test (unrelated to the SpeedTest website) that can help you figure out your home network’s precise speed.

Performing a Network Speed Test

LAN Speed Test is a simple program, and so far as I can tell, it doesn’t have an official website. You’ll have to download from a third party, such as CNET downloads. Once the program is installed, you’ll be greeted with an interface that states your computer’s name and IP address, as well as numerous blank fields below.

To use LAN Speed Test, your computer must be able to display the other computers in your home network. You can check to make sure that they are available by opening Windows Explorer and navigating to the Network section (in Windows Vista and Windows 7, this will be displayed in the sidebar on the left). If the other computers in your home network are available, they will be shown here.

Once that has been confirmed, you can start the network speed test by clicking the Start Test button. A folder browser will appear. You need to browse to a public shared folder on one of your networked computers. I typically use the default Public Files folder, but you can use another folder you’d like. Once you have selected the folder, press OK. You’ll be asked how large of a file you want to use to test the speed of your network. The default is 100 megabytes – this is fine for a general test. If you want to test the sustained speed of your network more throughly, try changing the value to 1000 megabytes (approximately one gigabyte).

The test creates a temporary file and then both writes and reads the file on the public folder of the networked computer you selected. The testing process can take some time. A 100 megabyte file may take a few minutes, while a gigabyte file could take half an hour. Once complete, the Status display will show Finished and results will appear.

Deciphering the Results

There are several result fields displayed by LAN Speed Test, but there is one that I will focus on. It is the result furthest towards the bottom labeled Mbps. This is short for megabits per second, and here we have a common point of confusion when it comes to network speeds – a megabit is not the same as a megabyte. A megabit is roughly equal to 0.125 megabytes, which means that you need a transfer rate of 8 megabits per second to transfer 1 megabyte per second.

For example, I used LAN Speed Test to test transfer rates between two desktop computers connected to a wireless network. The test gave me a result of 17 Mbps on the write speed. The total time to complete the file write was 47 seconds, and the file was 100 megabytes in size. If I divide the file size (100MB) by the time to write the file (47 seconds) I achieve a result of 2.12 megabytes per second. If I take 2.12 megabytes and times it by 8 (the number of megabits it takes to make a megabyte) the result is roughly 17.

Once you know this information, you know approximately how long it will take to transfer a file between networked computers. Since I now know that I can transfer 2.12 megabytes a second I can guess that a 500 megabyte file would take 235 seconds (or about 4 minutes) to transfer. I reach this conclusion by dividing the file size by the megabytes transfered per second.

This information is also critical for figuring out how well video streaming will work between computers. There are many different video formats, so I can’t list every single one here. However, I can list the peak bitrates for some popular video formats.

• DVD (using MPEG-2 Compression): 10.08 Mbit/s
• Blu-Ray (Recordable disc): 36 Mbit/s
• H.264: 6 Mbit/s with 1080p content
• VC -1: 30 Mbit/s with 1080p content

These are typical maximum values. In certain situations – particularly with H.264 and VC-1 video files – you may find bit rates to be much lower. This is because there is a trade-off between quality and performance. A file can be encoded into these formats at a lower bit rate to make it easier to stream, but the video quality will suffer.

Conclusion

Despite the usefulness of LAN Speed Test, home networking speed can still remain an inexact science. There is a great deal of flex in most file formats when it comes to the bit rate required to stream data, and the speed of wireless connections can also sometimes be degraded by interference from other signals or from obstacles.

Wired connections do not have this problem, of course. Still, the information you receive from LAN Speed Test will put you in a much better position to gauge how well your home network can handle file transfers between computers on the network.

Would you perform a network speed test? Wondering why your streaming video lags? Troubleshoot the connection with this app and let us know if it helped.

WiFi hotspots have become common hang out places and we can find these spots almost everywhere, from the big international airports to your friendly neighborhood coffee shops. But they are not really everywhere and they can’t follow you anywhere you go.

There are times when you are on the road and nowhere near WiFi spots but you still need an internet connection. These are ideal times to use the internet connection provided by your mobile phone provider using your phone as a modem.

The process is known as wireless DUN (Dial Up Networking) – or tethering, utilizing Bluetooth to connect the gadgets. And if you use an iPhone, the iPhone DUN set up process is very easy.

On The iPhone Side

There are two steps needed to set up an iPhone DUN internet connection: on the iPhone side and on the computer side. Let’s start with the first one.

• Open your iPhone “Settings” and go to the “Internet Tethering” option. It’s buried a little deep inside “Settings – General – Network – Internet Tethering“. This setting is off by default.

• If you switch the tethering on, your iPhone will ask you to turn on your phone’s Bluetooth connection (if it isn’t already on). If you choose not to turn it on, the tethering will only be available if you connect your iPhone to your computer using a USB cable.

And that’s all that you need to do on the iPhone side. Now let’s move onto the next step.

On The Mac Side

If you use a Mac, here are the steps that you need to take to use your iPhone as a modem.  Windows users, don’t worry.  We will come onto the Windows method shortly.

• Click on the Bluetooth service icon on the menubar and choose “Set Up Bluetooth Device“.

• Bluetooth Setup Assistant window will now open. Choose your iPhone from the list of available devices and click “Continue“.

• Then the pairing process will start. Your computer will create a set of random numbers for the passkey. Enter the exact number on your iPhone to pair the two devices.

• After they are paired, your iPhone will appear on the list of available devices. To start the internet connection via your iPhone, click on it and choose “Connect to Network“

On The Windows Side

For Windows users, here are the steps needed.

• Open Control Panel, search for Bluetooth, then click “Add Bluetooth device“.

• Windows will try to search for available Bluetooth devices. Choose your iPhone from the list and click “Next“.

• The process will continue with the device pairing. Similar to the one on Mac computers, you will also get some random generated passkey number that you need to input on your iPhone.

• After both devices are paired, go back to Control Panel and choose “View devices and printer” to open the devices window. Find your iPhone there, right click on it and choose “Connect using – Access point“.

• Your Windows computer is now connected to the net. You can see the indicator which appears on the system tray.

• To disconnect your computer from the net, right click again on your iPhone icon in the device list and choose “Disconnect from device network“.

To Tether Or Not To Tether, That’s The Question

I have to apologize to Linux users for not including the OS here. The reason is I currently don’t have access to a Linux machine. But the basic process should be the same: pair your iPhone with your machine, and connect to the net using your iPhone as a modem.  If the process differs in any way, please do let us know in the comments.

But please note that due to financial reasons, tethering (using an iPhone or any other mobile phone) is not for everybody. You have to check whether your cell network subscription includes internet data, and if it does, how much is it? Some cellular networks impose crazy price tags for their internet connection. Make sure that your wallet won’t burn at the end of the month before you try this method.

Another thing that I have to point out is even though I’ve tried the method successfully (using the iPhone 3GS under iOS4, Mac with Snow Leopard and a Windows machine under Windows 7), the steps might be slightly different and the results might vary if you use different combinations of hardwares and softwares.

If everything goes smoothly, you don’t have to worry about an internet connection anymore. Between your home connection, the hot spots and your office’s internet connection, you will have your iPhone’s DUN Internet connection to cover you when you are on the road.

There is, however, a third way. Known as powerline networking, this rarely considered option has many appealing strengths. It is even easier to set up than wireless, but provided network performance similar to wired network. Let’s take a look at the wonderful world of powerline networking.

What Is A Powerline Network?

Your home already has a network of wires in it that connect every room in the house. These are the wires that provide each room with electricity. Normally, these wires are used for only that task, but it is possible to turn them into a way of conveying data like any other wire.

This is exactly what a powerline network does. By using network adapters that are plugged into power outlets throughout your home it is possible to use your existing electrical wires as a sort of substitute Ethernet cord. Doing this has no effect on the normal function of the electrical wires, either – all your power outlets will continue to work normally.

Why Is Powerline Networking Awesome?

Powerline networks operate like standard wired networks in terms of security and performance. Since the entire network is routed through wires there is no chance of your home network being hijacked or used by an unauthorized person (short of someone breaking into your home). Performance is not quite as fast as Ethernet, but real-world usage is typically between 40 and 80 Mbps depending on the adapters you use. You don’t have to worry about reception issues, either.

However, because you don’t have to lay any new cable, setting up a powerline network is much easier than setting up a home network with Ethernet cord. Connecting a computer via powerline networking requires only that you plug a powerline network adapter into a power outlet and then run an Ethernet cable from the powerline adapter to your computer’s Ethernet port. You can use multiple powerline network adapters on the same network, and they don’t have to be the same brand or model.

What Is The Cost Of Powerline Networking?

The primary cost of setting up a powerline network is the adapters themselves. Most major network hardware companies, like Netgear and Belkin, offer powerline adapters. These adapters are mostly sold in pairs of two and cost around $100 a pair. Adapters that offer less performance may cost only $60 to $80 a pair, while the fastest adapters are closer to $150. My personal recommendation is to buy the least expensive pair of 85Mbps adapters you can find.

Besides the adapters, you also may have to buy some Ethernet cord if the cord you currently have is not enough to reach from the powerline adapter to the computer(s) you need to connect. This can add $10 or $20 to your budget.

Overall, a powerline network with two computers will cost around $100 if you buy online. You’ll usually spend more if you purchase at a brick-and-mortar store.

What Are The Limitations Of Powerline Networking?

Although powerline networking is a great alternative to more popular networking methods, it does have a few limitations that are important to note.

First, powerline network adapters cannot be plugged into a surge protector unless the surge protector that you own specifically states otherwise. This can be a bit of an issue if you already have a power outlet crisis in your home, which isn’t unheard of these days.

Second, powerline network adapters are usually on the larger side. The ones that I use are approximately five inches long, an inch and a half thick, and three inches wide. There are some smaller models, but none are tiny. This can be an issue if your power outlets are behind a piece of furniture or otherwise in a confined space.

Finally, powerline adapters still have to connect to your computer with an Ethernet cord. If your computer is not already near a power outlet with a free socket you may need to re-arrange your furniture or simply deal with having an Ethernet cord visible.

Conclusion

Those minor problems aside, powerline networking is an incredible solution. I personally use it for all the desktop computers in my home, and I would never go back to wireless. Powerline networking combines the flexibility and simplicity of wireless with the performance of wired. You must check it out if you’re unhappy with wireless performance in your home.

For more information check out the MakeUseOf PDF Guide To Computer Networks.