Networking

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wifi bands with capabilities and channels selected.
The tempting wider channel Wi-Fi setting will make your Wi-Fi less reliable

Great on paper, more tricky in practice.

OpenWRT installed on an Intel NUC PC with with target laptop for wake-on-lan
I can wake up my home PC from anywhere in the world — my router makes it possible

OpenWRT became the always-on bridge between my phone and a sleeping laptop.

Microsoft Copilot open on a HP pavilion gaming laptop
Microsoft Edge's AI features finally made me ditch Safari after years

Copilot pulled me in, but Edge made me stay for good.

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Blue yellow and gray Ethernet cables
I tested every popular internet-speed trick — they're all fake except one

When all else fails, this is what you do.

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OpenWRT MultiWAN and USB 4G modem as failover internet
I turned my home and mobile internet into one backup connection, and now I'm never offline

My OpenWRT edge router automatically switches the entire network from Starlink to 4G whenever the primary connection is lost

macbook laptop displaying discord app and youtube video with pink neon lighting in background
These are the real reasons you shouldn't watch YouTube on your TV or smartphone

YouTube’s great—but not on your phone or TV.

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Windows 11 freshly installed desktop showing Edge, Opera, Brave, Firefox, and Google Chrome browser icon shortcuts
I measured which browser really eats the most RAM, and the meme is out of date

Chrome still has the reputation, but my own benchmark testing identified the real culprit.

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ookla speed test on laptop screen.
I ran my own speed test server and discovered what Ookla doesn't show you

Ookla isn't lying, but it's not the whole picture.

A phone displaying Google Maps with Gemini integration.
8 Google Maps features you’re not using, and you’re missing out

Google Maps is much more than you might think

Budget-Wi-Fi-Repeater
Your Wi-Fi extender is making things worse, not better

That old Wi-Fi extender isn't doing it wrong; it just isn't right.

A Netgear Orbi router in black on a wooden desk
I changed my router's Wi-Fi channel, and suddenly Netflix stopped buffering

No wonder it wasn't working properly.

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Baseus Security N1 Outdoor Camera H1 Homestation beside mesh router
My internet felt slow for years, and the fix was in my router, not my plan

Changing this default router setting made everything better.

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Blue yellow and gray Ethernet cables
Cat6 is fine, but this is what I'd actually run through my walls today

I'm happy with Cat6, but if I could start over, I'd used a different Ethernet standard.

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OpenWRT web interface showing dependecies for samba 4 SMB server installation
Your old router can do things your new one can't — if you install this free firmware

OpenWRT turned an old router destined for the trash into one of the most useful devices on my network

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cash and facebook marketplace
Facebook Marketplace is genuinely good and nobody wants to admit it

How I easily made $250 in 3 hours by selling from my phone.

5
DNS Speed Test browser-based speed testing for uncached DNS results
I chose privacy over speed with my DNS and don't regret the trade-off
DNS

My ISP was fastest, Cloudflare was slower, and Mullvad sent my queries halfway around the world

chrome task manager showing all tasks tab.
I disabled my browser's background processes and cut CPU usage in half

Before you switch browsers, try this

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TP-Link Deco mesh Wi-Fi node in a laundry room.
The best router for most homes isn't a router

Expanding your network? You need something different from a regular router.

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setting cloudflare malware protection dns on windows.
I changed one digit in my DNS, and it started blocking malware for free
DNS

Turns out, your favorite DNS service might be able to more than you think.

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grc v2 benchmark tool.
I tested my DNS with 3 different tools, and got 3 different results — here's what's really going on
DNS

DNS testing is wonderful, but it can be a confusing mess.

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