Broadband envy In the Czech Republic over Christmas as usual, I got chatting with a friend who lives in the city of Ostrava and who recently switched to a fibre connection to his apartment. We tested 98.8 Mb/s download and 24.5 Mb/s upload for the princely equivalent sum of thirteen quid a month! Am I envious or am I envious?
My reliable 6.8-7.2 Mb/s download during the day and at night (3.5 Mb/s at peak evening times) is just about enough for the work that I do from home, but a peak of 448 Kb/s upload (and typically 335 Kb/s dropping to 100 Kb/s at peak times) is a right royal PITA.
WiFi Channels Regarding WiFi channels; for users of Android smartphones I recommend the App called "Wifi analyzer". It is excellent for showing all detected networks, their strength, and their competition with each other in a very clear manner that does not require a degree in rocket science. It also shows the recommended channel you should move your network to for best performance.
I've used it to help many friends out but most recently used it to help myself; on the aforementioned holiday I was free-loading on the back of a friend's network down the street but it kept dropping out. After following the WiFi Analyzer advice to switch from channel 7 to channel 11 not only did performance jump dramatically but it didn't drop out once in the remaining week and a half. The owner of the network experienced no change.