A good, reliable home internet service is one of those “must have” services – the impact of no internet or slow internet impacts everyone in your property. Many of us work from home, stream TV, use internet for our social media in the evening and, well, kids just can’t be without it for any length of time at all! And statistics show that even back in 2020, the average Briton had access to more than nine connected devices at home!

At John Ross Smart Living we design, supply, install and support many clients in their quest to ensure that they enjoy a robust, efficient home internet service. But it’s important to take account of 2 things:

1 – you have an effective internet service coming INTO your property from a broadband service provider

2 – you have a well designed Wifi/Internet service being distributed WITHIN your property, and you have the correct technology installed to ensure that this is in place!

So many households immediately blame their internet service provider on delivering a slow or a bad service (which may be the case) but, equally, it may not be a bad internet service coming into your property, it may be that your set-up INTERNALLY just isn’t right for the size or design of your property or, importantly, it isn’t set up or configured for the amount of use that the family requires. There are always peaks and troughs, but sometimes downloads to the work laptop may cause problems, or accessing certain remote systems for work eat up the service, and then, of course, we have the kids coming home and TVs, smart phones and tablets in constant use plus gaming systems – it all adds up to a heavy burden.

Now, it’s understandable that with an increase in the cost of living and home utility bills that we look for the “best deal” that we think we can get from a broadband service provider and, by default, we consider that the router and other products supplied by the service provider are the right ones for our home use. But take account of some tips from the team here at John Ross Smart Living:

• Do some research and establish the best service provider that covers your area – establish things like download speed, latency, strength of signal… and of course balance that against what your monthly budget can stretch to.

• Are you in an area where it would be better to potentially install an internet aerial/dish? We’ve installed lots of this type of equipment – especially for properties in outlying or rural areas.  Newer technologies such as Starlink also offer a great service – Starlink is the world’s first and largest satellite constellation using a low Earth orbit. You require to buy the Starlink unit from the company and subscribe to their service directly as the consumer, but we can install the unit for you.

• Then let’s consider the Wifi within your home. Is the router of the correct quality and size to accommodate your requirements? Perhaps you need something slightly more upgraded and powerful from “the norm”.

• WiFi points – referred to as WAPs (Wireless Access Points) – can help boost the signal around your home, but we would recommend not installing WiFi connected WAPs but rather have them cabled back to your router. When WiFi connected, the signal actually becomes diluted as it moves from WAP to WAP, whereas, if they are cabled, the signal is as strong from the end-of-line WAP as it is at the first one! Thus ensuring you truly get your home “flushed” with a WiFi service.

• Cabled WAPs installed by John Ross Smart Living also have the benefit of being remotely monitored and managed which means that we update them with necessary upgrades and security patches which keeps them operating efficiently and securely, and makes them less resistant to any hacking potential

Home internet – although seemingly simple these days – is actually a technical job if you want to ensure that you ultimately get the best service that you can. The appropriate investment ensures that all members of the family, whether for work or entertainment use, enjoy a robust, efficient and non-frustrating service.    

At John Ross Smart Living we can help you with the correct design, the supply of appropriate technology, a no-hassle installation plus we offer a managed WiFi service which we can do remotely and give you peace of mind that your system is operating efficiently, optimally, is kept up-to-date and if there’s a problem – well, we’re on-hand to help to resolve issues!