The impact of Covid-19 on our homes is big, but it tends to miss one key question……how well they’re handling the internet.
Most articles look at how well the internet is dealing with the explosion in demand as we work, school, shop, access telemedicine & entertain ourselves online at home.
Download speeds dropped 38% in California & 24% in New York immediately, but overall that data problem is getting fixed in various ways (Netflix dialled down its video quality for one).
Here Internet Service Providers like Vodafone, Telstra, Optus or TPG have offered customers more data for free and generally talked up their response. Of course the NBN’s multi tech ‘last mile’ model isn’t helping, but it’s not the main glitch.
It’s the wifi networked ‘smart home’ that most people were sold that’s facing its Waterloo ……or at least its technological limits.
The main advice I’m seeing says call your provider about going on a higher plan. Of course that’s very sensible if cost isn’t an issue and your home can handle it.
Take the experience of Ian Millner, one of our consultants. He’s on 100Mbps download plan and now has 6 people at home:
“My home now has four private work areas where you can connect to the internet and log into the office remotely and participate in customer project & stand up meetings through Microsoft teams, or Zoom without as much as a hitch from the home network.
There is nothing stopping you from ringing your RSP to increase your plan but the key is do you have the cabling to allow for seamless connectivity via multiple WiFi access points or directly connected with cable?”
The big difference for Ian’s home is that he wired it all in when they were renovating……something 40% of new builds or renovations are doing in Australia these days.
Obviously I’m not saying we all need to start retrofitting our homes, but this virus outbreak is likely to change how we use our home networks permanently. And that means making sure our homes are tech ready.
Cheers, John Fennell
For independent home tech advice: registeredcablers.com.au
