1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:07,759 Last time I came to Natalie's house, I upgraded her computer, her bike, and 2 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:13,280 even her piano. You know how I know this is the number one instrument? The piano, 3 00:00:10,639 --> 00:00:18,080 not the piano. But there was one major issue that was 4 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:24,880 left unressed. How did you not spend any of your $5,000 budget upgrading your 5 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:27,840 terrible Wi-Fi? 6 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:33,440 So bad. It took over an hour just to install a Valerant update on this 7 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:37,760 computer. And while many of you pointed out that Riot Games launcher can be 8 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:42,480 inconsistent at times, that wasn't the problem. As it turns out, there are over 9 00:00:40,399 --> 00:00:46,719 30 different wireless networks here, resulting in a level of Wi-Fi congestion 10 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:50,239 that puts many apartment buildings to shame. 11 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:55,199 And Natalie and Michael only made matters worse when they tried to fix the 12 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:59,760 problem by upgrading to a mesh Wi-Fi system. In fairness to them though, 13 00:00:57,039 --> 00:01:05,760 everyone asks Wi-Fi, but no one ever asks how. Thankfully, I have the answer. 14 00:01:03,199 --> 00:01:10,560 With some help from GLET, who sponsored this video, we're going to migrate 15 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:15,680 Natalie's access point to the 6 GHz band, which as long as her devices 16 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:20,479 support it, which they will, will result in not only better performance, but more 17 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:24,640 consistent performance, even if her neighbors are all binging Love is Blind. 18 00:01:22,960 --> 00:01:28,080 Of course, we don't want to go in blind. So, before we run around making 19 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:33,280 improvements, we need to establish a baseline. We're going to run both speed 20 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:38,320 tests in several rooms around the house and use this RF Explorer Pro to check 21 00:01:36,159 --> 00:01:42,000 out which channels are least congested in those areas. That could help us if 22 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:47,280 Natalie has devices that can't move over to Wi-Fi 76 GHz. More on that later. So, 23 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:49,920 first, where would you say your Wi-Fi connection matters to you most? 24 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:56,240 >> Near the computer in the family room, near the router, near my computer upstairs, and finally the upstairs TV. 25 00:01:54,000 --> 00:02:01,600 >> And I assume the toilet, but we can leave that unspoken. Shoot, I said it. I 26 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:03,840 mean, I mean, I said it. I'll stop. 27 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:06,560 >> I'm going to break my monitor. I swerve. >> Now, on the surface, you might look at 28 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:10,800 some of these results and think, "Hey, buddy, that's not too bad." But the 29 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:14,959 intermittent nature of Wi-Fi problems is part of what makes them so hard to 30 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:19,280 troubleshoot and solve. And the reason comes down to how Wi-Fi works on the 2.4 31 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:24,640 band, for example, >> or you might say, "Howi." 32 00:02:22,959 --> 00:02:29,360 >> Thank you for interrupting me. Really worth it. On the 2.4 Four band, for 33 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:32,959 example, there are 14 channels, three of which are non-over overlapping. Let's 34 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:36,239 imagine those three channels are roads, and the cars that travel on them are the 35 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:40,720 packets of Wi-Fi data you want to transmit. No matter how many Wi-Fi 36 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:45,920 routers you add, every data packet has to stream over the same shared roads. 37 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:50,319 So, all it takes is a game download or a couple of Netflix streams on your 38 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:54,959 neighbors network to dramatically impact your experience. 5 GHz is a lot better. 39 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:58,400 It features more lanes and faster transfer capabilities to reduce 40 00:02:56,319 --> 00:03:02,959 congestion. But once you scale up to dozens of nearby access points, even 41 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:07,680 that struggles and complicating the matter, wireless devices are constantly 42 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:11,120 sending out pings, checking in with one another. Meaning that even if your 43 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:16,400 neighbors hate Love is Blind, the mere fact that they own a Wi-Fi router can 44 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:17,920 lead to an unusable experience for you. 45 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:22,720 If you want to learn more about this, check out the video where we set up 50 46 00:03:20,319 --> 00:03:27,920 access points in a tiny room and then tried to watch YouTube. It was a mess. 47 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:32,480 The RF Explorer Pros says that channel 6 is probably the least congested for any 48 00:03:30,159 --> 00:03:36,480 legacy or low-end gear that only supports 2.4 GHz. 49 00:03:34,159 --> 00:03:41,920 >> But the problem is that even that is not a guarantee. Many devices by design will 50 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:47,040 actually channel hop around according to their own programmed sometimes moon 51 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:50,640 logic, often creating an even worse environment than it had to be if 52 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:55,200 everyone just picked a freaking lane and stayed in it. So, you might find 53 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:58,799 yourself constantly monitoring which channels are the most available. And a 54 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:04,319 good way to do this for free is to use an app like Wi-Fi man for Android or 55 00:04:02,319 --> 00:04:08,000 Good Luck on Apple because iOS doesn't give access to the antennas for their 56 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:11,439 developers. need. With all of that out of the way, step one is to remove 57 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:15,280 anything from Natalie's house that might be broadcasting unnecessary Wi-Fi horse 58 00:04:14,879 --> 00:04:20,160 plop. >> There should be a new series. We just call ourselves the Wi-Fi mans. We just 59 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:25,199 bust into people's houses and make their internet better. >> The old Pimp My Wi-Fi series was 60 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:28,639 supposed to be a series like that, but after the very first one in Singapore, 61 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:32,240 which did really well, we did one for my neighbor and it like bomb, but uh so we 62 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:37,280 never did another one. >> All right. Well, >> we bought a pimp outfit and everything 63 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:44,960 and I never got to wear it again. >> That's what he says. 64 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:47,840 >> Disappears behind the car. Sorry. 65 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:50,080 >> Got him. I'm I I didn't bring a cutting thing. 66 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:56,160 >> Well, as long as it's unplugged. >> I didn't bring a cutting implement with me. I guess it's living there now. 67 00:04:53,840 --> 00:04:59,639 >> Sorry, boy. Afraid we're going to have to put you down. 68 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:09,600 >> Five of these. It's amazing how much it costs to make your Wi-Fi worse. 69 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:13,039 Look, I've made the same mistake myself. I was actually having a lot of 70 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:18,240 disconnection issues with my EcoB smartarthome thermostats because I 71 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:23,840 didn't turn off the 2.4 GHz antennas on some of my Wi-Fi access points. Um, I'll 72 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:26,400 put this with the rest of the Wait, so are you just like pretending to work 73 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:32,320 right now? You don't even have internet. >> I turn I closed my Windows for the editor. With that out of the way, it's 74 00:05:29,840 --> 00:05:37,199 time to set up the Flint 3 from GLET. This is their first Wi-Fi 7 router. It's 75 00:05:34,479 --> 00:05:40,560 rated for up to 2,000 ft of coverage, which is perfect for Natalie, and has 76 00:05:39,199 --> 00:05:44,240 all the bells and whistles that you'd expect from a premium router, including 77 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:49,680 five 2 and 1/2 gig Ethernet ports, built-in VPN, multan failover, 78 00:05:46,639 --> 00:05:52,400 pre-installed OpenWRT software, and 79 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:56,639 support for MLO, which means that if a client device supports it, it can 80 00:05:54,160 --> 00:06:02,080 connect using multiple bands for better performance and stability. Also, with 81 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:08,880 MLO, this bad boy can fit so many megabits per second. What the heck? 82 00:06:05,280 --> 00:06:11,680 There's two here that both go like the 83 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:14,720 vertical way. Okay. Well, this is a precarious 84 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:19,520 situation. >> Yeah, I accidentally turned this off. 85 00:06:17,840 --> 00:06:22,160 >> Thank you. I was just enabling bridge mode. >> Yeah, I did it by accident. 86 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:29,120 >> Okay. >> I accidentally hit the switch on the power strip. >> Cool. Also, if Natalie really wants, she 87 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:32,160 could set up the bark feature and troll Michael by setting up parent controls 88 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:36,800 and content filtering. If you were to filter something of mine, what would you filter? 89 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:39,520 >> Like filter what? Like sites. >> Whatever. Carrie, 90 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:42,880 >> nothing. Is there something I should note that? >> No. No. You You're good. You're good. Do 91 00:06:42,319 --> 00:06:47,759 do what you're doing. >> I'm I'm just wait I'm just waiting for >> change nothing. Elijah, you're perfect 92 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:51,520 as it is. Don't let anyone Don't let all those people tell you otherwise. 93 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:55,120 >> Wow. >> That and Adgard Home are both included 94 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:59,759 with no subscription fee. We're going to have this baby linked down below, by the way, if you're interested in picking one 95 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:02,639 up. Setup was super simple. First, we had to set up her default ISP router 96 00:07:01,599 --> 00:07:08,400 into bridge mode. >> Yeah, don't miss that step because it like will not work if you don't do that. 97 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:11,440 >> And then once the Flint 3 powered up, I plugged in a computer and a web page 98 00:07:09,919 --> 00:07:15,199 popped up and walked us through setting up the admin user for the router and 99 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:18,960 configuring the Wi-Fi. A little trick, by the way, when you're setting up a new 100 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:22,800 Wi-Fi network is to use the same SSID name and the same password as your old 101 00:07:20,639 --> 00:07:26,720 one. There's a very good chance that your devices will just connect to the 102 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:32,080 new router, no problem. It saves you from needing to run around and reconnect 103 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:34,960 every smartome device in your house. 104 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:38,479 That's a tech tip. I give the tech tips. Sorry, sir. Don't call me sir. 105 00:07:37,919 --> 00:07:43,360 >> Sorry, sir. >> I'm the one who scripted it this time. The look on his face when I added this 106 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:49,440 in script. >> Big moment. >> And let's go. 107 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:56,319 >> It's definitely a bit better. And the ping is much lower. >> And what's hilarious is the AP was there 108 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:58,080 before. It was right there. 109 00:07:56,319 --> 00:08:03,199 Now it's like through the wall and across the house and it's still better. 110 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:08,000 And we can do even betterer. See, getting rid of the extra devices is just 111 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:14,319 half the battle. We also want to migrate our current devices to at least 5 GHz or 112 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:18,800 ideally 6 GHz, which is the newest piece of spectrum that was opened up for Wi-Fi 113 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:23,360 and therefore the least congested by your neighbors, at least for now. Man, 114 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:28,240 this feels old school, right? like adding Wi-Fi to a computer with a PCI 115 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:31,800 card. What is it? 2005. Oh, yeah. We haven't done a merch integration. 116 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:38,159 >> You can barely see it. >> Oh, sorry. Sorry. Yeah, there's a 117 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:42,640 screwdriver there. I know it's really hard to tell. In all seriousness, even 118 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:46,480 if your motherboard has basic onboard Wi-Fi, an add-on card like this can be a 119 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:50,720 great way to boost your speeds. And you don't have to use a PCIe card. You can 120 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:55,760 also use a USB module. It's just that with speeds this high, I would rather 121 00:08:53,200 --> 00:09:00,000 keep that traffic off of the shared USB bus, which is why I have questions about 122 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:03,440 the card we chose. It comes with a little USB header thing. What is it 123 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:07,760 using this for? >> I think it's for Bluetooth. Okay. Oh, 124 00:09:05,680 --> 00:09:11,760 this sucks. I can do it, though. I have the power. Small hands. Power activate. 125 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:15,760 Big moment. Here's your old Wi-Fi antenna. >> What's the big moment? 126 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:20,399 >> Well, you're going to connect to the new Wi-Fi and see if it's faster. Damn it. 127 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:24,000 I'm assuming it's this one. >> Yep. >> Uh that is >> But you're not getting a B. 128 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:26,480 >> Oh, but drivers. >> Hold on. Hold on. >> Wait. 129 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:31,279 >> Drivers. >> Oh, yeah. No. No. That's still your onboard Wi-Fi with the no antenna on it. 130 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:36,399 Yeah, we need to put in drivers for the new one. Uh oh. Well, I unplugged this 131 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:40,560 prematurely. Premature unpluggation. 132 00:09:38,399 --> 00:09:45,200 Oh god. Editor, don't. >> Okay, so yeah, connect to something that 133 00:09:43,839 --> 00:09:48,800 works. >> I don't know if it works. She already 134 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:53,360 had support for 6 GHz. >> Okay, >> so why did we put a PCI card in? 135 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:57,920 >> Well, cuz we got her Wi-Fi 7. >> Well, I know, but the 6E supports 6 GHz. 136 00:09:56,560 --> 00:10:01,920 We could have just put this in Michael's computer. >> We wanted to show the people that this 137 00:09:59,680 --> 00:10:05,760 is how you can upgrade. >> Sorry, Michael. 138 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:11,720 Whether her computer needed it or not, it's more about showing that you can do 139 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:11,720 this. 140 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:18,240 With the drivers installed, we've disabled the onboard Wi-Fi that made it 141 00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:24,079 completely unnecessary for us to put a add-in card in. Now is the big moment. 142 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:28,320 Do you want to go ahead and connect to here? We're going to change all these 143 00:10:25,519 --> 00:10:32,320 names after. Anyway, God, I forgot. There's so many. Can you scroll? Just 144 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:35,800 keep scrolling. Just keep scrolling. Freaking ridiculous. 145 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:42,320 >> Okay, huge moment. Elijah, did we do a good job? This is where we find out. I 146 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:45,440 guess we will. >> Okay, >> cool. Speed test. 147 00:10:44,079 --> 00:10:50,560 >> Well, no, we should be downloading Valerant. >> Oh, sure. Let's download Valerant. 148 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:55,440 >> Also, this is, I assume, better. >> Yes, it's a little bit better. 149 00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:59,600 >> That is so much. I would have gotten out of here so much faster. You wouldn't 150 00:10:57,680 --> 00:11:04,160 have been late for softball. This is way better. Now, to be clear, this is not 151 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:08,720 the maximum speed of Wi-Fi 7 by any stretch of the imagination, but this is 152 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:13,200 completely across the house, through multiple walls, through a floor, and now 153 00:11:11,279 --> 00:11:18,000 we are getting a very acceptable experience. There's another key part, 154 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:20,720 too. So, you can see our pings are a little bit inconsistent right now. 155 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:25,360 They're going anywhere from 80 milliseconds all the way up to like 160 156 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:29,200 milliseconds. Okay? But that's because we have a freaking download going in the 157 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:33,120 background. If all you were doing was gaming, 158 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:37,200 look at that consistency. It's not as good as being wired. But 159 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:42,000 compared to what we had before, this is night and freaking day. So, the speed 160 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:46,800 comes from upgrading to a newer generation of Wi-Fi. But that 161 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:50,880 consistency in the pings that comes from switching over to 6 GHz. You love to see 162 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:54,720 it. Now, some of you might have been wondering, Natalie already had full bars 163 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:59,120 from the mesh Wi-Fi booster that was in the hallway. Why is two bars better? The 164 00:11:57,279 --> 00:12:03,839 problem with range extenders is that they're dependent on an already strong 165 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:07,920 incoming signal. So, if I were to place one of these right next to my router, 166 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:12,000 it'd have a strong incoming signal, but it also wouldn't do that much. But then, 167 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:15,920 if I were to put it at the edge of my router's range where the signal is 168 00:12:13,519 --> 00:12:20,480 already weak, well, it doesn't magically heal the network. So, I might think that 169 00:12:18,639 --> 00:12:25,519 my coverage is better because I've got lots and lots of bars on my devices, but 170 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:29,360 all I've really done is add more latency thanks to an additional signal hop. Now, 171 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:34,079 I can practically hear you screaming into your monitor. Why don't you just 172 00:12:31,279 --> 00:12:38,800 run an Ethernet cable or failing that? What about Ethernet over power line or 173 00:12:36,079 --> 00:12:43,279 coax? And you know what? You're right. Those are fine options, but depending on 174 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:46,959 your situation, you might not be able to. And we're here to give tech tips to 175 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:50,000 all the people. If you want to learn more about Power Line and Mocha, we're 176 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:54,320 going to have videos featuring those technologies linked down below. Keeping 177 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:58,079 with Wi-Fi, then there is more that we could do to improve Natalie's network. 178 00:12:56,160 --> 00:13:02,079 For one thing, I could line the walls with some sort of RF blocking material 179 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:06,560 that would prevent Natalie's neighbors from interfering with her Wi-Fi. See, 180 00:13:04,399 --> 00:13:12,240 there are some devices that simply can't leave the 2.4 or 5 GHz spectrum like 181 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:16,240 some smart devices. But that would be crazy. I think this is enough 182 00:13:14,079 --> 00:13:20,480 improvement for one day. And it should be a really big improvement, especially 183 00:13:18,560 --> 00:13:24,720 for things like real-time streaming, like video calls, remoting into friends 184 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:29,360 computers with Parseek for some gaming, or even using something like GLET's new 185 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:33,839 Comet Pro. This little guy is their new remote KVM, which Natalie could hook up 186 00:13:31,279 --> 00:13:37,279 to her PC at the office, then use it to remote in to get her work done from 187 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:41,440 home. No more blaming things on bad internet. Right, Natalie? She's not 188 00:13:40,079 --> 00:13:45,040 paying attention. The coolest thing about this device is 189 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:48,560 it allows even BIOS level access to a connected PC in case you need to reboot 190 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:54,079 and make changes to it. And it operates remotely at up to 4K 30fps. Okay, 30 FPS 191 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:58,079 isn't enough to do any competitive gaming on it, but for managing a server 192 00:13:55,920 --> 00:14:01,519 or client devices from afar, this little guy could be a lifesaver. If you're 193 00:14:00,079 --> 00:14:05,440 interested in checking out either the Flint 3 Wi-Fi router or the KVM, we're 194 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:10,480 going to have links to them down in the video description. And if you guys enjoyed this video, then maybe go check 195 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:14,320 out the time that we painted Elijah's house with RF blocking paint. Yeah, that 196 00:14:12,639 --> 00:14:17,440 thing I said when I was definitely really playing piano. That that was 197 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:22,279 true. We did that and it actually worked way better than either one of us thought 198 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:22,279 it would.