Wireless home network integration

Agent Peterson: Greetings. I'm Agent Peterson of the Geek Squad. And today, we're going to talk about wireless home network integration. People are outright baffled by the different options that are out there for wireless, between hardware and software, and what they can really do with it.

So today we're going to talk about a few different things. First, we're going to talk about choosing the right equipment: making sure that you have what you need in order to enjoy wireless. Second, we're going to talk about setup: getting it in your home, getting it up and ready. Third, we're going to talk about what we can really do with it from there, making sure that you can take advantage of all the different things that are out there and enjoy the Internet to its fullest.

Once you're in the store, it's important to choose the right equipment. The big problem that you'll run into is compatibility. There are so many different kinds of wireless out there. There's Wireless G, which is one of the older versions of wireless that most devices are compatible with. There's MIMO, which is an expanded wireless. It allows for larger coverage of your home and faster transfer of files. And then there's Wireless M, which is the newest of the technologies, but it's also the least compatible with all the different devices out there.

The big solution to this is to know what devices you have in your home, making sure that you let the sales associate know what devices you want to hook up, so that way they can get you the compatible equipment.

So, once we've selected your products, it's time to go home and start doing the set up. When you get your router home, ideally you want to put it on an elevated location, so that way you get the maximum wireless signal. Wireless signal works kind of like an umbrella: the higher up you go, the farther out your arc of signal goes.

The problems that you're going to run into when you get home are going to be interference and range. There are several different things within your home that can cause interference. First off is cordless phones and microwave ovens. You ideally want to make sure that you are nowhere near any of these devices when you're actually getting your wireless set up.

Second is going to be locational interference. There's two different areas within your home that are notoriously bad to get wireless signal through. The first is going to be your bathroom. The second will be a kitchen. Due to large amounts of metal in these areas, it's extremely difficult to get wireless signal through. It tends just to get scrambled and go anywhere but where you want it to be.

There's a couple different solutions as a way to address this issue. First off is going to be a wireless range expander. You can literally get one of these devices to help walk wireless signal right around within your home. By a simple placement in a wall outlet, they are able to effectively double, triple, or go up to an infinite size. Now instead of having one room that has wireless capabilities, you actually have an entire home, or you even outside.

So now that we have all this technology set up in your home, what can you do with it?

Well, the sky is the limit. There's lots of different devices that support wireless these days, anything from gaming systems to home entertainment devices, things that can stream out audio and pictures throughout your entire home, smart phones and BlackBerrys, and a host of other devices that come out every single day.

Integrating a wireless network into your home really breaks down into two different parts: choosing the right equipment and avoiding the troubles of setup. So then you can enjoy the fruits of your labor and play with all those cool wireless devices that they keep coming out with every single day.