Routers

If you are comfortable with the intricacies of setting up a router, you might want to install an Asus RT-n56u.

This router supports the uncrowded 5  gigahertz band and works also as a print server and data server, while offering the highest speed internet connection. I picked one up for $40. (This is a lot less than run of mill routers going for $150 and up.)

If you have more than a single device using wifi, this is absolutely the best way to go. It makes your printer and library available to everything.

Setup requires a PC or Mac. Browse for a YouTube video on how to do it or simply download the manual from Asus. As routers go, this was the easiest set up yet by far.

Basically, you plug in between your internet service and your Ethernet jack, type 192. 168. 1. 1 to your browser, login with admin, password admin, and follow the clean and clear instructions.

Choosing a Phone - Update

It has been a while since I covered choosing a smartphone, so here goes with an update.

Choose carefully. This smart phone is going to be your multipurpose device for far more than phoning. It will be your connection to all media, too. It will keep you connected to everything.

For more and more of us our smart phone is the only computer we need most of the time. We keep it with us.

Unless you go with a Republic Wireless phone and plan, as I do, go to an unlocked phone and plan.

Then use such a service as Puretalk for unlimited calling and text. For data use a hotspot such as Freedompop.

Only choose a prepaid plan if you will be very careful about your usage. Prepaid plans can be very cheap or very expensive depending upon you.

Only if you will be needing a lot of help, choose an iPhone. With Apple products, that is what you are paying for.

Instead, go to an Android phone, which is the only game in town for most people.

If you are a Windows fanatic, consider the Windows 10 phones coming out this summer.

As you start to do more and more of your computer work with the phone, as opposed to tower and laptop, consider more than one phone and/or a tablet. The tablet of choice is the Nexus 7.

You can then use that tablet with a phoning app at such as Skype or Hangouts or Talkatone. If always near wifi you could even do without a phone plan all together.

When you have made a choice, then go about switching more and more of your computer activity to the phone.

Dictated to my Republic Wireless Moto G smartphone.