Revolution of 5 Generation Wi-Fi Standard (802.11ac)

802.11ac is the next generation for wireless networks and manufacturers are now deploying equipment with this new technology and marketing the heck out of it. Now the question is when should you look at deploying it and what do you benefit from these new wireless solutions ?

If you have recently deployed an 802.11n network I wouldn’t worry about it. You still have lots of life left in your investment and unlike previous generations of wireless networks this one is ok to mix in with your current 802.11n wireless network. That means you can buy an 11ac AP here and there over time and replace or supplement your existing wireless network with these new APs. There are lots of things to consider though when deciding how to deploy this new technology but for right now we are going to focus on what does AC offer versus N wireless.

There are the mostly four factor revolution to use the 802.11ac.

• Speed
• Rang 
• Capacity 
• Compatibility 

Speed 

The first big gain we get with 802.11ac wireless is faster speeds. Faster speeds mean more bandwidth for everyone involved because the faster I can get you the data you requested the faster I can get to the next guy in line who is trying to get to his Vine video of the day. With 802.11ac the first generation of APs is going to provide up to 1.3Gbps of bandwidth. This is about 3x the bandwidth we can currently get from an 802.11n AP with dual radios today. The speeds of course are all dependent on optimal variables like, client device capability, distance from the AP, RF quality, etc… So suffice it to say that 802.11ac is like replacing your family sedan with a Ferrari!

Range

The first point to make is the 802.11ac standard lives entirely in the 5GHz spectrum. While some more modern routers broadcast 802.11n in 5GHz as well as 2.4GHz they remain relatively rare.  

Consequently, the 5GHz spectrum tends to be 'quiet', meaning much less interference from neighbourhood Wi-Fi. This more than counters the fact that, in lab conditions, 5GHz signals do not actually broadcast as far as 2.4GHz signals. 5GHz is also necessary to support the faster speeds of wireless ac. 

The second key factor is 802.11ac makes ‘beamforming’ a core part of its spec. Rather than throw out wireless signal equally in all directions, WiFi with beamforming detects where devices are and intensifies the signal in their direction(s). 

This technology has been around in proprietary form (it made a huge impact in the D-Link DIR-645), but now it will be inside every 802.11ac router and every 802.11ac device. 

The combination of these two technologies is profound. This was most clearly seen with the Linksys EA6500 which hit speeds of 30.2MBps (241.6Mbit) when connecting to a device just two metres away, but still performed at 22.7MBps (181.6Mbit) when 13 metres away with two solid walls in the way. By contrast Linksys’ own EA4500 (identical except being limited to 802.11n) managed 10.6MBps (84.8Mbit) dropping to 2.31MBps (18.48Mbit) under the same conditions. 

The real world result is 802.11ac not only enables you to enjoy the fastest 100Mbit (and beyond) fibre optic broadband speeds all over the house, but to enjoy it along with multiple streams of Full HD content, super low latency gaming and blazing fast home networking all at the same time. 

Capacity 

The next big gain 802.11ac provides us is better client capacity. With 802.11n wireless we recommended no more than 30-40 clients to an AP for optimal performance. This isn’t because of limitations in the access point hardware but rather limitations based on bandwidth. RF is a shared medium and there isn’t an unlimited amount of airtime or bandwidth. Because wireless clients are sharing the bandwidth on an AP each is only going to get a slice of the total amount of bandwidth offered by it. For instance, a dual radio 802.11n AP that provides 450Mbps to 50 clients is going to net each client about 9Mbps in total bandwidth. When you factor in overhead, spectrum interference, etc… the actual total bandwidth to the client will be much less. If my client count is less on the AP each client will have more bandwidth allocated to them. 25 clients on the same 802.11n AP will net 18Mbps per client which is much better than 9Mbps. With 802.11ac we have a lot more bandwidth to distribute and better methods of doing it so the client count can be much higher on an 802.11ac access point than on 802.11n.

Compatibility

The first thing to get out of the way is - like past Wi-Fi standards - 802.11ac is backwards compatible with 802.11b, g and n. This means you can buy an 802.11ac-equipped device and it will work just fine with your existing router. Similarly you can upgrade to an 802.11ac router and it will work happily with all your existing devices. That said you will need both an 802.11ac router and an 802.11ac device to enjoy the standard’s biggest benefits. And those begin with…

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How to test Internet Speed through Command Prompt

Anybody who wants to test their connection speed can easily do so from a speed test web site — but that isn’t very geeky. Here’s how to do a test from the terminal prompt instead.

(Note: If you are using Windows, you’ll want to either have Cygwin installed, or have a copy of curl or wget installed. On the Mac you can use curl, but if you prefer wget, you’ll need to install that.)

Testing Internet Connection Speed with Curl

This is pretty simple. Just copy and paste the following command:

curl -o /dev/null http://speedtest.sea01.softlayer.com/downloads/test100.zip

The first thing to point out is that we’re using a test file from Softlayer, but if your connection is really fast, you might want to use a larger file from Thinkbroadband to properly test. Secondly, that -o switch is the lower case form of the letter O. It’s not a zero, and if you omit it, your terminal will turn into crazyville since curl will try to output to the screen — it’s also important because we’re outputting the file to /dev/null, which means it’ll basically be automatically deleted.

Testing Internet Connection Speed with Wget

If you prefer using wget, or that is what you have installed, the switch is the same. That is a capital letter “o” and it sends the output straight to null, so you don’t have any files to delete.

wget -O /dev/null http://speedtest.sea01.softlayer.com/downloads/test100.zip

This file is only 100 MB, so if you have a really fast connection, this isn’t going to work very well, and you’ll want to find a bigger file to download from the site linked above.

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How to Get Better Wireless Signal

Like all sufficiently advanced technologies, Wi-Fi can feel like magic. But Wi-Fi isn’t magic – its radio waves. A variety of things can interfere with these radio waves, making your wireless connection weaker and more unreliable.

The main keys to improving your wireless network’s signal are positioning your router properly — taking obstructions into account — and reducing interference from other wireless networks and household appliances.

Wireless Router Positioning

Your wireless router’s positioning can greatly affect your coverage area and the strength of your signal. Follow these quick tips to position your router for the best signal.

• Place the router in the middle of your house. If you place the router in a room off to the side of your house, you won’t get as strong a signal on the other side of your house.
• Position the router’s antenna vertically, so that the antenna is standing straight up. Many antennas can be adjusted and lie horizontally, but standing straight up is generally the ideal position.
• Elevate your router away from floors. You’ll get better reception if the router is on a desk, not on the floor.

You should also pay attention to the kinds of materials the router is near. For example, placing the router on a metal desk or up against a metal wall will cause problems. Signals can travel through a wood desk easily, but metal will obstruct the signals.

Other types of obstructions can also cause problems. For example, if there’s a metal filing cabinet between your computer and the router, you may not receive a wireless signal. The same applies to other types of dense objects.

Interference From Other Wireless Networks

Interference from other wireless networks in the area can cause issues with your wireless signal. To determine whether interference is occurring, you can use an app like Wi-FiAnalyzer for Android. It will show you the wireless channels nearby networks are using and recommend the ideal network for you to use — one that isn’t being used by as many networks. This app will also allow you to walk around the area and see where you get the best signal and where the signal is weakest – you can do this with any other device, too.

If multiple wireless networks are competing for the same channel, this can cause problems. To fix this, you can change the wireless channel in your router’s web interface. You can do this even if you don’t have access to a wireless-analyzing app – change the signal to a different channel and then see if your wireless connection improves.

Interference From Household Appliances

A variety of household appliances can cause wireless interference, including cordless phones, baby monitors, and microwave ovens. Depending on the positioning of your wireless router, your networked device, and the appliance, you may even have the wireless network cut out when the microwave or cordless phone is in use.

Problems with cordless phones can be solved by replacing your phones with phones that operate on a different frequency, such as 900 MHz or 1.9 GHz. Cordless phones using the 2.4 Ghz frequency will interfere with wireless networks.

Problems with microwaves can often by solved by positioning the your devices such that the microwave isn’t between your router and the device. it’s also possible that a new microwave will help, if the new microwave has better shielding.

Other devices can also cause problems. For example, older Bluetooth devices can interfere with nearby Wi-Fi signals, although newer Bluetooth devices don’t.

Repeaters, Antennas, and Reflectors

If you need to cover a large area with a wireless signal and your router just isn’t cutting it, you can buy a wireless repeater or range extender. These devices repeat the wireless signal, extending its area. You don’t even need special devices for this – if you have some old routers around, you can use multiple routers to extend your Wi-Fi network.

Depending on your router, you may be able to attach an improved antenna that gives your signal additional range. You can also try building a Wi-Fi reflector that reflects the signal in a specific direction.

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Speed Up Your Internet with Google Public DNS

Are you looking for a faster way to browse the Internet and have pages load faster? If so, you might be interested in trying out Google Public DNS, here we will take a look at adding it to your router or home computer.

DNS (Domain Name System) translates an IP address to an easy to remember hostname. If you use your ISPs DNS settings by default, it may not be the fastest way to get to your favourite sites. We have previously recommended the service OpenDNS as speeds are usually faster than your ISP and it offers several other cool options. Google has recently launched a free public DNS service, and we’ll take a look at setting it up on your PC or router.

Add Google DNS to a Window Computer

To add Google Public DNS to your Windows 7 machine, right-click on Network and choose Properties.

Alternatively, you can enter Network and Sharing Center into the search box in the Start Menu.

The Network and Sharing Center opens and you’ll want to click on Change adapter settings which is located on the right side of the screen.

Now right-click on Local Area Connection and select Properties. If you have a wireless connection, right-click on Wireless Network Connection and click Properties.

The Local Area Connection Properties screen opens and you’ll want to highlight Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) then click the Properties button.

The Internet Protocol Version 4 Properties window comes up. If you already have DNS settings listed, make sure to copy or write them down in case you want to switch back. Select Use the following DNS server addresses and type in the following for Preferred and Alternate DNS server:

Note: According to Google you can interchange the Primary and secondary address, but don’t use the same number for both.

Preferred DNS Server: 8.8.8.8

Alternate DNS Server: 8.8.4.4

Click Ok and then close out of the remaining windows and reboot your system, then you’ll want to test out the settings. Basically browse around to your bookmarked sites and make sure they display properly.

Add Google DNS to Your Router

In this example we are using a Belkin Wireless Router. Each router varies but the principle is the same. Go into your router configuration settings by typing the Router IP into your browser. Mostly in Home Router it will 192.168.1.1..otherwise if you want to check how to get this IP Address then Go to Network Place Properties and Double Click the "Local Area Network" Click the "Support" tab and there you will find "Default" in the default column IP Address is you Router IP address, 

Open you Browser and put the 192.168.1.1 IP and press Enter, Put the Username & password, Go to the WAN Configuration and find the DNS setting 

Now enter in the primary and secondary DNS addresses and apply changes. Again according to Google you can interchange the Primary and secondary address, but don’t use the same number for both. We set ours up as the following:

Primary:  8.8.8.8

Secondary: 8.8.4.4

After you apply the DNS changes your router may need to restart, where in the case of a Belkin it is a 40 second reboot. After the router reboots, go through and test the settings to verify they work.

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Five Mostly Used VPN Apps

Many businesses depend upon the ability to access their servers and documents from multiple locations. To enable that, many take advantage of the Virtual Private Network (VPN). When proposing this to end users, it is very often met with fear and uncertainty. It is change and people don't like change. To make that easier for end users, selecting the right VPN client is key. Some VPN servers (such as Sonicwall and Fortinet) require you use their own proprietary clients. But other VPNs allow the use of third party clients. As for the third-party clients, there are quite a lot of them out there. Some are free, some are cheap, some are worth your time, and some are not. I have gathered together five of the clients I believe to be worth looking into. Each client may or may not meet your VPN needs – that will depend upon the server you are running. But each client offers plenty of features and each offers different levels of user-friendliness.

OpenVPN Client

OpenVPN Client is a full-featured SSL VPN client that seamlessly integrates into an OpenVPN server. This client is as simple to use as any VPN Client and makes connecting to the OpenVPN server a snap. OpenVPN Client is free and is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. For Windows, this client is compatible with all versions of Windows, including Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. Of course, you will have to have a working OpenVPN server to connect to. Fortunately, that server is incredibly easy to set up.

Gadmin VPN Client

Gadmin VPN Client is another means to connect to the OpenVPN server. This tool is part of the Gadmin Tools suite of administration tools (you can even install a Gadmin VPN Server GUI to help you easily set up an OpenVPN server).

This particular client tool is available only for the Linux platform, but offers tons of options for configuration. Of course, because of the amount of available options, Gadmin VPN Client isn't the best tool for users who are less familiar with how VPNs work.

Shrew Soft VPN Client

Shrew Soft VPN Client is an easy to use client for IPSec Remote Access VPN servers. This client is available for Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2000 (both 32 and 64-bit flavors) as well as the Linux platform.

This client was originally developed to connect to open source servers such as FreeSWAN and OpenSWAN, but now can connect to VPNs by Cisco, Juniper, Checkpoint, Fortinet, Netgear, Linksys, Zywall and many others. Shew Soft VPN Client is free.

VPN X Client

VPN X Client is one of two VPN clients on the list that has a price attached. That price depends upon the license type and how many licenses you need (check out the Pricing page and check outthis comparison matrix.) The VPN X Client will only connect to the VPN X Server. You will find the VPN X Server quite easy to set up and secure enough for small to medium sized businesses.

Viscosity VPN Client

Viscosity VPN Client is a cross-platform client (Windows and Macs) that makes connecting to an OpenVPN server a breeze and will only cost you $9.00 USD.

Viscosity is used in Fortune 500 companies, continuously monitors your OpenVPN connection, fully integrates with OS X's advanced DNS system, can work with AppleScript and Batch/Vbs scripts, and offers Smartcar/token (PKCS#11) support, multiple connections, proxy integration, IPv6, and more.

Bottom line

Having a VPN doesn't mean you have to use a client your end users can't grasp or will put you and your IT budget out of business. These five clients work with different VPN servers and offer different levels of complexity and costs. If you're looking for a new VPN client, or replacing your VPN architecture all together, give these clients a look to see if one of them will fill a hole in your IT infrastructure. 

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