I recently moved my desk and computer to another room in the house. I wanted to have a better view and I find it less distracting than sitting in the same room with the TV and my book collection. Somehow both those things seem to whisper to me while I work, so moving out on them seemed to be the right solution. Working from home is fun, but it has it’s challenges.
I had forgotten my earlier struggles with internet connection. When I first set my home office up, I found that my Wi-Fi connection was having some trouble reaching from one end of the house to the other so, since the cable modem and wireless router are at the other end of the house, the wireless connection sometimes wasn’t there for my iMac’s wireless connection. Sometimes metal in the walls of the house or other things seem to block certain signals. So, I had someone come and run an Ethernet cable from one end of my house to my office.
Moving my desk and computer to another room yesterday brought back all those memories of the struggle I had gone through to make my computer work as well as it can. It was almost enough to make me move back. But, then I remembered that the wireless connection may be better in the new location since there were less walls and it was somewhat closer to the modem. I decided to try it out for a couple of days to see how it would work.
It hasn’t taken a couple of days. It’s barely acceptable. I get a very strong signal on my iMac. And the internet is pretty fast still. But, not nearly as fast as it was in my other office. What I’ve noticed is my whole computer has slowed down, sometimes to a crawl. I expected slower web page loads. I even expected a little less speed with my email, but I didn’t expect my other programs to be so much slower.
What I had forgotten was that almost every program I have now syncs to the internet. Most every program I have on my computer also checks for updates every time it’s loaded up. If I’ve left my browser open, which I most always do, it’s constantly updating pages such as Facebook. If I have more than a couple of windows open on my browser, which I most always do, then it’s constantly updating many pages. All of these are taking a toll on my internet connection and therefore, my total computer speed.
I often got ahead of my keyboard when typing before, now I could go have a cup of coffee while I wait for it to catch up sometimes. Of course, having several other computers in the house on the network doesn’t help either. I can tell a significant difference when the kids are streaming movies, etc. But, I couldn’t before.
My new frustration reminded me of what I realized when I set up my office the first time. Ethernet is just WAY more faster than Wi-Fi. Period. My Wi-Fi connection can only get about 54Mbps max and probably gets closer to 34Mbps because of overhead used by the network. My Ethernet can get 100Mbps which is WAY faster. What is Mbps? Megabits per second. You don’t really have to understand what that means except that it is the speed at which data travels over a cable or through the air. The important thing to note is that 100 is way more than 54 or 34. Twice as fast. An Ethernet connection makes my computer work better in every way.
No, I don’t like running cables. No, I don’t like hiding cables. No, I don’t like tripping over cables, But, it will be worth the time I save every day waiting for the little beach ball on my monitor or waiting for my keyboard to catch up with me. I just ordered a 100 foot Ethernet cable from Amazon for less than $10. I’ll run it down through the floor next to the modem and into the basement. Then I’ll run it up through the floor where I find the already drilled hole closest to my computer. I’ll tack the cable to the baseboards so it will be out of the way and I don’t break my neck on it. I should be frustration free yet again on Tuesday! Thank goodness for Amazon Prime and the free 2 day shipping. Hopefully, I can do all that handy work myself without having to call anyone. Until then, %&$#?@!
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Today’s new header was taken a couple of months ago from my Mom’s drive way here in Middle Tennessee.
I did it!! Today is a happy day! I reached a minor goal on the road to my larger goal! Today, I hit the 30 pound mark. I have lost 30 pounds since October 6, 2011. Only 10 more pounds to my final destination! I am on track to reach that by the end of the month if not before.
