Internet and Web

Rick has been having issues with his wifi router. He has dropouts, and he has to unplug it and plug it back along with his modem. Leo says that when a router starts to fail a lot, that indicates that it's wearing out and it's time to replace it. Leo says that if you are renting from your ISP, he recommends turning in your cable modem and request a new DOCSIS 3.1 model. Or buy your own and save the rental fee.  Should he get a mesh router? Leo says that if you have a house that's greater than 1300 sq. feet, then it's worth it. But smaller than that, and a regular router is fine.

Greg wants to teach his mother how to use a computer, particularly how files are organized. He's been thinking of using Udemy to learn Dos. Leo suggests pointing her towards YouTube. There are likely videos online that are just as good. But Greg would probably want to get that first. Also, check out AARP's online computer classes. There's also Kahn Academy.

Gary has two internet services, T-Mobile and Spectrum. One is for work. He wants to be able to hook them up, so if one goes down, the other picks up. But there's a lag when he uses Zoom. Leo says you can do it with Speedify. It's a VPN that does what's called "failover." But it causes that latency because it goes through different servers. Leo does it with his Ubiquity router Edge Router X and two WAN ports. There's zero latency. TPLink also does that, and they make good stuff. 

Julian is TWIT's resident accessibility expert, and he's calling in because he heard Leo talk about accessibility with a previous caller. Some have had difficulties using the web for booking their vaccines. Julian says that VaccinateLA offers a phone booking at 833-540-0473. They'll ask several questions, but pressing 1-1-1-1 will get you to a phone operator who can search for you. It is a lot easier.