Networking

Tim's internet is terrible because he lives in a rural area. His router managed to give him decent speed, but it went bad. So his wireless ISP gave him another one and it's terrible. Leo says that Brainstorm is a WISP, or wireless internet service provider, and you're most likely required to use their dedicated hardware. But you may be able to use your own router. But Leo suspects the problem is on their end. Routers to look at are TPLINK. Asus. NetGear. Check out  thewirecutter.com for their recommendations.

Brett has moved to ExpressVPN, but he's having issues surfing to his own IP. It worked fine with his old VPN, but not ExpressVPN (who is a sponsor of the TWiT Network). What can he do? Leo says to check your router settings. It may be that in your devices, there could be a security issue that's blocking it. Leo does that with his network for his NAS. Leo also says that Brett's problem may be due to his previous VPN being less secure. 

Dave wants to know how to find out how much bandwidth he uses every month. Leo says that if your router supports DD-WRT firmware, you can. But your router may already keep track. So look in your router settings to find out. If not, and your router supports it, you can install DD-WRT firmware. Check out dd-wrt.com. But understand, that flashing the firmware on your router could void the warranty. If you need a new one, get the ASUS router, it uses a flavor of DD-WRT already out of the box. 

Chad wants to run a game server on a secondary PS4 so others can play over the internet all over the world. HIs problem is he needs a NAT Type 1 connection to make it work. Is there any way to do it without having a second internet connection from Spectrum? Leo says that there used to be a device called a Hamachi that would do it. Ideally, try taking the router out. It will eliminate a middleman that could assign a Type 2 connection, not a Nat Type 1. Risky, but it could work. Chad can also try DMZ through the router. He can also set up port forwarding.