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SEE ALSO: Wondering If a Professional Home Network Is Worth It?

The Difference of Gigabit Internet Service: Why You Need Gigabit Internet

Gigabit internet, also known as high-speed internet or gig-speed internet, transmits data up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps). This means that you are downloading 1,000,000,000 bits per second or 1,000 mbps. That rate of speed is 100 times faster than the average internet connection in the country!

Gigabit internet runs on fiber-optic cable, which transports data using light signals instead of electrical currents. Because light is faster than electrical pulses, fiber can transmit more megabits per second than copper cable and offers higher bandwidth. Plus, while signals over copper lines worsen as you travel farther from the source, distance knows no bounds with fiber.

Popular broadband internet providers likeXfinity and AT&T have made gigabit internet available for homeowners from coast to coast as a reliable connection in the home is becoming more of a necessity than ever before. So, what can you expect if you decide to make the switch to gigabit internet?

What to Expect When You Upgrade to Gig Internet

First, you can expect work-worthy, fast internet. If you’re working from home, you can’t be bothered with slow upload speeds that cause lagging video meetings and dropped wi-fi calls. Poor internet could make the difference between winning or losing a sale. Gigabit offers matching download and upload speeds for unwavering video conferencing and online work collaboration.

STAY CONNECTED WHEN IT MATTERS MOST WITH AVIDIA’S NETWORKING SOLUTIONS

The modern world is a connected world. If you’re like nearly half of the country, you interact with at least one smart device every month, but that number is likely much higher if your Glencoe, IL, home is a smart home. A recent Plume IQ study reports that the average house has over 20 connected devices! 

How can a homeowner manage to keep all of those devices up and running as intended? And how is it possible to prepare your home for additional devices as they’re inevitably added in the future? With a professionally designed and installed network and advanced networking solutions, your highly-connected home will have robust and reliable wired and wireless connections in every room. 

If you’re wondering if it’s time to consider a new or upgraded home network, keep reading below for three tell-tale home networking issues you can rectify with help from your friends at Avidia!

Curb Roaming Woes with Professional-Grade Access Points

Wi-Fi calling is an excellent alternative to making voice and video calls at home when the cellular signal is bad. When you enable this feature on your smartphone, your phone carrier routes calls over your whole-home Wi-Fi network instead so that your calls stay clear and connected.

While Wi-Fi calling should save the day when cellular service is weak, many homeowners in Lake Forest, IL still suffer from dropped calls. You might not care if you’re chatting with a friend about weekend plans, but it’s detrimental when you’re on a sales call or talking to the authorities about an incident.

So, what’s causing dropped Wi-Fi calls? Let’s dissect the problem—and the solution—below.

As your local Control4 dealers, we’re proud to work with one of the most innovative companies in the home automation industry. Recently named the 2016 ProSource Custom Integration Vendor of the Year, Control4 is always improving on its products and creating comprehensive technology solutions for your Winnetka, Illinois home. One of the ways that the company has done this is by emphasizing the importance of robust networking systems as the backbone of your home automation. 

SEE MORE: Product Spotlight: A Look at Control4’s EA Series

Why is Your Home Networking So Important?

A network is kind of like a referee in sports, the better it is the less you notice it. When was the last time you thought about your internet connection? It likely wasn’t when you streamed a movie uninterrupted on Netflix or sent an email to your secretary. It was probably when your Blu-Ray player wouldn’t connect to your Hulu app or your Facebook wouldn’t load on your computer.

It’s the same with smart home automation. You’re not going to notice how well your AV system communicates with your security system or how well your control system handles network traffic unless it becomes a problem. And it is our job to make sure those problems don’t arise.

Is Your Network Prepared to Handle the Load?

Every second of every day, data is traveling at break-neck speed throughout your system. Smart control devices—whether standalone or part of a Control4 system—place a huge burden on your network. This is for a variety of reasons.

Enjoy Flawless Internet Connectivity with a Professional Home Network Installation

It’s easy to take a reliable internet connection for granted. Days will go by happily streaming, uploading, and chatting happily until suddenly, a webpage doesn’t load and refuses to refresh. You might try disconnecting from the internet, connecting again, and it still doesn’t work. One might fiddle with the router and come to the frustrating conclusion that the internet is down.

Do situations like these happen more often than you’d like? If you live in the Glenview, IL area, a Premium membership with Avidia can provide 24/7 management of your Comcast Xfinity internet. Plus, our professional home network installations can arrange your network’s devices to prevent future errors from occurring. Continue reading to see how your Illinois home can benefit!  

And Why You Should Consider a Professional Network Installation

Home networking is practically a utility as necessary as running water and electricity. A connection to the internet is required for many daily activities. Whether you’re checking your work email, scrolling through your Facebook feed, watching a show on Netflix, or the kids are doing their school homework, all those things require reliable connectivity to work. What happens when you can't access the internet? Everyone gets quickly frustrated.

Sometimes it’s not difficult to fix a problem. Restarting an app, reloading a web page, or the occasional rebooting of your router and modem can fix the random network glitch. But sometimes these problems are less random and happen more consistently. When they do, it may be a sign that your home network is the problem.

Let’s explore three signs that indicate that your network is not measuring up to the task, and how a professional home network installation might be the answer for your Highland Park, IL home.

SEE ALSO: 3 Signs You Might Need a Home Network Upgrade

The Comcast Assistance Service

What is the Comcast Assistance service, and why does it exist? We know that you lead busy lives, and you have better and more important things to do than deal with bureaucracy and tell multiple people what you need to be done. Avidia gives you one point of contact for dealing with Comcast.

Are you having a new internet or cable service installed? One call to us and we take care of it. Our technician will be at your house and supervise the installation, ensuring that your network and TV service works the way you want it.

If you are having internet or other connectivity issues, you don't call Comcast – you just call us instead. We will troubleshoot the problems with Comcast, and if it requires an onsite visit, we will schedule it and be there for that, too. No more waiting on the phone, going through troubleshooting scripts with Comcast support, or even taking time out of your day for the appointment; Avidia will handle it all for you.

SEE ALSO: Hate Dealing with Comcast? Avidia Can Help

Keep Cable, But Cut Back Number of Boxes

If your main goal for cutting cable is to save money, be aware that streaming services are not always less expensive. The cost of a Comcast account with speedy internet and two cable boxes is very close to the cost of leading live TV streaming services. If you want to reduce your monthly bill, you should first consider eliminating add-on services. Premium channels and unnecessary high internet speeds can more than double your bill.

Reducing the number of boxes in your home will also significantly reduce your monthly bill. In rooms without cable, you can keep your displays but use services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Hulu. You won’t be able to enjoy the latest episode of your current shows live, but your family will grow used to the idea that certain rooms are for live TV while others are streaming only. In many cases, you will discover a world of high-quality content that isn’t available on cable channels.

If you plan to move away from cable because you can’t wait to call your cable provider and tell them what you really think of them… well, let us show you how to make your ‘streams’ come true!

SEE ALSO: 3 Signs You Might Need a Home Network Upgrade

It’s a Wireless World

We all depend on wireless devices in our daily lives. The smartphone is the main one, always by our sides. But modern homes have so many more. Your laptop, wireless router, home wireless phones, smart lights, thermostats, TVs, sensors, and more often use some wireless frequencies. We are exposed to more low-level EMR than ever from the plethora of devices around us.

If you are concerned about radiation or feel that you may have a sensitivity to it, there is a partial solution – go back to wires.

SEE ALSO: Hate Dealing with Comcast? Avidia Can Help

Professional Monitoring

You may have professional monitoring for your home security system, but did you know you can have your network monitored too? Your network can be just as critical to your home as security. If you can't connect when you need to work on something important from home, or a part of your home’s automation doesn’t work reliably, it can be a serious issue.

The professional-grade networking equipment we install can be remotely monitored. What does that mean? Here are a few examples. We can check that your router and wired and wireless network are all operating normally. We can ensure that no extraneous devices that should not be connected have hacked into your system. We can monitor your firewall to see that it's keeping intrusions out and if any hacks have been attempted. In short, we are like your professional IT support that you might have in your workplace, ensuring the network is always operating safely.

SEE ALSO: Internet Down? We’ll Handle It with 24/7 Comcast Xfinity Monitoring

Design and Installation

It’s easy enough to purchase a broadband modem and router and install them in a centralized location of your home. But how can you be sure the hardware you choose will support your needs? Especially now, more families are working and learning from home, which requires robust internet support for video conferencing. What if you experience weak spots and connectivity issues down the line? Should you install a second router, and if so, where should you place it?

When you work with a professional, you can put these questions behind you. After discussing your connectivity needs, our team will conduct a site survey using Wi-Fi visualization tools that allow us to identify potential dead zones and locate optimal locations for your access points. Your network will be custom-designed to provide exceptional performance and reliability in every corner of your home. 

Coverage and Speed

Dependable network performance shouldn’t be a luxury—especially for growing smart homes. Just like you rely on your car to start in the morning, you should be able to rely on your network to support your virtual work meetings, and your kids’ online learning, and all your internet-connected devices. It’s one thing to be faced with buffering video and slow download speeds, but it’s even worse when vital home devices, like your security system, lose connectivity. 

The ideal home network uses both wireless and wired networking methods for optimal coverage and speed. Our team installs CAT6 and fiber wiring to serve as a strong backbone for your home. Additionally, we use high-performance access points that extend reliable coverage to all corners of your home, including your outdoor living spaces.

SEE ALSO: Wondering If a Professional Home Network Is Worth it?

The Problem with Wireless Mesh Networks

Wireless mesh networks are over-advertised as the Holy Grail for improving internet connections in the home. While they can be a passing solution for entry-level applications where wi-fi connection isn’t critical, homeowners who rely on an internet connection for their business need a solution they can trust around the clock.

In a mesh network, every hop between access points around the home decreases the bandwidth by half. The more hops, the worse the bandwidth becomes. Several hops also increase network latency, which results in buffering and dropouts in certain applications, such as streaming audio and video.

Plugging in mesh repeaters around the home simply won’t offer the same guarantee for reliability as professional solutions, and that matters when a few minutes of downtime while working from home means thousands of dollars lost.

SEE ALSO: 3 Signs You Might Need a Home Network Upgrade

The Ultimate Home Cyber Security Protection

Sophos is a multi-layer security software solution that defends all your connected devices. From advanced ransomware protection to AI-powered malware protection with deep learning, Sophos protects your devices from a multitude of threats. Sophos not only secures your Windows or Mac computers but protects your tablets and phones, too.

Powered by artificial intelligence, Sophos is designed as a complete cyber protection system that is always up-to-date on the latest threats and is easily managed from one intuitive cloud-based platform. When you choose Sophos, you receive the same industrial-grade security that’s used by Fortune 500 companies—right at home. Sophos offers expert, 24/7 protection against frustrating phishing attempts, viruses, privacy threats, password theft, risky websites, hacking, and more.

Why It Matters Now More Than Ever

According to IT consultancy Intellectual Point, hackers attack a computer in the US every 39 seconds. Businesses face over 4,000 hacks every day via ransomware alone. As technology advances, hackers are turning to artificial intelligence and machine learning to trigger automated cyberattacks that can compromise secure systems without human intervention. That’s a scary reality to live and work in.

The glut of digital data and continued transition to remote work call for advanced cyber security measures now more than ever. When you sleep on proper cyber protection, you’re not only putting yourself at risk but your employees and business as well, leading to potentially catastrophic consequences. Ensure unwavering protection from cybercrime by working with a professional home network installation company like Avidia.