I’ve played around with networking a LOT over the years: and I currently have an Eero Pro 6 router setup where all routers use wired backhaul, then any mobile devices (like cell phones and laptops) naturally use Wi-Fi. It works really well. I moved home in September 2023 and various rooms have CAT6 points which has been awesome – it makes running a solid, gigabit network really simple.
I also have a Synology NAS attached to the network, and so I’ve written a series of articles helping people with their Synology NAS.
I’ve recently purchased a bunch of Power over Ethernet (PoE) cameras for my home’s security system, and so I started looking into powered network switches – in other words, PoE compliant switches. But are they ‘safe’ to use? After all, they send electricity down the Ethernet cable?! And what happens if you accidentally plug in … Read more
I recently needed a new network switch for my garage, so I went to purchase a Netgear switch as usual. However I quickly noticed that their price has jumped MASSIVELY: they are now 57% higher than they were just two years ago – yikes! As a result, I purchased a much cheaper TP-Link unmanaged gigabit … Read more
A previous video covered how (and why) I ran three internet cables from my house to my garage. This included two copper-based CAT7 cables that were run in a shallow trench. This project worked well and delivered super fast internet speeds around all parts of my property (and it meant that all four of my … Read more
My Facebook feed is currently flooded with Eero ads for the new Eero Max 7, a Wi-Fi 7 compatible device to rival TP-Link’s Deco BE85 and Netgear’s Orbi 970 range. But is the Max 7 (and its competitors) any good – or are they a waste of money right now? After all, the vast majority … Read more
The detached garage/outbuilding in my new house is 15 metres/50 foot away from my main house – meaning that it was a big struggle to get working Wi-Fi in my garage, and on my driveway. I did try setting up an Eero point in my garage, but the Eero app rejected this – complaining of … Read more
I recently moved house, and this meant that I had to set up my home network from scratch again. My old house had a fairly solid four Eero setup with three wired Eeros (and one wireless in the garage), so could I beat this in my new house? Actually… yes, sort of. I did have … Read more
My understairs cupboard has a fibre optic media converter, an ISP router, mesh Wi-Fi point, network switch, an LED lightstrip and a few other devices. This means that there are LOTS of cables and wires. Here’s how I tidied up this cupboard area and made it all look a lot neater and more functional. This … Read more
I was recently re-setting up my home network, and I noticed that all devices in my study were limited to 100 Mbps read/write speeds. This was despite the fact that I have a 500 Mbps up/down package from my ISP, Hyperoptic. So I went looking into this and I tested various ethernet network cables throughout … Read more
If your Synology NAS seems sluggish or it has slooow file transfer speeds, it’s possible that your data drives are being used too much. This is known as ‘high disk utilization’, and while short bursts of high disk activity is normal, sustained high usage can cause problems – including potentially damaging your drives. Key Points … Read more
Western Digital produce some great quality drives: from massive 22TB hard drives to super-fast NVMe SSDs. They also make a drive that sounds fairly eco-friendly: the WD Green range. Unfortunately using this drive in your Synology NAS can have some big consequences. Here’s why. What Makes The WD Green Drives ‘Eco-Friendly’ WD Green drives claim … Read more
