* Teleworking: Another reason for having both DSL and cable modem
Over the past few years, we’ve written rather extensively about the relative advantages of using cable modem, DSL, and/or both to support your teleworkers. After all, even though these services are often considered “consumer” services, we are increasingly seeing work-from-home scenarios, and this is a trend that’s sure to escalate.
Almost invariably, the service used for work-from-home is a shared service that includes recreational access for the family plus business access for the worker(s). And this has led to multi-computer shared access becoming the norm. As a result, most service providers now offer household networking, and this networking is almost always provided via installing a Wi-Fi-equipped router.
On the surface, this seems to be a great idea. The teleworker gets fast access, and the resources are shared. But we’re not convinced that Wi-Fi is necessarily a panacea where one size fits all. This became most apparent a few weeks ago when we started working with a friend who just happened to have the family cable access (with router) in one corner of the house, and the telework office in the opposite corner. Guess what? No signal – or at best a weak and erratic signal.
This led us down the path to looking for various sub-optimal options. A powered antenna for the Wi-Fi adapter on the PC helped a little, but this would not have been a possibility if the teleworker’s PC had been a notebook with built-in Wi-Fi. We also looked, with minimal success, at repositioning the router to make sure there were minimal obstructions like filing cabinets in the way. And even though wireless repeaters are available, you have to be a pretty-savvy geek to configure these devices. And even though the “home networking” option is sold by the cable provider as a turnkey package, the technical support is extremely limited and there are no guarantees. If you need a repeater or a powered antenna, you’re on your own.
The bottom line for our friend to date has been that there still is no reliable service after missing hours of work in the hopes of being more productive. Further, even if the solution provided by the service provider had worked, we still have additional reservations. We’ll cover that – and offer our solution – in the next newsletter.
