With everybody working and schooling from home, internet bandwidth has become a precious commodity. Think of the internet coming into your home in a pipe, just like water. The bigger the pipe, the better the flow. In ordinary times, the flow is enough to handle normal needs But if you have two adults and 3 kids coming home from the beach, and they all want to shower at the same time, someone is going to get stuck with a cold trickle. When you have three Zoom meetings, a Netflix marathon, and a Fortnite session all running simultaneously, you are going to run into problems as well. So, what can be done?

Start by running an internet speed test. You can use dedicated sites for Xfinity and Verizon Fios or you can use an independent site like Ookla. Keeping in mind that WiFi speeds will be approximately half of wired Ethernet speeds, compare the speed you are getting to what you are actually paying for from your ISP. If there is a big disparity, reboot your modem, and tighten the coax cable connector on both ends. Test again - if things stay the same, you might want to call your ISP and have them check the line.

If you are getting the bandwidth you are paying for, and it's still not enough to ensure smooth internet in your home, it's time to upgrade your service. To see what you might want to pay for, you can check out this bandwidth calculator.  For most families, 300MBPS service should be sufficient, although both Verizon and Xfinity offer up to 1GBPS service. However, it's not just the service that needs to be upgraded - you will need new equipment to pull the higher speed internet into the house and to distribute it. If you are renting your cable modem from your ISP, they should upgrade your equipment when you upgrade your service. But if you own your cable modem, you might have to buy a new one. Additionally, if you are using a separate router, that equipment might need an upgrade at as well.

Some points to remember:

• If you have good cell service in your home, turn off the WiFi on your mobile devices, especially during peak usage hours. Additionally, you can use the data plan on your phone as a WiFi hotspot in a real bandwidth pinch.

Last month, every AOL user got an "Important Security Notice" email that started out with this paragraph "We've noticed that you're using non-AOL applications (such as third-party email, calendar, or contact applications) that may use a less secure sign-in method." I was contacted by many of you wondering if this is legit, and what to do about it.

 

First of all, yes this is legitimate, and it affects not only AOL email addresses, but those of you who have migrated Verizon accounts that use AOL servers. Starting October 20th, 2020, AOL requires all apps to sign in with a security method called OAuth 2.0, which uses something called a security token. Some applications have the capability to use OAuth 2.0, and some don't, which is why the email is so vague about what exactly you have to do. 

So, do you need to take any action? It all depends on how you read your AOL or Verizon email. AOL has a page with more information, but I created this table to give you the breakdown for most common applications. Remember, you will need to know your AOL password to make any changes.

How you read your email	OAuth enabled?	What to do
Log in directly to www.aol.com	yes	no change required
AOL Gold Software	yes	no change required
Apple Mail	yes	Remove AOL account, put it in again
IOS Mail	yes	Remove AOL account, put it in again
Gmail App	yes	Remove AOL Account, put it in again
Outlook	no	Generate and use an Application Specific Password
Windows 10 Mail	no	Generate and use an Application Specific Password
Thunderbird	yes	Remove AOL account, put it in again

 

Much as I missed seeing you at Medfield Day, I enjoyed receiving the many emails with questions and comments you sent in the month of September. Please continue sending questions - I'm always looking for good topics to cover in this newsletter!

The winner of the drawing for 1 free hour of ComputerMom technical support is Doug Holdridge of Westwood. Congratulations Doug! You can call me any time to set up your free session.

Here's hoping that next September I'm back in my purple tent on North Street, chatting with you in person.