 Have you ever sat next to your router and got ultra-fast speeds and then the moment you got to another part of the house, it feels as slow as PLDT. We live in a wireless world, but the truth is some things are still a lot better and a lot faster if they were wired, such as the drastically different charge speeds from wired as opposed to wireless charging for our phones. The most important speed everyone cares about however is our internet. Even though I'm in tech, I can tell you that even I get confused on the many different kinds of hardware used in networking. There's Wi-Fi boosters, access points, routers, mesh and so many other things which promise you light speed but which are all very confusing and overpowering to understand if you didn't graduate with a degree in IT. Which one is best suited for your home needs? What causes bad Wi-Fi signal in the first place? What devices have we forgotten about which run better wired? Hi, I'm Rafael from Hardware Sugar and these are all good questions. The best way to learn is through real-life problem solving. With only a 400 peso investment, I was able to double my download speed on not just my PC but my TV as well. If you're already a Zen master on what a network switch is then you'll have fun commenting how unnecessary this video is. But if you aren't then stick around and you just might improve your quality of life. Here's my problem. My PC speed downgraded to just half of what I was used to because of the Philips Hue Bridge I installed a couple of days ago. So the Hue lights are pretty cool however now I just discovered a new problem which is that you actually really need to have the Hue Bridge actually near the lights in order to be able to control the lights. And there's no way to go about it other than plugging in the Hue Bridge into a regular LAN socket. Now I've used that LAN socket for my PC. This is a network outlet sort of like what you would see in a hotel. Now the problem is I only have one slot and it goes to the Hue Bridge. Now my PC is now just running a fraction of the internet speed I'm entitled to. So I want to be able to get my PC internet speed back up and running to its full potential and I want to be able to have the Hue Bridge functionality. Then I decided well you know I was like why don't I just get internet for my TV as well. No there is nothing wrong with my internet or the Hue. It is quite literally a problem of a lack of sockets. My PC internet speed from Sky Cable gives me a download of 200, 216 Mbps and an upload of 28 Mbps. However the speed on my phone from the same internet is only 88 to 91 Mbps and an upload of 28 Mbps around the same upload speed. The difference lies in the fact that my PC is directly plugged into my router while my Wi-Fi is being broadcast from an access point on my ceiling. When we built our new home it was our contractor who suggested that we future-proof the internet speed of the house by placing internet cables or LAN cables in each room of the house. These cables in turn lead directly to one place. The gym which is where our Sky Cable router is. In short the only difference between physical cables running across the house leading to the router and what we have right now here at home is that the cables are hidden behind the wall or the ceiling. It is all thus purely cosmetic or for the looks just like my cable management video which you can see here. The wires are still there I just don't see them. My room was given two LAN outlet cables one for my ceiling where I installed the access point and one for my PC which looks like an electrical outlet. The access point is superior to that of a repeater in two crucial ways. One it does not pick up second-hand signals and two you do not need to connect to a different hot spot when you move between rooms. I'll make a separate video on this in the near future. For now let's focus on the LAN outlet. Now my problem is that I have three devices my PC the Hue Bridge and my TV which I want connected to the same outlet. The problem is I only have one socket. The solution just like when you have a lot of electronics but not enough plugs is to get an extension cord. A network switch is the equivalent in the networking world. It just like an extension cord boosts the number of connected devices to a single outlet. Unlike an extension cord however you must always give up one hole or port so if you need to connect three devices you must have a network switch of at least four ports. The reason for this is that the first port is used to connect to the router itself or the source of where all your magical internet comes from. If we don't connect it to the router it's like plugging your electronics into an extension cord. But the extension cord itself isn't plugged into a power supply. So I'm going to plug in and there we go it's reading. So this network switch is now connected to the access point in our gym. All right so now I have two devices plugged in. Notice that the blue one is again plugged directly into the network outlet which is connected to the gym. While the white one is plugged into the hue and the yellow switch is plugged straight into my PC. Now we just need to plug in a switch a LAN cable for the TV. Alright let's see if it's working with the hue. Boom! Now let's check out the TV. Okay. Wine connection it is connected. Pretty fast. And now for my favorite part. The cable management. If you found our content useful please like and subscribe to Hardware Sugar because it super helps us out. But how does this help you with your network or Wi-Fi problems? First it helps demonstrate the basics which is the wired and wireless connections will give off different speeds. But no matter how long a network cable travels around the house it will always give you faster and more consistent internet speeds as opposed to Wi-Fi. This is because cables are not affected by the things which degrade Wi-Fi. Distance, metal, glass, concrete and other people's Wi-Fi. Especially if you live in a condo building and even your own microwave oven impacts Wi-Fi strength. A lot of people blame their internet providers for slow internet and sometimes never ask themselves if it's their home or their neighbors who are causing the problem. Second if you have multiple devices which can benefit from wired internet like the TV then you don't need to bring in five or seven cables you just need one. And with that single network cable you can attach it to a network switch inside your room which instantly grants you more ports. In fact theoretically you can plug a second network switch the same way how you plug in an extension cord to an extension cord for a similar result. But you might ask Rafael I'm not planning on any renovations anytime soon. That's great too. Like I said you can just let a wired trail from your room to where the router is and it will accomplish the same thing. If you want better cable management what you can also do is buy plastic molding adhesive and a very long internet cable. Always measure and add one fourth more than what you measured to be on the safe side. You can always hide the cables later. If you're wondering if my network outlet is different from my proposal it isn't. Behind the outlet is a long internet cable and it's just much more convenient and neat looking to make it a socket rather than a wire which sticks out. Now there are other solutions to internet problems such as changing the frequency of your Wi-Fi so that it does not overlap on your neighbors or whether or not you should get an access point or a mesh system and so forth. All of these can get quite technical and so if you don't want to think too hard go with the tried and true method. It took me a year to finally troubleshoot why my access points in the house would not work as they should and throughout that period a lot of experimentation. Setting up access points are easy in theory but when you have to set up so many you're going to encounter all sorts of problems eventually. To make matters more stressful ubiquity access points are not cheap and so I spent many of those months getting angry as I troubleshooted until I found the sweet spot which allowed every room in the house even the garden to have the same Wi-Fi signal strength. It's really quite a magical feeling to go from one room to another without needing to switch to a different hotspot and be met with uninterrupted fast Wi-Fi. However I feel that my Wi-Fi download speed of just 100 is still way below what I should be getting considering my wired download speed is 200. So yes even after a year I still haven't fully maximized my access point investment yet the cable part has remained consistently as simple as plug-and-play. If you have a special meeting coming up and wish for extra protection from slow internet plug your laptop or PC straight into your router temporarily it may look ugly and might probably trip someone but you are at least milking your network provider for their worth. Let us know in the comment section below what home network problems you would like us to tackle. Coming up in the future is a more thorough discussion on the difference between access points routers Wi-Fi boosters and routers which you convert into access points and we would like to give a special thank you to our top fans Rafael James Liam Magnaje Ian Meru Richard Rónquico ITX addict John Rubinocia and Christian Espinoza thank you so much we're gonna be able to get to a hundred thousand subscribers pretty soon thanks to your consistent help thank you