Upgrade Your Home Network for an Enhanced Entertainment Experience

There’s nothing quite like the experience of watching a classic Hollywood movie or listening to your favorite music playlist in the comfort of your own home. But can your home network support the plethora of devices and streaming activities that your family uses on a daily basis including laptops, game consoles, Blu-ray players, smartphones, tablets, televisions, video streaming and game downloads? The typical home network is slow and inconsistent. Isn’t it time you upgraded? Read on to learn more about inviting the future of tech into your home.

Support 4K Streaming

Televisions are getting bigger, and prices are coming down—in particular, 4K ultra high-definition TVs. But what good is a fancy, new 4K TV if your network doesn’t have the bandwidth to support your family’s streaming habits? Greater download speeds will transform the way you watch TV and open up a world of crisp color that is sure to make your friends jealous. Slow download speeds result in buffering issues and lag time, which no doubt you have experienced.  

SEE ALSO: Are You Making these Home Networking Mistakes?

An additional piece of information to be aware of is that internet service providers (ISP) often put a cap on the total amount of data that a customer can use each month. These caps present a problem when it comes to streaming live video. If your ISP limits your data usage to 50 or 200 GB per month, you could quickly reach your limit when live streaming. 

Fiber-optic internet or FTTH (Fiber to the home) is the gold standard of internet connections for the home. The latest distributions are capable of reaching speeds of between 500mbps and 1gbps. In order to strengthen your home Wi-Fi network’s signal range, you can add a second router. A more powerful one may also do the trick depending on the square footage of the home and the size of your outdoor space. 

Before purchasing a router from your local electronics store, you’ll need to take into account the number of devices connected to the network and the activities associated with each one. Additionally, you want to consider the type of walls and floors in your house since some building materials can impede signal distribution. 

Support Hi-res Audio

The ability to download and stream nearly any genre of music is not a new phenomenon. The list of available music services has grown in recent years. From Spotify and iTunes to Deezer and Tidal, the list is lengthy. While most streaming music providers offer a free version of the service, the sound quality is adequate, but not outstanding. For the audiophiles among us, high-resolution music downloads are old news, but the challenge here is the amount of space these uncompressed audio files occupy. However, are you familiar with high-res streaming? Instead of going through the inconvenient step of downloading a file, you can now stream the music files on demand. 

Can your home network support the uncompressed audio format? If not, the high-res option will provide you little in the way of entertainment value. The audio experts at DB Media Solutions can design a system with ‘star’ topology, which means every device including the router/modem, streaming player, amplifier, and computer are connected to a gadget called a switch by a dedicated cable. Wired networks are more dependable, and most high-end streaming products required a wired system. 

Beyond a network that can support high-res audio streaming, there are some additional tools you’ll need to make the experience more delightful. But not to worry—we’ll cover all that when we first meet to talk through your project. 

Are you ready to transform your home network and provide a better experience for your entire family? Contact us for a free consultation.