With the use of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) by all reports rapidly expanding, several recent cases have exposed serious vulnerabilities with the service. However fraud is an everyday occurrence so I for one wouldn’t base my decision solely on these events.

As per previous articles I have written and various on my “About VoIP Information” website, security vulnerabilities for VoIP do exist and have been and continue to be seriously examined and worked through by industry. However two recent cases act as a reminder that all holes have not been closed.

In Australia it has been reported that a very public VoIP provider Engin had it’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software cracked by a hacker who publicly exposed how to obtain details of other customer’s orders in a post on the broadband site Whirlpool. Engin reportedly resolved the problem the next morning before any advantage was gained.

Engin appeared very honest and forthright admitting the problem and fixes that would be put in place with blame attributed to a third party programming consultancy responsible for programming of the CRM. Despite credit card details apparently not recorded in the area that became accessible, it does highlight the ease at which confidential personal information can be accessed, not something that is usually considered a security problem related to VoIP.

In the very public case two arrests have been made in early June for breaking into a New York companies network and spoofing VoIP traffic to its service provider. Wholesale phone connections were then offered at discount rates in a pseudo-service provider manner with a resultant 100% profit margin for the fraudsters.

TMCnet Executive Editor Robert Lui reported that one security expert advised the problem could have been easily adverted. It is suggested that multiple security products are required for securing VoIP networks which to some degree is in line with the layered or defence in depth security principle ie more layers of security making it more difficult to get through.

Despite these two reported cases and significant discussion and reporting about a diverse range of security considerations and concerns, it must be remembered that fraud is part of everyday life and regardless of how many checks and balances are put in place, a determined criminal will eventually be successful. Such is the case with credit cards for example, passports and other identification documents. The message in my view to take away is review the service providers performance and virtually by the numbers game, assuming all advisable security precautions are adhered to, it would be unlucky to be a victim of hacking.

The Author has an Associate Diploma in Electronic Engineering. For further information, books or VoIP items, please visit All About Voice Over Internet Protocol.

Voice Over IP (VOIP) is a relatively new technology. Voice Over IP allows people to leave behind the old and very traditional analogue phone networks and now adapt in favor of the very new and very progressive Internet-based calling system infrastructure. Using this technology for your communications actually works out cheaper for you in the long run as it means you won’t need to pay for calls if the people you are calling and speaking to are also using the same VOIP system.

Voice Over IP runs on several different types of infrastructure. This is the main reason why you should take the time to do your homework and find out how it works and what is involved, before you even consider setting up a Voice Over IP network at your home or place of business. When you do your homework you will see that invariably VOIP offers lots of advantages over and above the standard traditional telephone based analogue service that most people are currently using. Let’s take a moment to examine some of the advantages of using Voice Over IP.

The main advantage of Voice Over IP is to be honest – the cost – the cost benefit goes directly back into your pocket. And because Voice Over IP uses the infrastructure of the Internet to make outgoing calls, you will never need to pay your traditional phone provider to maintain a telephone line or for phone and line rental. In addition, many Voice Over IP service providers allow customers to make long distance calls that attract minimal or no long distance charges at all. Many service providers even offer customer VOIP packages that allow you to opt for discounted internet call rates so you can save even more.

But what about this for a benefit? If you have Voice Over IP software installed on your PC and you want to speak to someone who is also uses Voice Over IP, then you are able to talk for as long as you want without having to pay a single cent. This is because your voice is actually transformed into digital data packets rather than audio, and the data is transferred in a similar fashion to that of email. Voice Over IP also makes it very easy and cheap to conduct conference calls and video calls.

There are, of course, some minor disadvantages to using Voice Over IP and you should consider these before you embark on setting up Voice Over IP. Since Voice Over IP is a relatively recent and largely untapped technology, Voice Over IP is prone to experience more errors than using a normal phone would. In addition, if you experience a power failure, then you would be unable to make a call, like you could with a traditional analogue phone. In any event, Voice Over IP is something that you should investigate for your own home and business needs and you should consider it soon while the rates are cheap and the deals are good.

Colin Brin is the owner of AB
Voip which is a
premier source of information about Voip. For more
information, go to: http://abvoip.com

Using the Physical World as a Game Board: This is not a Kinky game! SMS stands for Short Message Service.

Just like our last article, this can be fun for teens and adults. You just have to do it on a different scale.

Pick a location approximately 4 square city blocks of a favorite area where your teen group or friends like to be. Spend an afternoon picking locations from that area and creating hints that can be text paged easily. Pick at least ten locations if not more and three to five hints for each location. Put the hints in order of hardest to figure out to the simplest, which will almost tell them where it is.

You can mix the Location Hunt game with a Scavenger Hunt! Once they find the correct location they now have to find something else at that location. Either physically getting something to bring back, taking a digital photo or taking a video to bring back as proof. And this can make for a fun experience at the end of the game when everyone involved shows back up at the starting point. The best way to play it is only send one hint at a time, this way they don’t know the next location or what they are supposed to do when they get there. You can give a list out at the beginning of the game, but there is a little more mystery if they have no way to plan ahead.

If you have 15 or more people, set them up in groups. Only one page to one of the phones in each group. Send the groups in different directions, i.e.: One group might start with hint number 10, another group starts at hint 7, and so on. If everyone starts at 1 and goes straight through, they will end up following each other. This only keeps it fair. And if you have one location that’s hard to find, and you give the first group that looks for it the easiest hint, when the next group is trying to find that location, you must give them the easiest from the beginning. That’s really the only way to keep it fair.

You need to come up with a small prize for the first group to make it to the final location. For teens, you might come up with movie tickets for that night. For the adults, hmmm, a free round at the final location would be nice! Just about anything will do, it will give them something to fight for.

Depending on the age and ability of the individuals, they may begin to getting tired, if so you can always skip to the last location where the prize might be or just end the game when they find the next location. You might want to be ready with as many locations as you can think of. You can always use them on the next hunt.

Email me with any new or better ideas on “Creating your own breaks”. Thank you.

This document is under Copyright through Infinite Data. You have permission to copy this document in its’ entirety and make duplicates. You may not change, add, or edit anything within the document. Thank you for your help.

Robert Lett
http://www.robertlett.com

Let me ask you a question: How much is your computer worth when you or your employees are sitting in front of it? Now, how much is that same computer worth when you or your employees aren’t sitting in front of it?

When you’re out of the office and that potiential client calls, do you have to tell them that you will get in touch with them when you return to the office? Is that potiential client calling your competition in the mean time to see if they get a better response? What if you could have all your important files with you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Hanging on your belt or sitting in your purse, and it wouldn’t weigh too much more than the cell phone you are currently carrying.

Order now at the discounted price for reading this article at http://www.robertlett.com/order.htm

For a free copy of our ebook, email a blank email to: mailto:ebook@robertlett.com
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Perhaps you have seen all the voice IP commercials on TV? They are quite good indeed and millions of Americans have signed up for voice IP telephone service. Unfortunately voice IP also take up significant bandwidth and this can cause problems with the service making people very upset.

Of course you cannot argue with the price especially if you were one who uses a lot of long-distance calling each month. Nevertheless, simple advertising on television maybe very good marketing to increase voice IP subscribers for a voice IP telephone company, but it is not enough. In fact many of these companies lack a real robust public relations and community goodwill program.

All companies need to participate in some form of public relations in order to remain good corporate citizens. One thing a voice IP company can do is help those people who are blind or hard of hearing use their system better and perhaps discounts the extra equipment that will be needed for them to use. Voice IP phone companies must compete with long-distance telephone service companies who work very hard to promote their public-relations strategies.

If voice IP telephone companies do not participate in public-relations strategies they will not be looked upon favorably in the marketplace and this might be their undoing in the future. Perhaps you might consider this in 2006.

Be leery of your VoIP phone system in case of emergencies. 911 services may not be available to you or will be limited. You should put local emergency numbers by or on your phone in case you have a problem until the providers get this sorted out this fall. The FCC has been after VoIP providers to fix this problem and just recently extended the deadline. But for you and me, that means we have to be careful in emergencies or be left stranded trying to dial 911.

Providers of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone service have been told by the FCC to warn customers of potential problems of using 911 as an emergency number. The FCC told providers they should obtain acknowledgements from their subscribers and if they didn’t, then they should turn off their service.

The VON coalition, a group of VoIP providers which include AT&T and MCI, were concerned of what would happen to their customers if they were cut off. Some portion of the subscribers typically won’t respond to a request. Is it in the public’s best interest to disconnect these people?

There are about 1.7 million VoIP subscribers nationwide and this cut off from the FCC could have potentially disrupted service for 100,000 people. The FCC issued this decree in May after a woman was unable to get 911 help to save her dying daughter.

The FCC ordered all the providers to have full 911 service by November 28th.

Here’s the quote from the FCC:

Specifically, the Bureau announces that it will continue to refrain, for an additional 30 days — until September 28, 2005 — from enforcing the requirement that VoIP providers obtain affirmative acknowledgements from 100% of their subscribers that they have read and understood an advisory concerning the limitations of their E911 service against those providers that meet the reporting requirements established below.

In addition to satisfying these reporting requirements, to be eligible for this extension, providers also must have filed a report on or before August 10, 2005 in accordance with the Bureau’s July 26, 2005 Public Notice. The Bureau will evaluate the sufficiency of the updated reports filed by interconnected VoIP providers and take subsequent action as necessary.

If you don’t get anything from this article but this: Post all your local emergency phone numbers by your phone. Do it today. Emergencies aren’t scheduled.

Stuart Simpson
http://www.voip-telephony-review.com

Well let’s begin with what VoIP is. In short, it allows you to make phone calls over the internet using your broadband connection, but has many benefits:

- You can make phone calls from virtually anywhere in the world to anywhere else using your computer.

- Depending on the speed of your connection, you are able to make several calls at the same time.

- If you move home, you are able to keep your same number, even if you move from one side of the world to the other. As you do not have an actual land line, but a converter that has a number assigned, as long as keep the converter with you, you can plug it into any broadband connection and immediately utilize your usual number for making and receiving calls.

Another benefit of VoIP, which many will find useful, and be an attractive feature for many businesses, is the ability to connect to your office phone, whether it be from a hotel or from home. This will enable company personnel to work out of the office, but still have access to all of the office phone system features.

VoIP can also be very cost effective, especially when making long-distance calls. This factor has meant that telephone service providers have to compete with VoIP, in turn ensuring pricing is much more competitive.

At the beginning, the voice quality for those using VoIP was not as good as with a traditional phone line. However the continual technological advancements have meant that the difference in quality is now not as apparent.

So how does it work?

To begin with your voice is converted into bytes so that it can be compressed, split it into packets, and transmitted over the internet. These packets, which contain a collection of information, including the origin, timestamp, and intended destination of the packet, is then converted at the receivers end so that your voice is recognised.

There are many that are already abandoning existing telephone networks and solely using VoIP. For a wealth of information on VoIP take a look at http://www.voip-serviceproviders.info.

Justin Brown owns and runs http://www.voip-serviceproviders.info where visitors can read more information on VoIP service providers and businesses can find resources and products to get up to speed with VoIP. He also runs an automotive site where you can sell or buy and used cars online.

For anyone trying to get the cheapest internet available, there are tons of options available. Some providers offer completely free service. But the trade-off is permanent pop ups along the bottom of your desktop, or other advertiser gimmicks that may inhibit your Internet experience.

But if you are living in the U.K. and want broadband service at its very cheapest, there are a few companies you should consider first.

First off would be Homecall Broadband. Homecall has voice and data bundled packages starting at just 19.99 pounds. These deals include 2 mbps in bandwidth, and the company always seems to be running specials too. For cheap Internet access and, as a bonus, solid broadband service, Homecall is someone worth checking out.

Wanadoo Broadband is another U.K. company to look at if you are looking for cheap broadband. The company also offers a 2 mbps deal that starts at 17.99 pounds. The deals also go up depending on how light or heavy a use your are. Wanadoo also offers a free modem and connection from time to time, a 50 pound value. Wanadoo also offers a six months free program for qualifying members.

BT Broadband is another U.K. firm that is becoming increasingly popular with its cheap Internet offerings. What BT offers deals from 26.99 pounds per month, and also has a variety of packages available for home or business.

Like anything, finding the cheap Internet access is not too hard. But doing a little research to find the most reliable and suitable product for your needs may be what’s important. There are a number of cheap Internet providers. But it may be best to talk to a few people who use their service to find out if they are reliable or not.

Also, look at your personal needs. Don’t let yourself get sold up into a package that is more than what you need. Figure out what you need first, then shop for that when you are looking to find a cheap Internet provider. One aspect of finding cheap Internet access is knowing if you are using it for home or office. If you have a small business that relies heavily on your computers, the cheapest may not always be the best option for you.

With competition for Internet users by Internet providers becoming more and more fierce every day, it can be said that cheap Internet access is more a buyer’s market. There are a number of providers who are willing to cut their rates or match the competitors’ prices to get your business. Anyone looking for cheap Internet access should know this before they start doing research. After that, you can look at who is offering the cheapest service with decent quality and use them as a barometer when shopping around.

About The Author:

Neil Shevlin is the owner of
UK Cheap Broadband which is a great place to find broadband links, resources and articles.

For more information go to:
UK Cheap Broadband

http://www.ukcheapbroadband © Copyright 2005

Please feel free to copy and paste this article and it’s resource information.

Recent companies have been advertising wifi hotspot locations that are ‘turnkey’ (they can run themselves), and only cost between $13,000 and $20,000 to start. Is that good?

First of all, if it’s so turnkey then why aren’t they just popping off wifi hotspot locations left and right for themselves, is it their newfound generosity that has them ’sharing’ the opportunities they have available. I’m not knocking the possibility of some companies to provide a business model, like in the restaurant business where they allow you to own a branded franchise for an initial investment in order to spread out locations in a more easier return on investment. However, wifi locations normally have an additional service or product that acts as an anchor for customers to come in and use the benefit of wi-fi to connect to the Internet thru broadband high speed access. Starbucks and Hilton Hotels are prime examples of a business model that has customers coming in for a service or product and then using wifi access as a secondary product/service.

Secondly, the potential for wifi hotspots cannot be limited to a cookie-cutter system that will fit everyone, after all if that were the case the other auto makers wouldn’t be in business and we would still be driving ‘Model T’ Fords. Not to mention the fact that if you open a business with only wifi access as the only product/service available and then the community, town or city where your business is located decides to wirelessly enable the public transportation system like in the southern California city of Cerritos; guess what – your business just got knocked the flip out.

African American small business people have resources, and some may believe those resources are unlimited. But if you shell out $20,000 for a new business and after 6 months get locked out of your client base by a larger business or business model, you have lost more than your investment. A wifi business is not something that can be advanced as able to stand on it’s own in the present day. In the example above the city of Cerritos is delivering wifi along with it’s transportation system, which should probably increase ridership as people will opt to ride and check their email or just finish up a project as they go to work or to shop.

Look carefully at starting to use wifi in your business, research and see if there is a potential for competition to knock you client base out of the ballpark. Even then, when is your competition going to implement their wifi access and see if you have time to enhance your wifi service with coupons or other attractive services that may not be available to your competition. Wifi access will become a very powerful business asset in the coming year and more so in the future. Now is the time to get your feet wet, just check out your options in order not to get drowned out of business.

We can help give you your freedom back…and a whole lot more. M.D.T.G.

Daviyd Peterson: 10-year consultant, instructor, trainer
Helps african american SMBs bridge the digital
divide by becoming wireless Small Office Digital Offices (SODO). Free article
on Home Wireless Internet Security and other related articles
http://www.mogendaviydtechgroup.com/firewallsmb.htm
See a video where big time firewalls duke it out!

The buzz surrounding Voice over IP technology has been growing for quite some
time, but only recently has the notion of ditching standard telephone service grown
so compelling that companies like Skype can claim over 215 million downloads of
its product. In this article, we’ll explore the current offerings and help you make
wise choices while embarking on the VoIP path.

Let’s start with vocabulary. The most important and oft-repeated acronym you
must learn and understand in regards to Voice over IP is SIP. SIP stands for Session
Initiation Protocol, a well-established, open-standard protocol that is the glue to
the VoIP world. It allows a vast array of services, software, and hardware to work
together to create flexible, feature-rich calling solutions with many attractive
benefits. If it doesn’t support SIP, you shouldn’t support them.

WHAT DO I NEED

At minimum, you need a high-speed Internet connection, a SIP phone number, and
a softphone. A softphone is a software version of an IP phone that lets you make
calls using your computer.

Some services, like Stanaphone and Gizmo, will provide you with a softphone to use
with their system. Most of these will only let you configure SIP numbers that belong
to their network. If you want to utilize multiple SIPs across different networks, your
best option is to use X-Lite, a free softphone from Counterpath (formerly known as
Xten Networks). With X-Lite, it appears you can configure up to 9 different SIP
numbers. Like Gizmo, X-Lite comes in Mac, Windows, and PC versions.

If you want to use your existing phone, rather than a headset or microphone and
speakers, you’ll need an analog phone adapter. Dedicated, SIP-compatible IP
phones are also available. Wi-Fi IP phones can be carried with you and used
wherever there’s a wireless Internet signal. There are also WiFi mobile phones
available.

You should also receive a SIP URL which looks similar to an email address and is a
simple way to share your new contact information. You can easily dial a SIP URL in
your softphone application or link to it from a web page. If you’re using a hardware
phone, SIP Broker has a free service that can maps the SIP server names to short
numeric codes, allowing you to easily dial users on over 200 different services.

WHAT CAN I DO WITH IT

You can make free calls to other IP phone users worldwide. You can make calls to
traditional phone numbers or attach a local phone number that routes to your SIP
number, allowing regular phone users to call you. If you travel, you can carry that
same phone number with you wherever there’s an Internet connection, and the folks
back home won’t incur long-distance charges when they call you. Free voice mail,
too, and messages are delivered to your e-mail.

In a business situation, you could slash or eliminate your long-distance charges by
setting up free calling between remote or international offices. Videoconferencing
also becomes possible without dedicated line charges. For the more adventurous,
you could also setup a PBX. Asterisk is a powerful, open-source PBX system with a
feature list that can give any sized business the advantages of a full-fledged digital
phone system.

If you work in a scenario where 2-way radios are utilized, DingoTel offers a product
which can turn these in to VoIP walkie-talkies while making use of the radios full
reception range, sometimes up to 12 miles depending on the model.

For the budget-conscious, with some services like Gizmo and SIPphone, standard
phone users in major cities can dial a free access number, enter your SIP number
and speak to you via your IP phone. SIP Broker also maintains a few numbers which
allow callers to dial SIP numbers on any of their 220+ supported networks.

It may seem tedious, but programming the entire of sequence of numbers in to a
phone’s contacts directory is quite straightforward. Just remember to insert pauses
to allow for the phone system’s menu options to respond. If your friends have free
long-distance calling plans, they could reach you via any of the available access
numbers mentioned above at no cost to either of you.

IPKall and Stanaphone will give you a free local number as long as you don’t mind it
being in Washington State or New York City. IPKall will forward your number to any
SIP URL, but Stanaphone’s will only work with the SIP number provided through
them.

Free World Dialup and SIPphone have peering agreements allowing you to SIP dial
users on a number of different VoIP networks using a short prefix. SIP Broker can
also help you reach anyone on a service that allows incoming SIP calls, which
Vonage and CallVantage do not.

There are also SIP-compatible softphones available for the Pocket PC, Palm OS,
Symbian, and Linux handheld markets that can turn your handheld in to a cordless
Internet phone.

SERVICE PROVIDERS

You have to pay when you want make calls to regular telephone numbers. If you
want a local number that links to your SIP number, that’ll usually cost you, too. The
good news is that the prices are very reasonable. There are many service providers,
plans, and packages out there to suit home and business users. Here are some
important questions to ask:

Make sure you understand any contracts, fees, calling rates or restrictions before
agreeing to service. There are numerous service providers offering free and paid
services. With a little bit of research, you’ll find something ideal for your intended
purpose.

OPTIONS

If you’re looking to stay on your computer while having some room to grow, check
out Gizmo. Gizmo is an excellent, cross-platform SIP softphone that works with
network services from SIPphone. In this setup, you could add incoming virtual
phone numbers for $12/3 months or $35/year that will allow folks to call you. All
incoming calls are free to you and to the person dialing (as long as it isn’t a long-
distance call, of course). They also maintains in major cities that users can dial,
enter your SIP number, and then be connected to you free of charge. They also have
decent outgoing rates for non-IP calls and sell making this a solution that scales
well for the average user. There’s even an Adium plugin available for you Mac users
out there.

Stanaphone is a free service from hosting giant Intermedia that also provides you
with a free virtual phone number in the New York City area. You can also receive
faxes sent to your virtual number in your email. Voice mail is also included. You
can also utilize a SIP phone adapter with the service, but you’ll have to pay to make
outgoing calls to standard phone numbers. At 2.6 cents a minute for calls in the
US, they’re a bit more expensive than Gizmo/SIPphone but the free virtual number
and fax receiving are nice bonuses although their service lacks in other features.
Stanaphone has a softphone client for Windows and PocketPC, but Mac users can
also use CounterPath’s X-Lite softphone with the service. The web site also says
only Stanaphone to Stanaphone calls are free, so you might be better off sticking
with Gizmo and their flexible peering agreements.

Free World Dialup offers SIP network services, but also has their own combination
Video IP Phone / instant messaging program. Within one program, you can make
SIP-based voice and video calls and chat with your friends whether they’re on
Yahoo, MSN, AOL, or ICQ. Their traditional inbound and outbound calling service is
still in Beta and a bit more expensive than Gizmo. Their Communicator application
is also available for PC only, although many hardware devices will work with the
FWD SIP network.

A number of service providers offer packages targeted towards specific kinds of
users. Broadvoice, for example, has unlimited worldwide plans starting at $19.95,
while also offering a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) plan at just $5.95 a month.
TelePacket has plans that start at just $0.95 a month while Packet 8 has plans that
target videoconferencing users at $19.95 a month.

SUGGESTIONS

If you want to test the waters, I’d start with trying out Gizmo. It’s a lightweight,
feature-rich softphone that also gets you service through SIPphone. They provide
local access numbers for non-VoIP users to call SIP numbers from traditional
phones, have many peering agreements with other networks to keep you connected,
and support options like virtual phone numbers and offer low-cost rates on calls
made to standard phones to give you a more robust VoIP phone package when
you’re ready.

If you want to take the plunge, check out Broadvoice or Packet 8, who offers E911
service. They both offer robust feature sets, unlimited calling plans, inexpensive
virtual phone numbers, and have a good track record of reliability and service.

As for speaking and listening on any of these services, you have three basic options:
use a quality headset, purchase a phone adapter, or purchase an IP phone. A
headset, of course, is the most economical option. Buying a phone adapter is a
good choice if you love your phone and/or want to continue using your standard
phone service. Most, if not all, phone adapters also plug in to your phone line to
utilize the attached phone for both VoIP and regular phone calls. If you like the idea
of an IP phone and have a wireless network, we strongly suggest getting a WiFi
phone. It offers the most flexibility because it allows you to not only talk wirelessly
at home, but wherever there is a wireless Internet connection.

CONCLUSION

Whether you just want a new toy or are looking for a replacement phone system for
your home or office, the current crop of VoIP offerings present a wide array of
services and options. Review each company’s web site, read the fine print, and
search the web for service reviews and user experiences. You’re sure to find a
suitable solution with the ideal combination of cost, features, and quality that you’re
looking for.

Darrel Farris is Co-Founder of FND Enterprises, a online community creation and hosting services company. Darrel has 10 years of experience working in technology and enjoys making things easier for people. He can be reached at darrel@fndent.com.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

Wireless networking is simple in theory: just install a wireless network adapter in each computer and forget about drilling holes and running cable. When you deal with equipment based on the 802.11b (or Wi-Fi) standard, unfortunately, the reality often falls short of claimed specifications. Your wireless network will have a limited range – you’ve probably experienced a decrease in speed at a certain distance from an access point. That’s why you must adjust the location and configuration of your wireless setup to obtain the best possible performance, range, and reliability. Follow expert advice and your connection will be faster across longer distances–and you’ll have fewer dropped connections.

Pick the best location: The farther your wireless networked computer is from a wireless access point–and the greater the number of solid objects that stand in the way–the slower your connection will be. To optimize your network’s speed and range, position your wireless access point at least a few feet above the floor and away from metal objects, particularly large appliances like refrigerators. Though most manuals for networking products tell you to position the access point in the middle of the coverage area, it’s often better to identify the locations where you expect to use a computer and put the access point where it will be in a direct line of sight (or close to it) to as many of those places as possible.

Don’t waste time worrying about “dead spots” if no one is likely to use a computer there. Once your wireless network is up and running, even slight changes in your wireless network card’s position (say, a shift in the orientation of your laptop as you recline on the couch) may dramatically improve throughput or even restore a dropped connection.

For larger areas–or areas with many obstructions–your only option may be to shell out the cash for multiple access points. If you go this route, you’ll find that wireless setup is easy: Simply make sure that the access points have identical settings. Virtually all wireless network adapters support “roaming”: In areas where access point coverage overlaps, the adapter will latch on to the strongest signal.