Articles by: Deja Vu

Why Wireless Home Networking Is Beneficial

In comparison to a wired network, a wireless home network, often known as Wi-Fi, makes it easier to share data, an internet connection, computer peripherals, and other devices. Here are a few helpful functions that a home Wi-Fi network provides.

Network File Sharing Compared to using portable hard drives, network file sharing among PCs offers greater flexibility. You can make copies of crucial data on a different computer in addition to sharing photographs, music, and documents. One of the most important yet underutilized features of home networking is backups.

Using a shared internet connection

Multiple family members can access the internet concurrently on a variety of devices, including smartphones and tablets, via a home network without having to pay an ISP for multiple accounts. Too many devices using the same internet connection may cause it run sluggishly, but broadband internet services can typically withstand a heavy load without any difficulty.

Sharing of peripheral devices and printers

A home network makes it easy to set up the PCs to share a single printer. To print a file, you won’t have to switch between systems. Additionally, other equipment like speakers, scanners, and webcams can be shared through networks.

Digital gaming

So that friends and family may play together, many well-known home computer games provide LAN (local area network) and online (internet-connected) options.

Mobile devices and home entertainment

VoIP services enable making and receiving calls over a landline or mobile phone and an internet connection. Wi-Fi is supported by home entertainment equipment including digital video recorders (DVRs) and gaming consoles. By integrating these gadgets into your network, you may access cutting-edge capabilities like online gaming and movie sharing.

You can utilize streaming media devices throughout your house thanks to Wi-Fi.

You can stop watching cable TV by signing up for a live streaming video service. Similar to Netflix, other providers offer access to a selection of recorded television shows and movies.

Options on demand

By using Wi-Fi to connect to the internet on your phone, you can avoid using up your plan’s data allotment when at home.

Smart Equipment

Smart appliances including thermostats, lightbulbs, security systems, appliances, smoke detectors, TVs, and much more are among the newest additions to the Wi-Fi world. These allow control from linked smartphones, tablets, computers, speakers, and home assistants through your Wi-Fi network at home.

Other Advantages of WiFi

Although a wired home network can provide you with the majority of the same advantages, you should think about installing a wireless home (Wi-Fi) network instead for the following benefits:

  • Mobility of devices: Wi-Fi eliminates the need for network cords for tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable devices. Use your smartphone wherever it is most convenient inside the house, such as on the couch or the porch.
  • Freedom from unattractive cords: Nobody wants to worry with old, inconvenient cables since they take up too much time. Save a lot of time and effort by going wireless instead of dealing with the clutter of cable.
  • The majority of items that may be networked are designed for wireless connections, and Wi-Fi has replaced Ethernet as the standard networking technology for households and companies.

The significance of home automation

One of Nigeria’s biggest and most rapidly expanding technological markets is home automation. offering a variety of goods that make living easier. The availability and affordability of automation services have increased their utilization.

You have some control over everything from lights to temperature to music via your mobile phone, tablet, or PC thanks to a network of home automation services. You can do this by connecting your appliances, entertainment systems, and home automation “hub” to a single device.

Here is a basic explanation of how home automation functions and why Nigerians now prefer it to other technologies.

Remote management of all your home’s technology

Centrally granting single-point control over all home systems is one of the key advantages of home automation. It expedites routine tasks so the user can experience the most comfort and convenience possible. Additionally, you may combine all of the necessary features like lighting, audio, and security systems and have unrestricted control over how your smart home operates using a smartphone or tablet.

Greater safety for your family and friends

Systems for home automation can link motion detectors, security cameras, electronic door locks, and other important safety measures. You can choose to install security alarms on your own devices, keep an eye on activities constantly, and track the safety devices as needed, whether you are at home or somewhere else in the world.

Lowers heating and electricity costs

In order to enter at the appropriate temperature, you might design your hub to control warming or cooling as you are traveling. In order to reduce costs, residence sensors also replace the lights that are provided. Similar to this, shades reduce your yearly heating and cooling costs by limiting the amount of heat that may enter and exit your home.

Reduced carbon footprint

Sunlight sensors can be used to optimize the use of light. Warming and cooling can be turned on and off, or adjusted as needed, depending on the amount of motion detected in the space. By allowing you to schedule a set of tasks quite early — or anywhere — automated shades can solve any problem. Your home becomes more economical, environmentally friendly, and therefore substantially more convenient through automation.

Flexibility and Personalization

The beauty of home automation is that it can be specifically tailored to meet your demands and financial constraints. For straightforward viewing, someone might favor tablets over smartphones, for instance. Smart assistants like Amazon Alexa, various smartphone and tablet applications, smart control panels, and controllers can all be used to set up voice requests. Simpler and faster options like operating the blinds or turning on the TV become routine decisions.

Homeowners are becoming more eager to use home automation in this era of innovation since it offers a variety of benefits. These include cost viability, energy efficiency, home tracking from remote locations, improved comfort and convenience, and a premium aesthetic appeal for their homes. The future belongs to smart homes since they anticipate customer requirements and offer a more connected, advantageous, and intelligent way of life. The emergence of smart homes is inevitable given how quickly automation is becoming the “new normal.”

How Home Automation Really Work

Home automation has a tumultuous history. For many years, technological trends have come and gone, but one of the first companies to achieve success is still in operation.

Many smart home products got their start in 1975, when a Scottish company created X10. X10 allows compatible products to communicate with one another over a home’s existing electrical wires. All appliances and devices are receivers, while the system’s control mechanisms, such as remote controls or keypads, are transmitters. If you want to turn off a lamp in another room, the transmitter will send a message with the following numerical code:

  • An indication to the system that it is about to issue a command,
  • A unique unit number for the device responsible for receiving the command and
  • A code that contains the command itself, such as “turn off.”

All of this is supposed to happen in under a second, but X10 has some limitations. Because the lines become “noisy” from powering other devices, communicating over them is not always reliable. Electronic interference can be interpreted as a command by an X10 device and acted upon, or it can be ignored entirely.

While X10 devices remain popular, new technologies have emerged to compete for your home networking dollars. Many new systems communicate through radio waves rather than power lines. BlueTooth, WiFi, and cell phone signals all work in this manner.

ZigBee and Z-Wave are two of the most well-known radio networks in home automation. Both of these technologies use mesh networks, which means that the message can be delivered in more than one way.

To determine the quickest route for messages, Z-Wave employs a Source Routing Algorithm. When a Z-Wave device is plugged into the system, the network controller recognizes the code, determines the device’s location, and adds it to the network. When a command is received, the controller employs the algorithm to determine how the message should be delivered. Because this routing can consume a lot of memory on a network, Z-Wave has created a device hierarchy: Some controllers start messages, while others are “slaves,” meaning they can only carry and respond to messages.

The name ZigBee exemplifies the mesh networking concept because messages from the transmitter zigzag like bees in search of the best path to the receiver. While Z-Wave uses proprietary technology to operate its system, ZigBee’s platform is based on the wireless personal network standard established by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). This means that any company can create a ZigBee-compatible product without paying licensing fees for the technology, which could give ZigBee a competitive advantage in the market. ZigBee, like Z-Wave, has fully functional devices (those that route messages) and reduced function devices (those that do not).

A wireless network allows for greater device placement flexibility, but, like electrical lines, it may experience interference. Some systems allow your home network to communicate via electrical wires as well as radio waves, resulting in a dual-mesh network. If the message is not received on one platform, it will try another. Rather than routing the message, the device in these new systems will broadcast it, and all devices will pick up and broadcast it until the command is executed. The devices function as peers, rather than one acting as an instigator and the other as a receptor. This means that the stronger the message, the more Insteon devices that are installed on a network.

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