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Set up your Wi-Fi in four easy steps

When you’re moving house, one of the first things you want to organise is your wireless internet access. Here are some steps to help get you online fast.

It’s hard to imagine a world without Wi-Fi. Everything from computers and tablets to TVs and many smart home appliances rely on the wireless technology’s power. And with 7.6 million Aussie homes now featuring at least one smart device, Wi-Fi will likely continue to be an indispensable part of life.  

When you’re moving into a new home, setting up your Wi-Fi is often one of the first priorities. How else will you work from home or binge your favourite Netflix series? 

So let’s help get you connected in four easy steps.

Understanding your choices when it comes to speed

While internet speeds don’t seem mean much at first glance, once you learn a bit more about them they are reasonably straightforward to understand. 

The most common measurement of internet speed is Mbps, which stands for megabits per second. For reference, Mbps have largely replaced Kbps (kilobits per second) as the more commonplace measurement since the introduction of broadband. One Mbps equates to 1,024 kilobits, but to think of one Mbps as 1,000 times faster than one Kbps is accurate enough.

When looking for the right speed, one of the things you should think about is what you use the internet for. If you’re mainly consuming data (stream movies, shows, music and connect smart devices) download speeds could be important. 

To stream Netflix in full HD for instance, you’ll usually need at least 5 Mbps. For Ultra HD or 4K quality, you should look at 15 Mbps. For music streaming – think Spotify, Amazon Music or Tidal – speeds between 125Kbps and 320Kbps will get you a high quality listening experience. For general web browsing and social scrolling, up to 5Mbps will usually suffice.

And if you’re working from home sharing or contributing to large files, upload speeds could be just as important. 

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Find the right wireless modem router

Your service provider can assist you in your modem selection. But if you want to choose your own modem router, considering two important aspects can help: the type of router and making sure it can support your internet speed. 

Unless you use one internet device at a time, it’s best to go with a dual- or tri-band router, which can usually handle multiple tasks at the same time without compromising on performance.

Making sure your modem is built to handle the speed of your internet is also important, as old devices may not match newer wireless standards.  

Find the right deal

There is no shortage of internet deals out there. Look at things like data, speed and price combinations to work out what’s best for your household.  

You could also check out AGL’s nbn® plans. When you bundle your electricity or gas with internet, you could get up to $15 off your AGL internet plan every month. 

Jump online

It’s go-time. Plug in your modem and connect the Ethernet cable to activate your Wi-Fi and log into the modem.

Look for the wireless local area network (WLAN) settings and create a new Service Set Identifier (SSID), which is essentially the WLAN’s login details.

Authentication methods vary, but make sure you put protections in place to secure your network. It’s also recommended that you set a maximum number of devices that can connect to your Wi-Fi network to help prevent hackers and internet-needy neighbours from skimming your data.

Now all in one place

Save on your internet when you combine with AGL energy.

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