Guides to fixed wireless and rural internet

6 min read

What is fixed wireless internet, and how does it work?

Fixed wireless internet is a radio link from a tower to a small antenna mounted on your home or shop, with a router inside that shares the connection over Wi-Fi. It needs no phone line or cable in the street, only a clea

6 min read

Is fixed wireless the same as satellite internet?

No. Fixed wireless is a radio link from your roof to a tower a short distance away on the ground, while satellite internet sends your data up to a dish in orbit and back down again. Both use radio and both need a clear v

6 min read

What line of sight means, and why we check it first

Line of sight means your roof antenna and the tower it points at can see each other, with nothing solid in between. It is checked at your address because the path is what decides whether fixed wireless works, and a town

6 min read

Trees, hills and buildings: what blocks a wireless link

Anything solid between your antenna and the tower can block a fixed wireless link: tall trees, a ridge or hill, and large buildings. A technician can often work around one blocker by moving the antenna, and sometimes the

6 min read

What "up to" means on an internet plan

"Up to" names the top speed a plan can reach under good conditions, not the speed you will see every minute. What you get depends on your path to the network, how busy the network is, your router and Wi-Fi, and

6 min read

Download vs upload speed: why the up to 200 Mbps upload matters

Download speed is how fast data comes to you, and upload speed is how fast you send data out. Every High Desert plan lists up to 200 Mbps up, which is the number that matters for security cameras, video calls, cloud back

7 min read

What latency (ping) is, and what a good number looks like

Latency is the time it takes a small piece of data to make a round trip to a server and back, measured in milliseconds. Lower is better for calls, games and anything interactive, and it matters on top of speed, not inste

6 min read

How much internet speed does a household need?

Most households are well served by the FCC's Advanced band, which starts above 25 Mbps in its Household Broadband Guide, and a busy home adds the needs of each activity running at once. All three High Desert plans l

6 min read

How to check which providers reach your address

Go to broadbandmap.fcc.gov, type your street address and pick it from the list; the FCC map shows every provider that reports service at that location, with the technology and the top advertised speed. A listing is the p

6 min read

How to file a challenge when the FCC map is wrong about your address

On the FCC National Broadband Map, click the Availability Challenge button next to the provider you dispute, describe the problem, attach evidence that you asked for service, and certify that it is true. The provider has

7 min read

Internet options when cable stops at the end of your road

When cable stops, your realistic options are DSL if a line still reaches you, a phone hotspot, 5G home internet if a cell signal is strong at your house, satellite, or fixed wireless if a tower can see your roof. Each ha

8 min read

Rural internet in Northern Nevada: every type explained

Seven kinds of internet reach Northern Nevada homes: fiber, cable, DSL, fixed wireless from a tower, 5G home internet, satellite and a phone hotspot. Which ones reach you depends on your address, and the Census shows tha

6 min read

What the FCC 100/20 Mbps benchmark means

The FCC's benchmark for advanced fixed broadband is 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up, written 100/20. It is the yardstick the FCC uses in its yearly report on whether broadband is reaching Americans, not a speed any pro

6 min read

How to read a broadband label

A broadband label is a standard box of facts the FCC requires providers to show for each internet plan: monthly price, introductory rate, fees, typical speeds, latency, data allowance and links to policies. Read it from

7 min read

No-contract internet: what to ask before you commit to anyone

No contract usually means no minimum term, but it does not mean no terms: there may still be a notice period, equipment to return and a price that changes after a promotion. Ask every provider the same nine questions, an

6 min read

What a data transfer limit is, and how to see your usage

A data transfer limit is the amount of data your plan covers in a billing month. High Desert's service agreement says each service level has one, that the size is available by emailing info@hdiss.net, and that going

6 min read

TV without cable: streaming over your internet connection

You can watch TV without cable by streaming over your internet connection to a smart TV or a streaming box. By the FCC's speed guide a single HD stream needs 5 to 8 Mbps and a 4K stream needs 25 Mbps, so the connect

6 min read

Licensed-Spectrum and Unlicensed Fixed Wireless: What the Words Mean

Licensed fixed wireless runs on radio frequencies a company holds the FCC license for, while unlicensed fixed wireless shares open bands under FCC Part 15 rules and must accept interference. Nevada's BEAD plan count

6 min read

How a Wireless Internet Network Is Built: Towers, Backhaul and the Roof

A wireless internet network is a chain: a fast link to the wider internet, radios on a tower, a small antenna on your roof, and a router in your house. Each link has its own limits, and the weakest one sets what you feel

6 min read

How to Compare the Real Cost of an Internet Plan Over a Year

Multiply the monthly price by twelve, then add one-time charges, equipment rental, and any overage, and subtract discounts you will actually keep. The total, divided by twelve, is the number to compare.

6 min read

Promotional Prices: What Happens After the First Year

A promotional price is a lower rate for a set number of months, and the plan then moves to a standard rate. The standard rate is not always on the same page as the promo, so find it before you sign.

6 min read

Building a New Home: Plan the Internet Before the Drywall

Decide where the router lives, run Ethernet from that spot to each room that needs it, and leave a path to the roof for an outdoor antenna, all before walls are closed. A few hours of planning now saves holes later.

5 min read

Questions to Ask Any Internet Provider Before You Sign Up

Ask what you will pay each month and after the promo, what is due on day one, what speed is typical rather than the maximum, how much data is included, and how to leave. The FCC's label rule is built on these same t

6 min read

Fixed Wireless by the Numbers: What the FCC's 2026 Report Says

The FCC's 2026 report estimates that about 56% of Americans could get a 100/20 Mbps fixed wireless service as of June 30, 2025, and that fixed wireless made up 8.5% of fixed broadband connections. Both numbers cover

6 min read

Satellite Internet by the Numbers: What the FCC's 2026 Report Says

The FCC estimates that 99.7% of Americans could get a 100/20 Mbps satellite service as of June 30, 2025, yet satellite is 2.3% of fixed broadband connections. The FCC's own measurement of geostationary satellite put

6 min read

How the FCC Measures Home Broadband Speeds

The FCC's Measuring Broadband America program sends small test boxes, called whiteboxes, to thousands of volunteers, and measures speed, upload and latency around the clock. Its headline numbers are medians taken du

6 min read

CGNAT: What It Means for Cameras, Gaming and Remote Access

CGNAT, or carrier-grade NAT, means many homes share one public internet address, so a device inside your house cannot be reached directly from outside. Streaming and browsing work the same; opening a port for a camera or

5 min read

IPv6 at Home: What It Is and Whether You Need to Do Anything

IPv6 is the newer internet address system, with addresses 128 bits long instead of IPv4's 32 bits. In most homes you do nothing: modern routers and devices use it automatically when the provider offers it, and every

8 min read

What Nevada's High Speed NV build-out means for rural roads

High Speed NV is Nevada's plan to spend federal BEAD money on broadband, and NTIA approved the revised plan on January 8, 2026. In the six counties this site covers, the state lists 61 provisional projects, and ever

7 min read

How Northern Nevada gets online: the Census numbers

Most Northern Nevada households have an internet subscription, but the mix changes sharply by county: satellite is used by 22.5 percent of households in Storey County and 12.0 percent in Lyon County, against 7.6 percent

6 min read

Wind, snow, heat and smoke: what weather does and does not do to a wireless link

Weather can affect a tower-to-roof link mostly by changing what is in the path or what powers the equipment, not by blocking radio the way a hill does. No provider can promise a link is untouched by weather, and High Des

7 min read

Internet for a home on well, propane and a long driveway

A home on a well with propane heat and a long driveway needs what any fixed wireless home needs: a clear path from the antenna to a tower, and steady power for the equipment. The rest of the checklist covers where the an

7 min read

Building or buying on acreage in Lyon County: check internet before you close

Check internet before you close, because in Lyon County the options change from one parcel to the next and 12.0 percent of households report satellite. Ask the seller what the property uses now, check the FCC map for a f

7 min read

Buying in Storey County or the Virginia City Highlands: internet questions to ask

Ask the seller what internet the home uses, which way the house faces, and what stands between its roof and the valley below, because options in Storey County change ridge by ridge. Storey is the county with the highest

7 min read

Carson Valley ranchettes: internet options east of US-395

East of US-395 in Douglas County, lots are large and houses sit far apart, so wired service thins out and the options change by the lot. Census figures show about 26 percent of East Valley households on satellite, agains

7 min read

North Valleys: why options change street by street

In the North Valleys, wires follow when and how each street was built, and radio follows the line from a roof to a tower, so two houses a block apart can get different answers. Census figures for Lemmon Valley, Golden Va

6 min read

Fernley and Wadsworth: where cable ends

Fernley's wired share is close to the Nevada average, while neighboring Wadsworth's is roughly half of homes (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B28002). That gap is why the same ten-minute drive c

6 min read

US-50 corridor: internet options from Dayton to Silver Springs

Driving east on US-50, the share of homes on a cable, fiber or DSL type subscription drops from about 87 percent in Dayton to about 45 percent in Stagecoach, while satellite climbs from about 8 percent to about 32 percen

5 min read

Working at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center and living rural

The Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center sits in Storey County, about 30 minutes from downtown Reno and about 26 from Fernley, with 10,489 jobs in ZIP 89437 alone (U.S. Census Bureau, ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023). No public

5 min read

The Affordable Connectivity Program ended: what help still exists

The Affordable Connectivity Program ended on June 1, 2024, because Congress did not add funding (USAC, read 10/15/26). Lifeline is the federal program that still exists, with a monthly benefit of up to $9.25 toward phone

6 min read

Power Shutoffs and Outages: Keeping the Internet On in Rural Nevada

NV Energy may switch power off on purpose during extreme fire danger, and it tries to give 24 to 48 hours of notice when it can. Keep your contact details current with the utility, charge a backup battery, and know in ad

6 min read

Smith Valley and Mason Valley: Internet Questions for Farms and Ranchettes

In the Census figures, Yerington and Smith Valley households rely on a mix of wired, cellular and satellite internet, and Smith Valley has the larger share of satellite. A wireless address check is the way to learn wheth

6 min read

Pyramid Highway: Internet from Spanish Springs to Palomino Valley

On one road the Census figures change sharply: in Spanish Springs about 84% of households report cable, fiber or DSL, while in ZIP 89510 around Palomino Valley the share is about 27% and satellite is far more common. Whi

6 min read

Churchill County Farms Outside Fallon: Options and Questions

Churchill County has a local fiber company that says 98% of the county is already fiber-connected, a Census count of about 823 households with no internet, and a wireless option that starts with an address check. Compare

6 min read

Nevada Privacy Law and Your Internet Provider (NRS 603A)

Nevada's online privacy law, NRS 603A.300 to 603A.360, requires a commercial website to post a notice about what personal information it collects, and to stop selling your covered information if you send a verified

6 min read

Is Internet Service Taxed in Nevada?

Federal law forbids state and local taxes on internet access, so a plain internet access charge carries no state or local tax in Nevada. Other items on a bill, like a voice line, an equipment sale or a company's own

6 min read

How to Read the Census Internet Numbers on This Site

The town and ZIP pages quote the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 2020-2024 five-year estimates. They are survey estimates with margins of error, so read them as a picture of a place, not a count, and be c

5 min read

The internet is fine but the Wi-Fi is slow: how to tell

Plug one computer into the router with a cable and test it. If the wired result is close to your plan's up-to speed and the Wi-Fi result is far lower, the line is fine and the problem is inside your house.

5 min read

Where to put your router

Put the router as high and as central as you can, in the open, with a clear line toward the rooms you use most, and away from metal, mirrors, fish tanks and the microwave. High Desert's cable comes in at the indoor

5 min read

Whole-home Wi-Fi and mesh: when you need it

You need mesh when one router in the middle of the house cannot reach the far rooms with a usable signal, and a cable to a second unit is the way to get the most from it. For a small or open house, one well-placed router

5 min read

Wi-Fi to a shop, barn or guest house

The most dependable way to reach a detached building is a buried Ethernet or fiber cable to an access point inside it. A point-to-point wireless bridge is the next choice, and a signal pushed through the air from the hou

5 min read

2.4 GHz vs 5 GHz vs 6 GHz Wi-Fi

2.4 GHz reaches farthest and carries the least, 5 GHz is the usual choice for a phone or laptop in the same room or one wall away, and 6 GHz carries the most over the shortest distance and needs a newer router and device

5 min read

How to run a speed test the right way

Connect one computer to the router with an Ethernet cable, close everything else, run the test three times, and repeat it at a quiet hour and at a busy one. Compare the results to your plan's up-to figures, which ar

5 min read

How many devices is too many

The number of devices matters less than what the busy ones are doing at the same time. Thirty idle gadgets cost almost nothing, while two people on video calls and a TV stream running at once use a good share of a small

5 min read

Ethernet for the things that matter

Wire the devices that sit still and need a steady connection: the work computer, the main TV, a game console and any access point or mesh node. A basic Ethernet cable up to 328 feet long carries the full speed of your li

5 min read

Wi-Fi calling on a rural property

Wi-Fi calling sends your phone's calls and texts over your home internet when cell bars are weak, and it is built into most current phones at no extra charge from the phone maker. It needs your carrier to support it

5 min read

Setting up a smart TV and streaming boxes

Connect the TV with a cable if one can reach it, or put it on the 5 GHz network if not, and leave the router where the TV can see a clear path. Picture quality problems are almost always the Wi-Fi in the room, not the li

5 min read

Security cameras: how much upload each camera uses

Each camera that sends video to the cloud sends it all day, so its use is the camera's bit rate multiplied by the hours it runs. Read the bit rate on the maker's spec sheet, add the cameras up, and compare the

5 min read

Guest networks and Wi-Fi passwords

Turn on a guest network with its own name and password for visitors and smart gadgets, and keep your main password to yourself. Change the router's login too, because it is a different password from the Wi-Fi passwo

5 min read

Parental controls basics

Set controls on the device first, since that is where the child uses the internet, then add the app and the router for limits that follow every device at home. No control replaces talking with your child, and none is per

5 min read

Why video calls freeze and how to fix it

A frozen call is usually a Wi-Fi problem inside the house, or the upload side being used by something else, rather than the line coming in. Try a cable, close the other uploads and move closer to the router; if it still

5 min read

Protecting equipment from power surges and outages

A surge protector guards against spikes, a battery backup (UPS) keeps the router and injector running through short outages, and a generator needs a protected path to your electronics. None of them keeps a tower running,

5 min read

Gaming: NAT types, ping and what to ask your provider

Ping is how long a small message takes to reach the game server and return. NAT type is how freely other players can connect to you. A provider can tell you what it publishes about each, and you can measure the rest at y

6 min read

Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7: Do You Need a New Router?

Probably not yet. A new router helps only if your devices support the new standard and your old router is the bottleneck, and the internet line itself is a separate limit. Check your devices first, then your router'

6 min read

Secure Your Home Network: A Ten-Minute Checklist

Change the router's admin password, turn on WPA3 or WPA2 encryption, install the latest firmware, switch off remote management, WPS and UPnP, and set up a guest network. Each takes a minute or two on most routers.

6 min read

Stucco, Adobe and Metal Walls: Why Wi-Fi Dies Between Rooms

Radio loses strength passing through walls, and dense or metal-backed materials take the most. NIST's lab study found plywood and drywall let most of a signal through while brick, concrete and steel grids took far m

6 min read

Powerline and MoCA Adapters: Wired Speed Without New Cable

A powerline adapter sends data over your electrical wiring and a MoCA adapter sends it over coaxial TV cable, so a far room can get a wired connection without pulling new Ethernet. Each works well on a straight, simple p

6 min read

Put Video Calls First: QoS Settings in Plain Words

QoS, or quality of service, lets a router send some traffic first, such as a video call, when the line is busy. It helps only when the connection is full, and the first move is often to measure what a call needs and what

6 min read

Bufferbloat: Why the Internet Lags When Someone Uploads

Bufferbloat is the delay that builds when network equipment holds too much data in a queue. You notice it as lag in calls and games while a big upload or download runs, even though your speed test looks fine.

6 min read

How to See What Is Using Your Bandwidth

Start with the list of connected devices in your router, then check the data-usage screens on your computers and phones, then use an unplug test to confirm. Menu names vary, but the three steps work on almost any home ne

5 min read

End-of-Life Routers: Why an Old Router Is a Security Risk

An end-of-life router is one whose maker no longer sells it or issues security updates. The FBI warned on May 7, 2025 that criminals use such routers, so if yours is old and no longer updated, replace it and turn off rem

6 min read

A VPN at Home: What It Does and Does Not Do

A VPN, or virtual private network, wraps your traffic in an encrypted tunnel to a server, so your provider and anyone on the same Wi-Fi see the tunnel but not the contents. It does not stop scams, make you anonymous, or

6 min read

DNS Filtering for a Family Network

A DNS filter is a lookup service that refuses to answer for sites on a block list, so every device on your network is covered once you set it on the router. Cloudflare's free 1.1.1.1 for Families offers a malware-on

6 min read

What Smart Thermostats, Locks and Doorbells Do When the Internet Drops

Most smart devices keep their basic job when the internet drops but lose their remote features: the app, alerts, voice control and cloud recording. Run a ten-minute drill to find out which of yours do what, before an out

5 min read

What happens on installation day

A technician looks over your home and property, agrees with you on where the equipment goes, mounts an outdoor antenna and radio, runs a cable to a power supply and injector indoors, and connects your router. The service

4 min read

How to get ready for your install

Clear a path to the spots the technician will need, decide where the router should sit, tell the office about trees, pets and gates, and keep your old service running until the new one works. Plan to be home with a way t

4 min read

What you pay on day one

The service agreement requires payment on the date of installation of the labor charge plus a prorated monthly charge from the install date to the next billing date. High Desert does not publish either amount, so ask the

4 min read

How billing works and when a bill is past due

High Desert sends an invoice or bills the card on file. An invoice is due when you receive it and is past due 20 days after you received it, according to the service agreement. Ask the office before it is past due if you

4 min read

How to pay your High Desert Internet bill online

Existing customers pay at High Desert's secure payment page, which opens from the Pay Online link at the top of every page on this site. Invoices are due when you receive them and are past due 20 days after that, ac

4 min read

Moving house: what to do with your service and equipment

Fixed wireless is tied to a roof with a clear path to a tower, so a move means a fresh address check at the new place and a plan for the antenna at the old one. The antenna, radio, power supply and injector belong to Hig

4 min read

How to cancel: two weeks notice and returning equipment

The service agreement asks for two weeks notice and for all equipment to be recovered before monthly billing stops, after which a final bill is sent. High Desert also says it has no contracts, so there is no term to wait

4 min read

Who owns the antenna and what happens if it is damaged

High Desert Internet Services owns the antenna, radio, power supply and injector it puts on your home; you do not buy them. If supplied equipment fails, the company repairs or replaces it, and lost or damaged equipment c

4 min read

What a service call covers

If supplied equipment has failed, High Desert repairs or replaces it. If the technician finds no fault, or the trouble is in equipment the agreement does not cover, or cannot get access, the visit can be billed at time a

5 min read

Switching from cable: a step-by-step

Keep your cable internet running until the High Desert installer has finished and your own test works, then cancel cable and return its modem. The only step that cannot be done from a chair is the address check, since fi

5 min read

Switching from satellite: a step-by-step

Check whether a High Desert tower can see your roof, keep the satellite service until the new link is installed and tested, then cancel it and ask what to do with the dish. The one thing satellite does not need and fixed

5 min read

Switching from a phone hotspot

A phone hotspot is meant for a laptop for an afternoon, not a whole house for a month, and most phone plans slow it down after an allowance. A fixed wireless line has its own data transfer limit, in the agreement, but it

5 min read

What we need from a landlord or HOA (the FCC OTARD rule)

Ask your landlord or HOA before the site survey, in writing if you can. A federal rule, 47 CFR 1.4000, limits restrictions on small antennas on space you control, but it has exceptions and it is not a promise that your l

5 min read

Internet for a rental or a second home

Put the service in the name of whoever will answer the bills and the phone, check the address before anyone is moved in, and tell the office how long the place sits empty. The agreement does not describe a pause, so ask

6 min read

Choosing a Router to Buy for a Fixed Wireless Connection

Look for a gigabit Internet port, Wi-Fi 6 or newer, WPA3 support and a maker that publishes security updates. The outdoor antenna, radio, power supply and injector stay High Desert's; the router behind them is yours

6 min read

Returning Your Old Provider's Equipment After You Switch

Ask your old provider what to return, by when, and how, and get a receipt. AT&T, HughesNet and Viasat each publish a deadline, 21, 45 and 30 days, and each says some outdoor parts stay in place.

7 min read

Setting Up Internet for an Aging Parent

Keep it simple: one router in an open spot, a short large-print card with the support number, billing questions kept in writing, and two or three scam rules the parent can follow without help. The FBI's elder fraud

6 min read

Your First Week With a New Internet Connection: A Checklist

A new connection's first week runs in three steps: day one, check the invoice and the paperwork; days two to three, test speed with a cable and set up the router securely; days four to seven, update devices, note wh

7 min read

The High Desert Service Agreement in Plain Words

The HDISS Service Agreement V 1.12 covers payment on installation, a data transfer limit with a $1 per gigabyte surcharge, equipment that stays High Desert's, two weeks' notice to cancel, and your responsibilit

5 min read

Internet for a home office vs a storefront

High Desert's three plans are labeled for residential and small business use, so the same price list covers a home office and a shop. What differs is what you ask for: a home office needs steady upload for calls, a

5 min read

Card readers and point-of-sale: what connection they need

A card reader sends very little data, so what matters is that the connection stays up, not how fast it is. Ask your payment company which connections the terminal can use, whether it can hold sales offline and what its o

5 min read

VoIP phones over fixed wireless

VoIP phones can run over a fixed wireless connection when the link is steady, because one voice call needs only a small slice of the speed. The things to settle are the phone provider's own requirements, power durin

5 min read

Backup internet for a small business

A backup works when it does not share a failure with the main line: a different technology, a different path, its own power. The cheapest version is a phone hotspot with a known allowance; the sturdier one is a second pr

4 min read

Guest Wi-Fi for customers

Offer guest Wi-Fi on its own network, kept apart from the register, the office computer and any cameras, and expect it to use data under your plan. Most business routers can do this with a setting called a guest network.

5 min read

Remote cameras on a yard, lot or job site

A camera at a yard or job site needs three things: power, a place to mount the antenna where it can see a tower, and enough upload for the video you want to send. Whether the lot has a path to a tower is decided by the a

5 min read

Email on your own domain: how hosting, email and domains fit together

A domain is the name you own, hosting is the computer that serves your website, and email is a mail server that handles messages for the name. They can be bought in one place or three, and keeping a record of where each

5 min read

Website hosting basics for a small Nevada business

Web hosting is rented space on a computer that is always on and always connected, where your website's files and its pages live. Ask any host what is backed up, how to get your files out, who renews the domain and w

6 min read

Cloud Backup for a Small Business: What Upload Speed Buys You

A cloud backup is limited by upload speed on the way up and download speed on the way back. At a service rate of 20 Mbps, a 500 GB first backup takes about 56 hours; a restore at up to 500 Mbps down could take about 2 ho

6 min read

Working on the Office Computer From Home: VPN and Remote Desktop

To reach an office computer from outside, use a VPN or a remote-access service instead of opening the office computer to the internet. Microsoft says opening a PC to the internet is not recommended and that using a VPN i

6 min read

Opening a New Business Location: An Internet Checklist

Check the path to a tower before you sign the lease, get the landlord's permission for roof equipment in writing, list every device that needs the line, and plan a fallback. The FCC's OTARD rule helps a tenant

6 min read

Securing a Small Business Network and Card Payments

Change default passwords, keep card data off your systems when you can, check payment terminals for tampering, install patches, and keep payment devices on a separate network from guests and staff phones. The PCI Council

6 min read

Internet for a Short-Term Rental: Guest Wi-Fi, Cameras and Outages

Give guests their own Wi-Fi network and a card with the password, follow the platform's camera rules, and plan for a day with no internet. Airbnb's policy bans cameras that watch the inside of a home and requir

5 min read

POP3 vs IMAP in plain words

POP3 downloads your mail to one device and normally removes it from the server; IMAP leaves the mail on the server so every device sees the same inbox. High Desert Internet's customer email uses a POP3 server, pop.h

4 min read

Keeping email when you change devices

Before you retire the old phone or computer, turn on the setting that leaves a copy of mail on the server, copy or export what is stored on the old device and check what shows in webmail. High Desert's mail uses POP

5 min read

What a domain name is and who owns it

A domain name is the address people type to reach your website and the ending of your email addresses, registered through a company called a registrar. The person or business named as the registrant holds it, and keeps i

5 min read

Moving a website to a new host

Copy everything to the new host first, test it there, then change the DNS records that point your domain to it, and keep the old host running until the change has spread. The step that breaks small businesses is mail: ch

4 min read

SSL certificates in plain words

An SSL certificate, now more exactly a TLS certificate, lets your website use HTTPS, which scrambles the traffic between visitors and the site. The padlock means the connection is private; it does not mean the business b

5 min read

Spotting phishing email that pretends to be your internet provider

A message that threatens to cut off your internet unless you click a link or pay right now is the classic fake. Do not click; go to the company's website or phone number you already know, and report the message.

6 min read

DNS Records for Your Domain: A, MX, CNAME and TXT Explained

DNS records are the entries in your domain's address book: an A record points a name to a server address, MX says where mail goes, CNAME makes one name an alias for another, NS lists who answers for the domain, and

6 min read

Why Business Email Lands in Spam: SPF, DKIM and DMARC

Mail providers check whether a message really comes from the domain it claims. Gmail requires SPF or DKIM from every sender and SPF, DKIM and DMARC from senders above 5,000 messages a day, so a small business should set

6 min read

Fake Domain Renewal Notices and How to Spot Them

A message that says your domain is about to expire and asks you to click and pay may be a scam, especially if it claims to come from ICANN. ICANN says it never sends renewal or expiration reminders to registrants; check

6 min read

Choosing a Domain Name for a Local Business

Pick a name people can say aloud and spell on the first try, check that it does not collide with another business's trademark, register it with an ICANN-accredited registrar under your own account, and turn on auto-

6 min read

Backing Up Your Email When It Lives on One Computer

When mail is downloaded to a desktop program, the copy on your computer may be the only one. Export it to a file on a separate drive regularly: Outlook can export to a .pst file, and Apple Mail can export mailboxes as .m

6 min read

Website Accessibility Basics for a Small Business

An accessible website works for people who use screen readers, captions, keyboards or voice control, and for everyone else too. The Justice Department's ADA guidance lists the common barriers: poor color contrast, m

6 min read

How Much Data Streaming Video Uses, Hour by Hour

Netflix says its settings use up to 0.3 GB an hour at Low, up to 3 GB at HD and up to 7 GB at 4K, per device. Multiply the hourly figure by hours watched and the number of screens to see your month.

6 min read

How Much Data Security Cameras Use in a Month

A camera that records around the clock to the cloud can send roughly 30 to 400 GB a month, depending on model and quality; Google's own table for 24/7 recording runs from 30 GB to 400 GB. A camera that records only

6 min read

How Much Data Video Calls Use

An hour of video calling uses roughly 1 to 3 GB combined, up and down, at the speeds Zoom, Teams and Meet publish. Audio-only calls and screen sharing use a small fraction of that.

6 min read

How Much Data Game Downloads and Updates Use

A current big game can be 60 to 150 GB to download, per Steam's own listings, and a family with several consoles may download the same game more than once. Online play itself uses little; the downloads are what move

6 min read

How Much Data Cloud Backups and Photo Sync Use

The first backup is the big one: the whole library goes up once, and later runs send only changes. A 500 GB first backup is 500 GB of upload, which at an assumed upload rate for the service of 20 Mbps takes about 56 hour

6 min read

How Much Data Music, Podcasts and Audiobooks Use

Music is light: at Spotify's highest standard level of about 320 kbit/s, an hour is about 0.14 GB, and at its Normal level about 0.04 GB. Lossless audio uses significantly more, but even then it is a fraction of an

6 min read

How to Cut Data Use Without Giving Anything Up

Change the settings that you will not notice: set streaming profiles to a middle quality, let updates run on a schedule, turn on Low Data Mode or a metered connection for devices that do not need the full stream, and sto

6 min read

Estimate Your Household's Monthly Data Use

Add up each activity as hours per day, times 30, times GB per hour, times the number of devices. Use the published figures in this guide, and treat the total as an upper bound, since the services often use less than thei

6 min read

Why Your Data Use Jumped This Month

A jump almost always traces to one big new thing: a cloud camera, a game install, a first backup, a restored phone, an update wave, a streaming setting changed to 4K, or a guest. Find the date it started and ask what cha

6 min read

Data Use on a Work-From-Home Day

A remote workday with two to four hours of video meetings, file sync and a VPN is on the order of 4 to 10 GB at the services' published levels, or about 85 to 210 GB over 21 working days. Calls are the main item and

6 min read

Tech Support Scam Calls and Pop-Ups: How to Spot Them

Real security warnings do not ask you to phone a number. If a pop-up, call or text says your computer is infected and tells you to call or let someone connect, stop: do not call, do not click, do not pay, and do not give

7 min read

Online Scams That Target Older Adults

People 60 and older filed 201,266 complaints with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2025, with $7.748 billion in reported losses. Investment, tech support and romance scams carried the largest losses, and

6 min read

Passwords and Password Managers in Plain Words

Make passwords long, unique and unpredictable, and let a password manager remember them. NIST's current guidance says length matters more than rules about symbols, and says organizations should not force regular cha

5 min read

Two-Step Verification: The One Setting Worth Turning On

Two-step verification asks for something besides your password, such as a code from an app. CISA says it makes you significantly safer: even if someone steals your password, they cannot get past the second step. Turn it

6 min read

You Clicked a Phishing Link: What to Do Next

Do not panic and do not reply. Update your security software and run a scan, change any password you entered, check your accounts, and report the message. What you do next depends on whether you only clicked, typed a pas

5 min read

Public Wi-Fi Safety When You Travel

Public Wi-Fi is usually safe for ordinary browsing now, because most websites encrypt their traffic, but fake websites and out-of-date devices are still the risk. Look for the lock or https, keep software updated and use

6 min read

Smart Cameras, Doorbells and Plugs: Basic Security

Change each device's default password, turn on updates and two-factor authentication, put devices on a separate network, and retire what you no longer use. The FTC and NIST agree that a device that can't be upd

6 min read

Backing Up Family Photos and Files: The 3-2-1 Rule

Keep three copies of what you cannot replace, on two different kinds of storage, with one copy somewhere else. CISA calls this 3-2-1 a trusted guideline, and for a family it means the phone, a drive at home and a copy in