Nearly every Wi-Fi complaint we get comes down to one of three things: where the router is, how old it is, or the fact that the problem is not actually the Wi-Fi. Sorting out which is most of the job.
Wi-Fi is radio, and radio does not like being in a closet behind the television. Most routers in Oklahoma homes sit wherever the internet line happened to enter the house, which is usually a corner, and a corner sprays half its signal into the yard.
Brick, plaster with wire mesh, foil-backed insulation, mirrors and water heaters all block it hard. An older farmhouse with plaster walls can be worse for Wi-Fi than a much bigger new build.
Gigabit internet does not fix a dead spot. If the signal cannot reach the back bedroom, paying for a faster plan makes no difference at all in the back bedroom. This is the single most common piece of money we watch folks waste.
Past about 1,800 square feet, or in any house with thick interior walls or a second story, one router usually is not enough no matter where it sits. A mesh system, which is two or three small units that hand your devices off between them, is the normal answer.
A cheap range extender is not the same thing and often makes matters worse, because it halves the speed and creates a second network your phone clings to after you have walked away from it.
We will tell you honestly if your existing equipment can do the job with a move and a reconfigure, because quite often it can and that visit costs you an hour instead of a shopping trip.
Some of these will fix it outright, and that is fine. We would rather you solved it in ten minutes than paid us to do it.
We are a support and setup service, not a repair shop. Saying so plainly saves everybody a wasted trip.
$39 books an in-person visit, and it comes straight off the price of the visit. Our hourly rate steps up with distance from the town your Local Nerd works from: $110 an hour within 25 miles, $130 in the 25 to 50 mile band, and $145 in the 50 to 75 mile band. That is how we cover the drive, so there is no separate travel fee.
Remote help is $39 for a 30-minute session and starts with a phone call at the time you picked. If you use us a few times a year, Nerd on Call is $14.99 a month and includes two remote sessions and an in-person visit each year.
Cards only. Local Nerds are not permitted to accept cash or checks, so you will never be asked for either at the door. Full detail is on the FAQ.
In-person visits reach up to 75 miles out from the town each Local Nerd works from, whichever state that address is in. Remote help works anywhere. Check your own address on the ZIP checker, or see the whole state on the map.
The three usual causes are the router being in a bad spot, the router being old enough that it struggles with the number of devices in a modern house, or interference from something nearby. Dropping in one room is coverage. Dropping everywhere at once, especially at the same time each day, points at the router or your internet service.
No. Speed and coverage are different problems. If the signal does not reach the back bedroom, a faster plan is a faster signal that still does not reach the back bedroom. Test the speed next to the router and again in the bad room; if there is a big gap, spend the money on coverage instead.
In most houses that need more coverage, mesh is the right answer and an extender is a false economy. An extender typically halves the speed and creates a second network name your devices hang onto too long. Mesh units talk to each other and hand your phone off properly.
Yes. We set them up, place the units where they will actually help rather than where the box suggests, move your devices across, and make sure the printer and the smart TV come with you, which is the part that usually gets forgotten.
$39 books the visit and comes off the price. Our rate is $110 an hour within 25 miles of the town your Local Nerd works from, $130 in the 25 to 50 mile band and $145 in the 50 to 75 mile band, with no separate travel fee. Most Wi-Fi visits are an hour to an hour and a half.
You do, and you keep it. We will tell you exactly what to get for your house and what not to bother with before you spend anything, and we do not take a cut from anybody's hardware.