We are saddened by the devastating events that took place yesterday in West, Texas when a fertilizer plant exploded and wreaked havoc on this small town.

We send all our thoughts and prayers to the community of West, Texas and we are sending our love and support for you in this difficult time.

It’s been a tough week in America and we continue to pray for those in Boston and for those in our in our home state of Texas who have been affected by the events in West, Texas.

Please take a moment to pray or think about the families and friends affected by these tragedies.

For Donations:

To Donate to the Red Cross of Central Texas click here.

For other ways to donate, read here for more information.

From CNN- Disaster in Texas: How to Help

Tribute to Boston (Photo: Angela S. Morales)

We are keeping the victims and all those family and friends affected by the devastating act of terrorism that took place at The Boston Marathon in our prayers. As the city celebrated Patriots’ Day, a state holiday in Massachusetts, thousands participated in the traditional marathon held on this day and thousands more came out to show their support. The bombings that interrupted the marathon took the lives of at least three innocent people and caused injury to many more.

Although we do not know who or why, we join the rest of our nation in sending our support to Boston and hope they can find comfort in knowing that we are here.

May God bless and keep Boston.

We are staying connected at home and on the go more than ever. A surprising new statistic by the NPD Group states that the national average for homes with Internet-connected devices is a whopping 5.7 devices per household in the United States. This is an increase from just three months ago when the average was 5.3 devices per household. That’s a lot of connectivity and when you count the Internet-connected devices in your own household it may not be that surprising after all. I counted at least twelve in my household of just two adults and one toddler. How many do you have?

The firm defined Internet-connected devices as any of your devices with Internet capability and can include any of the following: computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, HDTVs, Blu-ray disc players, video game consoles, and streaming media set top boxes.  Both smartphones and tablets saw a significant increase with increased usage in Internet connected households and are expected to continue to rise in the coming months.

Although computers won’t be leaving households anytime soon, smartphones and tablets per household are quickly outnumbering PCs. John Buffone, the direct of devices at NPD Connected Intelligence, explains “ When you look at the combined number of smartphones and tablets consumers own, for the first time ever it exceeded the installed base of computers.” Smartphones increased by about 9 million and tablets gained nearly 18 million in the last three months. Apple and Samsung brands remained at the top of their market for US consumers.

The increase in smartphones and tablets as consumers become more connected naturally also increases the number of connected devices in an Internet-connected household. Of course, this increase could have gotten a large boost from wish lists for Santa and holiday shopping sales, but numbers are expected to rise indefinitely. With the low cost of tablets and smartphones when compared to PCs, it’s much more affordable to own these devices per family member. Streaming is also on the rise, as seen in Netflix’s percentage of Internet usage from its subscribers. The increase in Internet-connected devices per household also means that the way we actually connect to the net via our ISP and hardware are becoming equally important for a successful connection and an enjoyable experience. Bombarding our home network with at least 5.7 or maybe 10.2 devices is not that far-fetched and our ability to control, monitor, and tailor our Internet usage to the specific needs of our family is becoming vital. It’s easy to let your network be taken over by a streaming-happy bandwidth hog and not so easy to control or prevent that from happening when you need full-throttle uninterrupted Internet the most. The HomeNet™ Intelligent Router delivers the tools that we need to wrangle our family’s devices and maximize our connectivity with exciting features that allow scheduling, prioritizing, monitoring, and the ability to set up user profiles per device for each of our family member’s needs. You can make the most of your connectivity and also make sure that you are really getting what you are paying your ISP for when it comes to connectivity and speed.

Pre-order the HomeNet™ router here.

Netflix dropped the ball on ISPs this week and launched a dedicated site, ispspeedindex.netflix.com, to exclusively report the average download bit-rate in locations all over the world where its streaming service is available.

We are well on our way to becoming a Netflix Nation. If you can remember, back in December, Netflix established bragging rights as the source of 33% peak Internet traffic in the United States. It’s clear– more and more people are streaming movies and TV over the Internet, so the speed and quality that their ISP can deliver is becoming increasingly important.

Reaching out to its subscribers by publishing ISPs download averages for anyone to view and compare, is Netflix’s latest effort to hold ISPs accountable. By sharing this information with its subscribers and potential subscribers, Netflix is offering up a monthly insight into which ISPs deliver the best Netflix experience. The data posted is to help viewers determine if their ISP is up to par when it comes to streaming and also so that subscribers can compare ISPs from a source without any bias.

(Provided by NetFlix)

In the United States, Google’s fiber network snags the fastest ranked average download rate with 3.35 Mbps, a faster average than any other ISP. The second spot is followed up by Cablevision’s Optimum service with 2.35. Popular all-inclusive package deal ISP such as Comcast ranked seventh with 2.06 Mbps and AT&T U-Verse ranked eleventh with 1.91 Mbps. Clearwire ranks dead last with a 1.25 Mbps download speed.

(Provided by Netflix)

We’ve all wondered how our ISP measures up when it comes to other competitors. Are we really getting what we’re paying for and more importantly what our ISP advertises? Netflix’s latest call out of ISP rankings from best to worst will have ISPs scrambling to get the leg up on their competitors. Surely no one wants to be at the bottom of the list and every customer wants a top ranked ISP.

It’s important to note that Netflix’s reported download averages include all of the devices on a network including your set-top box, smart phones, computers, and tablets. Netflix compiled the average download bit-rates based on the monthly results from more than 1 billion hours and its 33 million users. Additionally, it’s difficult for the numbers to report specific issues that may affect your personal Mbps such as network connected device sharing. You may find that your bandwidth speed is not even near the published Netflix ISP index report. Remember, the HomeNet Intelligent Router can help you eliminate the guessing game when it comes to your Internet speed and connectivity with feature capability such as prioritizing, streams, and profiles per device on your network so that you can use your bandwidth accordingly and play your movies as fast as your ISP allows.

How does your ISP Rank in Netflix’s index report? Are you surprised?

A teenage girl sweetly offered to buy milkshakes for her parents. Chocolate for Dad and vanilla for mom. Sadly these milkshakes were spiked with sleep-inducingpharmaceuticals. Why on earth would a teenager drug their parents to make them fall asleep? To get more time on the Internet of course! True story. These are the stories that no matter how bizarre they sound make us question the reality we live in and what we can do to prevent them in our own lives.

The story made headlines last month after the drugged parents passed out, woke up in a stupor of grogginess and subsequently failed drug tests after suspecting something was awry. Turns out their daughter and a friend made a plan to drug their milkshakes by lacing them with crushed prescription sleeping pills so that they could enjoy a little more time on the Internet and bypass the Internet curfew laws put in place by the parents. The girls, ages fifteen and sixteen, felt that the 10 PM curfew for household Internet usage was too strict.

According to investigators the younger girl told them that she thought her  “parents” Internet policy was too strict. Internet access at the family’s home was shut off every night at 10,” and so they developed a plan of action. It’s unclear as to what the girls wanted to do online or what websites they wanted to visit, but “the girls wanted to use the Internet, and they’d go to whatever means they had to,” Lt. Lon Milka said.

Last week we talked about keeping our kids safe on the Internet. It’s a concern that most parents will eventually have to face as their children start using a computer and other Internet connected devices. It’s a growing concern for parents to continue keeping their family safe on the Internet, especially in the home. The parents in the story may have created Internet curfews in their household to keep their kids offline during late night hours such as school nights or after bed times when they are less likely to be monitored. Although it’s unclear as to what system they had in their house to enforce these rules on their network- whether someone manually shut off wireless Internet access or if it happened automatically at 10 p.m. each night, it didn’t stop the teens from drugging the parents to get online. What struck me is the very nature of the act, how desperate these teens were to get online and the lengths they were willing to go to for some digital connection. In my teens, my parents had similar rules about using the phone after hours. My friends and I could talk on the phone all night long. Even though we had the Internet at my house, there weren’t as many fun things to do online ten to fifteen years ago and most of my friends weren’t available for chatting on AOL Instant Messenger, anyways.

In the end, it doesn’t really make much of a difference what the girls were doing online, after their bold disregard for breaking curfew and endangering the parents. Imagine if they crushed too many sleeping pills and the parents overdosed? Thankfully, no one was harmed, but this story opens a new platform of discussion on Internet safety, creating rules for your family, and more importantly how you can regulate your home’s network. This family implemented Internet curfews in their house, and although we do not know how they enforced them technology wise, we do know how we can help you in your own home with our HomeNet Router, a first of its kind intelligent router.

The HomeNet Router provides many features that allow you to customize your home’s network. It’s a wonderful tool for parents who want to keep their children safe on the Internet and set family guidelines or curfews for Internet usage per user and/or per Internet-connected device in their home. What’s most exciting is that it’s entirely up to you and your discretion. Fully customizable and fine-tuned to your family’s needs. Here are just a few helpful the HomeNet Router features that can assist you in ensuring your family’s Internet safety.

Internet Management & Scheduling – Besides being able to effectively manage your Internet bandwidth in real-time, you can prioritize your bandwidth on any device connected to your network. Then, you can create device priorities for different times of day and control the bandwidth each device receives. The scheduling feature further optimizes bandwidth and allows you to automatically control devices’ bandwidth when you want it, where you want it. This means, that you can enforce that 10 PM Internet curfew on all your kid’s network connected devices.

IP & Website Tracking – With IP & Website tracking, you can review the history of every site visited by any device on the network from the control of your own device. It’s a great tool for parents to monitor and safeguard that their children are surfing safely on the Internet.

Notifications – This feature sends e-mail and/or text notification when devices connect to or disconnect from your home network. It’s great for parents, to monitor when any of your family members cellphone or other device connects to the network or disconnects. Imagine getting a text when your teenager arrives home or leaves when they go out. This is also another safeguard feature that can notify you if someone is using the Internet when they are not supposed to be – assuming that you haven’t been milkshake drugged and are capable of checking notifications.

To learn more information about the HomeNet Router and how you can pre-order one for your own family, click here.

Both teens were taken to Juvenile Hall and booked on suspicion of conspiracy and willfully mingling a pharmaceutical with food. Placer County prosecutors have not decided if they will file charges.

It has become commonplace for us to turn to the Internet for answers. A simple Google search provides a myriad of possibilities and a wealth of knowledge, but it doesn’t provide the guarantee that the information is filtered for all audiences or that any found resources will be used responsibly. It’s up to us to help guide our children in their Internet usage, and give ourselves the tools to monitor their choices. Besides talking with our children about Internet safety and teaching them how to be safe online, we can monitor our home networks with IP and website tracking to ensure that they are surfing safely. The fact is that the Internet is often used for a means of expression, a source of information, and a way to communicate with others and it’s often in ways that kids don’t want their parents knowing about.

Monitoring Internet usage on your home network is one of the ways that we can effectively monitor what websites are being visited, but it hasn’t always been this easy. The technology in the HomeNet intelligent router allows you to review the history of every site visited by any device on your network and from the convenience of your own device. All HomeNet Routers are equipped with basic IP and Website tracking for devices connected to your network. No additional software is needed to take advantage of this feature. The technology is built in the HomeNet Router giving you the control to monitor your home network accordingly. The tracking feature works cohesively with the ability to create profiles for each device connected to your network as well as usage tracking, scheduling, and remote accessibility which gives you even more options to manage and monitor your network and its users. This means that you can ensure your children are surfing safely and that you can communicate with them before problems arise. This is an important resource for parents who want to be involved in the way their children are interacting online, monitor what websites they are visiting, and even what keyword searches they are doing on the Internet. Part of protecting your children when it comes to Internet safety is knowing what they are interested in and prevent dangerous situations before they happen.  It seems natural as parents for us to want to protect our children especially when we can do something about it and the HomeNet Router allow us to implement Internet safety in our household in a convenient manner that is both easy to use and effective at ensuring our children are staying safe on the Internet. That’s something every parent can appreciate.

The video gives a quick recap of some of its amazing and revolutionary features and helps explain what makes the HomeNet Router a truly intelligent router. It’s an industry first and what your family has been waiting for, a solution to your broadband woes. As we form a growing dependency on our internet-connected devices for business, for entertainment, and to generally navigate our way through life, it’s becoming more important that our computers, laptops, smart phones, tablets, and gaming consoles find a happy shared existence, an existence that can so easily be affected by available bandwidth. More of these internet connected devices are finding their way into our homes and we are using them more often. Problems arise, despite paying for the fastest (and most expensive) Internet service. The HomeNet Router allows you to actually control your Internet where you want it and when you want it! It’s about time you get what you are already paying for and make the most of your bandwidth and Internet usage.

See for yourself below!

HomeNet Features

• Internet Management
• Network Monitoring
• Device Profiles
• Access Control
• Streaming Optimizer
• IP & Website Tracking
• Remote Access
• Scheduling
• Usage Tracking
• Notification
• Usage Management
• Home Automation
• Collaborative Opportunities

To pre-order the HomeNet Router for yourself click here.

Today, at 9:30 AM on December 21^st we honor and remember the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary school in a national moment of silence and prayer. We are asking our readers to join us and spend several minutes reflecting quietly or in prayer and take a five minute pause from all online activity.

It’s been exactly one week since the tragic school shootings that took place at Sandy Hooks Elementary School in Newtown, CT. Twenty children, all ages six and seven, lost their lives along with six faculty members. Nearby, the mother of the killer lay dead in her home at the hands of her own son.

Across America, the nation watched on in shock as we learned details of the horrible events that unfolded at an elementary school filled with innocent children. The world sent their condolences. We all mourned with the families who lost loved ones who were so needlessly taken from them. We hugged our children a little more tightly and made sure to say, “I love you” to those that mean the most.

Our thoughts and prayers continue to remain with the families affected by this tragedy, those that witnessed this incredible act of violence and those who survived it, the first responders who likely prevented even more loss of life, the clergy and town leaders who struggled to find words of consolation, and the entire town of Newtown, CT.

May they find peace to carry on and be comforted in knowing they are being remembered in the hearts of so many during this difficult time.

In the coming days, as we try to find answers to what went wrong- we will also search for ways to prevent tragedies such as this one from occurring. With hope, we can come together and find meaningful solutions that will better our society and provide a safer place for our children, our future. May God comfort all who have been deeply affected by this tragedy.

They always know the perfect time to call. Dinner. Nap time. Me time. Anytime is more valuable than speaking with someone trying to sell you something you don’t want which is why I picked up the phone as fast as possible (someone left the ringer on) so that it would stop ringing and so that I could abruptly hang up. I wasn’t surprised that it was a sales representative from a broadband service provider, nor was I surprised on their intent to keep me on the line and get my all-inclusive broadband, cable television, and phone upgraded. In fact, I think the sales rep was more surprised about my unwillingness to upgrade coverage and by my declining the offer despite it’s ability to save a few dollars each month.  Electing to have all these services covered by one-package sounds like a good idea, but it wasn’t right for my family from our previous experience. When I told him that I’d rather have my bandwidth used solely for Internet and not shared with my television cable service, he couldn’t provide me with a resolution to convince me to jump on the broadband bandwagon and to my surprise, he left our conversation recognizably defeated and willingly hung up without putting up any fight.  That’s a first. I was happy to have the satisfaction of not being an easy sell and also that it gave me inspiration for writing about an important topic that far too many of us experience. Slow Internet, even the best Internet money can buy.

More broadband users are finding that their Internet is running slow and despite paying for top of the line services, they are still suffering from slow Internet. Why is it that users are paying for “maximum turbo” Internet that advertises 24 Mbps, but only getting maybe half of that or worse around 6 Mbps? The answer is not so simple, but simply stated—the actual speed varies and is dependent on the users upstream and downstream usage. An example of this can be demonstrated in the typical family household with several different users and bandwidth needs. Here’s one common scenario. It’s eight o’clock, dinner is done and dishes are washed, homework is finished and safely tucked away in backpacks. The hours before we go to sleep account for the world’s peak Internet usage. Our downtime is often spent on the Internet and for many of us it has become the gateway of entertainment. One teenager upstairs is playing his favorite video game with his twenty or so closest Internet friends. The other teenager is playing catch-up with their favorite television show by streaming missed episodes until bedtime. Mom is facebooking, pinning, and simultaneously playing FarmVille on Facebook. Dad is checking the daily news and coverage on his favorite sports team (both online) to the backdrop of streaming music. A younger child is watching an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse before his nighttime storybook.  No wonder the Internet is slow. Everyone is sharing the same connection and at peak usage hours the network can easily become bogged down. Thankfully, HomeNet intelligent routers can help!

Device Profiles

And what happens if you aren’t even sure which of your family’s devices is hogging all the bandwidth? The HomeNet router’s ability to create device profiles fore each of your Internet-connected devices allows you to easily identify each of your family’s devices and furthermore find out which one may be bogging down your network. Profiles are created for each device that can be customized with colors and names to make it easily identifiable. Priority defaults can be given to devices in your home office during the day and then you can choose to manually shift to entertainment during the evening or prime Internet hours. Adjustments can be made at any time to manually optimize the network to match your family’s specific needs.

Usage Tracking

HomeNet routers can provide solutions for your family’s broadband problems, by first allowing you to actually see where your Internet usage is being used or in other words usage tracking. You can easily view the bandwidth usage for each device on your network that you’ve labeled using our Device Profiles mentioned above. This tool allows you to identify where your priority usage should be, then you can make changes accordingly. The scheduling option allows you to set transitions according to your usage needs. In a roommate setting it can also allow you to effectively divide the Internet cost.

Network Monitoring

Monitoring your network just became simple. The sharp, easy to understand graphical display enables you to track and monitor your network and devices. The usage tracking can be done both in real-time and as a usage history report making it easy to monitor your devices’ bandwidth usage and also allow you to troubleshoot network connectivity issues and bandwidth hogs as well.

After all, it’s your Internet, control it! You can join our pre-order list today and get your very own intelligent router!

Days of renting movies the traditional way, as in physically getting in your car and driving to a video store to rent a movie, sound ancient. It’s likely my son will never know what a video rental store is and that’s okay with me because it’s been replaced with on-demand streaming from providers such as Netflix.  Even though video rental giant Block Buster maintains retail stores– they still exist, I know because I’m pretty sure I saw one recently, and I googled it just in case—they have also offered video streaming subscription for some time. The convenience that on demand video streaming provides and the easy accessibility due to low cost and equipment we already have has revolutionized our at home (or on the go) entertainment. It’s easier than ever to watch the latest releases without ever leaving your couch.

Virtually anyone with a computer, laptop, gaming console, mobile device, DVR, or smart TV among some   800 acceptable devices can enjoy his or her favorite television shows, movies, and games- instantly. So just how many people are jumping on the streaming bandwagon? Netflix, alone has more than 30 million streaming members in the United Stages, Canada, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Nordics. Would you be surprised to know that 33% of peak Internet traffic in the United States is from Netflix alone? And so it is. In a recent study, Sandvine claimed in their latest report on Internet traffic trends, “Global Internet Phenomena Report: 2H 2012”, that not only is Internet usage on the rise, as a whole, “Internet usage is up 120% in North America alone”. In fact, that’s a significant increase in data usage from “23 GB to 51 GB” in a very short amount of time. Sandvine CEO, Dave Caputo, affirms “there is only one digital network being built today and that is the Internet”. He further explains the importance of communications service providers in an ever-growing market who will need to launch new services to appease the appetite of their hungry broadband customers, “service providers will be launching application-based price plans that provide cost certainty and a consistent quality of experience for high-demand applications. Understanding the application make-up of a network is a critical first step in launching new services.”

We like our movies and we like our Netflix. We have become a Netflix Nation with a growing population of users. Netflix leads the way, accounting for about “33% of peak period downstream traffic on North American fixed networks”. Runners up include Amazon with about “1.8% of peak period downstream traffic,” and Hulu trailing behind with “1.4% followed by HBO Go’s 0.5%”. Caputo says that “audio and video streaming account for 65% of all downstream traffic from 9 PM to 12 AM” with about half of that being from Netflix traffic. As real-time applications such as live video and audio become more popular, so will the need for maintaining a high quality of experience. Sandvine suggests that it’s real time entertainment that will see one of the larger areas of growth in data consumption. According to the Sandvine report, major events such as the 2014 World Cup with an international audience is expected to be the most streamed event in Internet history.

With all that being said, there’s no wonder you’ve most likely experienced “slow Internet”. There’s truth in facts, and most likely it’s being bogged down by one of your favorite Netflix-loving bandwidth hogs. You know the one that can typically be found streaming entire seasons of Game of Thrones on the regular.  The Sandvine report confirms that even with high-speed LTE networks expanding, wireless networks will still face congestion problems as the use of mobile devices also increases greatly. The report further claims  “In order to be effective, traffic and congestion management practices for newly- launched LTE networks must be implemented at day zero to maximize subscriber quality of experience (QoE) and ensure a great, high-speed experience for all subscribers”.

As the Netflix Nation grows and our thirst for instant entertainment including live streaming continues to flourish, the Mesh Networks is here to help facilitate your experience. It’s a good thing Home Net and Biz Net intelligent routers have a solution that can keep everyone in your family happy- whether it’s streaming movies on demand, playing FarmVille, balancing a budget, or talking to Grandma. We are very excited about beginning beta this week and can’t wait to let you know more about the launch of our intelligent routers! It’s time to give your family a break and share the broadband love. After all, no one wants to move back into the dark ages of video rentals covered in late charges.  Hopefully you can remember once upon a time not too long ago and how disappointing it was to find that the movie you were dying to see was out of stock and unavailable for rental. Bless your heart if you even searched the Drop-Off bins.

Were you surprised that Netflix makes up 33% of peak Internet traffic in the United States? How many of you are part of the Netflix Nation or other streaming service and what would you say is your biggest problem thus far regarding quality of service?