Network switches, PoE equipment, VPNs, firewalls, and cabling guides. Everything for building a fast, reliable home network.
Ten gigabit ethernet was, for most of its life, firmly in data center territory. In 2026, that’s changed. A 10GbE home network build is genuinely achievable for under $300 in hardware if you plan it right — and for power users, NAS enthusiasts, home lab operators, and video professionals, it’s one of the most impactful…
You just upgraded your internet to gigabit. You’re paying for 1000Mbps down, your ISP confirms you’re getting it, and your speed test from the router looks perfect. Then you connect your NAS and start a file transfer. The progress bar crawls at 115MB/s, which sounds fast until you realize that’s the absolute ceiling of gigabit…
You signed up for gigabit internet. Your ISP installed the fiber or upgraded your cable service. You ran a speed test — and got 940 Mbps at the modem. Then you plugged into your router and got 300 Mbps. You ran a Wi-Fi test and got 180 Mbps. You moved to a room away from…
Your internet goes down. Your work calls drop. Your smart home goes dark. Your security cameras stop recording. And you’re on hold with your ISP for 45 minutes, only to be told an outage in your area will be resolved “within 4 hours.” That’s the moment you start thinking about a backup internet connection. And…
Slow internet is infuriating. But before you call your ISP and beg for a faster plan, consider this: the most common cause of slow internet in homes isn’t the service coming — it’s the network you’ve built inside. Poor routing, congested wireless channels, outdated hardware, and bandwidth-hungry devices can cut your effective speed to a…
On March 23, , the FCC banned the import of all new foreign-made consumer routers into the United States. Not just TP-Link. Not just Chinese brands. Every new router model not designed and manufactured in the US is now off the table — Netgear, ASUS, Eero, Google Nest, Linksys, Ubiquiti, Synology. All of them. This…
Gigabit Ethernet was the standard for home networking for over two decades. in 2026, it’s showing its age. NAS devices, home servers, and Wi-Fi 7 access points all benefit from faster wired backhaul — and the best 2.5G switches for home network use are now affordable enough that there’s no reason to stay at 1G….
If you want secure remote access to your home network — or you’re tired of sending sensitive traffic over public WiFi — setting up a home VPN is the right move. The two best options in are WireGuard and Tailscale. While they’re related (Tailscale uses WireGuard under the hood), they serve different needs and different…
Your router is the most important device on your home network — and one of the most commonly attacked. In March , the DoJ and Europol dismantled a botnet made up of 360,000 infected routers and IoT devices that had been running undetected for 16 years across 163 countries. Most of those homeowners had no…
If you’ve been following the open-source firewall world in 2025 and 2026, you’ve probably noticed an uptick in chatter about the OPNsense pricing change 2026. Search traffic around “opnsense pricing 2026 change” and “opnsense controversy 2026” has spiked, and home network users are asking the right questions: Does this affect me? Should I stick with…