TLDR: Not so good internet connection. Looking for ways to improve it for me.
I'm living in a flat with a couple other people. I'm by far the heaviest user of the internet, probably about 200-300GB a month. The second guy (let's call him No2) uses maybe 40GB a month (Skype and Youtube), the third (call her No3) uses maybe 1-2GB at most - just email, basically.
We have an ADSL plan with a really shitty telco (I would almost go so far as to call them the Comcast of New Zealand, but that's overstating it a bit). The connection is shit, it's slow, unreliable, and the modem is really crappy. I notice it the most because I'm on the internet the most, No2 notices it sometimes (basically only when he's Skyping or watching Youtube videos), and No3 notices it never.
Unfortunately, it's No3 who owns the place, and therefore she gets to decide what happens with the Internet. She's not very technologically literate, and long story short, she would like things to stay exactly the way they are. I've talked to her about switching to a different ISP, getting a new modem, moving the modem, etc. etc. but she's not very into that.
What I'm looking for are suggestions for how to improve the quality of my[b/] experience without making my flatmates aware of my changes - they can benefit from them, but having to redo wiring or changing ISP is out. I was thinking about getting a range extender just for my room, but I've never used one before and I'm not sure how much they would help. Using ethernet is out of the question, I don't even have an access point in my room. I thought about getting a new modem and replacing the old one, but I don't really know how to distinguish a good modem from a crap one, and I'm not sure how much even a good modem would help.
I'm living in a flat with a couple other people. I'm by far the heaviest user of the internet, probably about 200-300GB a month. The second guy (let's call him No2) uses maybe 40GB a month (Skype and Youtube), the third (call her No3) uses maybe 1-2GB at most - just email, basically.
We have an ADSL plan with a really shitty telco (I would almost go so far as to call them the Comcast of New Zealand, but that's overstating it a bit). The connection is shit, it's slow, unreliable, and the modem is really crappy. I notice it the most because I'm on the internet the most, No2 notices it sometimes (basically only when he's Skyping or watching Youtube videos), and No3 notices it never.
Unfortunately, it's No3 who owns the place, and therefore she gets to decide what happens with the Internet. She's not very technologically literate, and long story short, she would like things to stay exactly the way they are. I've talked to her about switching to a different ISP, getting a new modem, moving the modem, etc. etc. but she's not very into that.
What I'm looking for are suggestions for how to improve the quality of my[b/] experience without making my flatmates aware of my changes - they can benefit from them, but having to redo wiring or changing ISP is out. I was thinking about getting a range extender just for my room, but I've never used one before and I'm not sure how much they would help. Using ethernet is out of the question, I don't even have an access point in my room. I thought about getting a new modem and replacing the old one, but I don't really know how to distinguish a good modem from a crap one, and I'm not sure how much even a good modem would help.
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