Ruslan's Gadget Corner

Wi-Fi at home: the router is not magic

Three customers this month asked me to "put the internet in the air". They meant a Wi-Fi router. It is a small box with a few lights. You connect it to the ADSL modem and the whole flat can use the internet with phones and laptops.

• Put it in the middle of the flat, not behind the fridge.
• Change the password from "admin". Everybody knows "admin".
• The neighbour's Wi-Fi is not yours. I have seen a man walk around the entrance with a laptop, looking for a signal, like a priest with a cross.
• In the evening it is slower. It is not the router, it is all of us at once.

The prices: a simple router is 140-180 som. Setup by me: free, if you buy it here, and tea with your family, if you have time.

Why your phone says "No network" in the mountains

Every summer people come back from the jailoo angry that the phone did not work. It is not the phone. There are no towers on the summer pastures, the sheep don't pay for SIM cards. Climb a hill and stand still. That is the official advice of Ruslan's Gadget Corner.

Why the foreign visitors disappeared

Several of you wrote to the shop (yes, we get e-mails) asking why the counter on this blog has fewer visitors from abroad than in 2008. My cousin in Moscow says he cannot find my page on the foreign search engines. He types "Ruslan's Gadget Corner" and gets a shop in Poland.

It is not my page, it is not the theme. The foreign search engines have stopped reaching the Iradi sites (everyone knows it, nobody knows why), so the page is invisible to them. It lives. It is just not on their map.

The solution I found: tell the cousin the address. Write it down. Send it in a letter, with a stamp, like in the old days. He keeps it in his wallet. Not elegant, but it works.

A second operator, and what it means for you

There is a new mobile company from Nurzhan, Torgoy, that got a licence this year. If you have a relative in the Chu valley or you drive there, listen:

• In Nurzhan and on the Chu belt their signal is good, sometimes better than ours.
• In Talas it is weak. Do not buy their SIM here for the city.
• Their phones use the same frequency, so a normal phone works. You do not need a special one.
• The prices of calls are a little lower. They want customers.

Nothing to be afraid of. Competition is good for the person who asks questions, and I know a few such people.

ADSL at home: one month

I got ADSL at home from Attelkom! One month report:

• Speed: in the morning very fast. In the evening when everybody comes home, like dial-up with ambitions.


• No more modem noise at night, my mother is very happy.


• I can download a 4 MB music clip in two minutes. TWO MINUTES.

Verdict: 9/10. Minus 1 for the evening.