By Richard McIntyre, Federated Farmers telecommunications spokesperson
If you have half decent internet to the house, you are already on your way to being able to spread that over a bigger area with the right know how. And those who are struggling to get enough mobile coverage to make calls may have some other options.
(Apologies to those that are still dealing with slow internet – check out the first article from this series if you missed it - https://www.fedsnews.co.nz/how-to-get-better-net-even-if-youre-rural/ )
Extending your internet
If you have a wifi unit at one end of your house, chances are you probably have issues with it reaching to the other (and wouldn’t it be nice to get it out further, like to the cowshed if you are close enough?).
There are two main options you can use to extend this: wireless repeaters and wireless mesh systems. The key difference is a repeater relies on the repeaters in the middle to be talking to the far repeaters and the main wifi unit (like an electric fence needs to be completely connected to work), where as a mesh system can skip a unit if one isn’t working or its overloaded (like if you electrified chicken mesh and cut a section out, it would still continue moving along current). And if you are walking around on your phone, your wifi connection won’t need to catch up and connect to the next repeater, it will seamlessly transfer to the closest unit. With a mesh set up, with the right placement of the units, you can get creative with extending this as far as you dare.
How do you get this? If you head into your local PB Tech (other shops are available) and ask them to talk you through wifi repeaters and wifi mesh units, this will be a great starting point. They are also available online if you type it into Google – one of the first results to come up will be the TP-link which has great online reviews and you can buy multiple packs to create a mesh as far as you need to. This brand can also be controlled by an app and has additional features like parental controls.
How can you use this to improve your voice calls
The big 3 mobile companies now all offer wifi calling on certain Apple and Samsung mobile devices. This calling acts like a normal mobile phone call except it doesn’t rely on your mobile signal, instead using your wifi. This is especially great where you have dead zones in your home, office or farm buildings (signal especially dislikes concrete and trees).
To use it, first check if you have a capable device (at the time of printing Spark was offering this for iPhone 8 through to iPhone 14 and SE and a variety of Samsung Galaxy devices), and from here, follow the instructions on your provider’s website to turn it on. If when you are attempting to turn it on and you don’t have the setting “Connect wifi calling” and you are sure you have a compatible device, call your provider and check it isn’t a setting that needs to be added to your mobile account.
How else can you use your wifi to make voice calls?
As discussed last month, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is available through nearly all internet providers in New Zealand (excluding Starlink) for a nominal fee each month, normally around $10. Note: this won’t work in a power cut unless you have a battery bank for your wifi router or you connect it to your generator. Other options for voice calling can be to use FaceTime (without the camera on) when calling other apple devices, Facebook messenger and WhatsApp.
What are other perks of having extending your wifi coverage?
The number of apps available to farmers on their smart phone is now endless but you will also be able to use more functionality that is available when technologies like security cameras which will be able to send you alerts, live video, and set off an alarm or use the voice over function (Eufy is a good one and they’re great especially placed near the fuel tank to reduce unexplained fuel use and the peach tree for catching possums…).
