Four years have passed and the greatest football event in the world is back... but are you prepared? You may have enough beers to drink and plenty of food to put on the BBQ - but is your home network ready for the four weeks of non-stop, nail biting football ahead?
The 2014 FIFA World Cup kicks off this week and consumers are flocking to their nearest retailers to stock up on the home technology upgrades needed to get the most out of watching the games from the comfort of their own home. In fact, Tesco has reported that its sales of widescreen TVs almost doubled in the run up to the event. However, it's all very well having a shiny new TV, but with many of the games being shown at awkward times a high number of these may need to be streamed online.
Picture the scene. Your friends are round, drinks are flowing, it's five minutes until kick off and everyone's ready and settled to watch the game. Some of your guests are on their smartphones, you have music playing through Spotify and the kids are keeping themselves busy on their tablets. Now you load the game on your laptop or smart TV and all you get is that annoying 'buffering' circle... what do you do?
In order to avoid disappointing your friends, ensuring your WiFi speed is up to scratch to avoid buffering is key. A router compatible with AC WiFi - the latest WiFi standard - is a good place to start as it runs up to three times faster than the previous industry standard, making sure that the match runs just as it is in Brazil, here in your home in the UK. This will almost certainly help you say bye-bye to buffering!
When hosting a World Cup summer BBQ, guests will inevitably tap in to your WiFi for music, gaming and the vital social media sharing! To help you handle the load and ensure life online doesn't stop in your garden, why not invest in a range extender? These little gadgets simply plug into a socket anywhere in your home and do exactly what they say on the box - extend your WiFi wherever you want it to go - allowing you to watch that all important game during the BBQ! Also, with the unsociable match viewing times this World Cup, you may find yourself streaming live games from your mobile devices, so a streaming device might be useful to have.
As you can see, you don't have to let a poor home network ruin your World Cup viewing experience this year. There are many home technologies available to help make sure the only thing you have to worry about is when the team you're rooting for finally scores!