Shopping on Black Friday is not always the best decision and more attention must be paid to strengthening network connections.
The coronavirus pandemic has been full of nasty tech surprises. However, there was a silver lining among all of that: valuable lessons to improve our relationship with technology for years to come, such as become more knowledgeable online shoppers Y take control of our personal data.
Think of it as New Years resolutions, but for technology. Here are several recommendations:
Purpose 1: Invest in Infrastructure First
The pandemic, which led many office workers to work from home, showed how many had slow internet connections. That underscored how little is usually invested in our internet infrastructure, such as networking equipment and broadband services that provide our devices’ internet connection.
When people spend on technology, they generally buy gadgets before other things. But we should spend on infrastructure before devices. One-fifth of consumers keep their routers for more than four years, according to a survey conducted this year by Consumer Reports. That’s a lot, because Wi-Fi routers should be changed every three to five years, say wireless technology experts. New routers incorporate new Wi-Fi standards that improve speeds and techniques to mitigate network congestion, making it easy for multiple devices in a home (such as laptops and video game consoles) to have a fast and stable connection to the internet.
What’s more, the broadband plan you signed up for many years ago may no longer be enough, so consider investing in a faster one. If you stream or watch a lot of streaming and play video games online at home, think about 40 megabits per second.
Purpose 2: Review before clicking the buy button
If you tried to buy a high-quality face mask online during the pandemic, you have likely encountered an abundance of apocryphal masks. Counterfeiters have flooded the market with substandard masks, a problem that persists today.
Although fake products online have been a problem for a long time, the pandemic has made the issue potentially endanger our lives with masks. Amazon and other retailers have policies to ban sellers of fake masks, but new merchants with apocryphal masks are popping up all the time. It has become a game of cat and mouse.
The lesson? Always do your research before clicking the buy button. Read the reviews of those who purchased merchandise with the seller. Check the merchant and if it is an unknown brand, inquire about their reputation.
Be especially careful when buying anything that may affect health, including vitamins and dog food. When in doubt, buy these products from a physical store with a proven reputation.
Purpose 3: Practice independence with your digital data
When we use cloud services, our data is at the mercy of a technology company. The lesson? We should consider changing how we handle our data so that we are more independent from big companies and its cloud services.
Take one Hybrid strategy with our data is the best way forward, security experts advised. That consists of rbacking our data in the cloud, but also in making a copy on devices such as physical storage units and thumb drives. Having a local backup ensures that you will have access to important files even in the event of an internet service failure. Also, if you are dissatisfied with a cloud service or fed up with paying subscription fees, you have an easy way out, because there is already a copy of your information.
Purpose 4: Avoid Online Specials
Last month, many shoppers who tried to get bargains on Black Friday and Cyber Monday quickly realized that something was missing.
Many items that we frequently buy at discounted prices, like new wifi routers and cheap laptops, were either out of sale or out of stock. That was largely due to global chip shortages and affected supply chains., which have complicated the manufacture and shipment of items around the world.
Waiting until Black Friday to spend big has rarely been a good decision.But shortages caused by the pandemic have made this more apparent than before. Throughout the year, deals often pop up that are just as good (and sometimes better) than Black Friday promotions.
The tricky thing is knowing when the most popular is cheapest. There are many ways to track discounts, such as follow sites that send alerts about these.
Automated tools like Camel Camel Camel, a website that allows you to add products sold on Amazon and set up email alerts when the price drops, they can also help you track promotions for specific items. In the future, you can get ahead of the year-end shopping frenzy and potentially avoid Black Friday.
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
