Networks
Your packets do not take the route you think they do
The path between you and a website is decided by commercial agreements as much as by geography.
Networks
Wi-Fi, cellular, cables and the route your packets really take.
21 articles · updated August 11, 2026 · page 1 of 2
Networks
Wi-Fi is a shared medium, and that explains most of your problems
Wireless networking is not a pipe. It is a room where everyone has to take turns speaking, and the rules are stricter than they look.
More in Networks
Networks
Why 5G often feels exactly like 4G
The label covers several different radio bands with wildly different behaviour, and most people are connected to the least exciting…
Networks
DNS decides far more than which address you reach
The name resolution step happens before any connection and quietly controls performance, filtering and a good deal of privacy.
Networks
Your upload speed is the number that decides how the connection feels
Consumer broadband is deliberately lopsided, and the small number is the one that breaks video calls.
Networks
Bufferbloat: the reason your connection stalls while the speed test passes
Buffers were added to prevent packet loss and ended up hiding congestion until it turned into seconds of delay.
Networks
What actually limits your broadband, and it is rarely the headline speed
The path from your device to the internet has half a dozen possible bottlenecks, and the advertised number describes only one of…
Networks
How a VPN actually moves your traffic, and what it moves it away from
A tunnel changes who can see your traffic and where it appears to come from. Those are the only two things it changes.
Networks
How a phone hands your call to the next tower without dropping it
Moving between cells while a conversation continues is a coordinated handover, and the way it fails explains where calls drop.
Networks
Why you cannot reach your own devices from outside your house
Address exhaustion pushed most homes behind shared translation, and the consequences show up in gaming, cameras and remote access.
Networks
What a speed test measures, and the four things it cannot
A single number to a nearby server describes one narrow condition, and most complaints about a connection live outside it.
Networks
Bluetooth audio makes you choose two out of quality, latency and battery
A wireless link with a fixed budget has to give something up, and every codec makes that decision differently.