Readers’ comments
Your views and feedback from email and the web
Changing Netgear
Thank you for the recent Wi-Fi 6 router roundup ( see issue 318, p74). I want to purchase the Labs Winner, the Netgear RAX80, but it appears to be out of stock everywhere.
I contacted Netgear sales support and it recommended that I purchase the newer model, the RAX70. Please would you provide a view on this newer model? Maurice Hayek
Associ ate editor Darien Graham-Sm ith
replies: I’m sorry you’ve had difficulty finding an RAX80 router – the world of Wi-Fi 6 is quite fast-moving right now. At the time of writing, the RAX80 was still available at several retailers, including broadbandbuyer.com, and remains an excellent choice.
I haven’t had a chance to test the RAX70, but I see a few key differences in the specs between it and the older model. The main difference is that the RAX70 is a tri-band design, with a secondary mid-speed
5GHz radio that the RAX80 is missing. The trade-off is a slower 2.4GHz radio, but I doubt you’re using that band for anything that demands high speeds, so this is probably a net win for the RAX70.
The RAX70 also has only four LAN ports and one USB 3 socket, plus a slightly slower processor running at 1.5GHz versus the 1.8GHz one in the RAX80. This should be fine for most people, but it’s worth being aware of before you buy.
As I say, I haven’t tested the RAX70, so I’m afraid I can’t make any promises, but my impression is that it will probably serve you at least as well as the RAX80 would. However, I’ve occasionally seen routers provide much better or worse performance than the spec would suggest, so I’d recommend buying from a retailer that accepts no-quibble returns, just in case.
Not taken into account
I have great sympathy for Dick Pountain’s login woes ( see issue 320, p20), although I don’t share his hope for “Big Tech” saving public services, given my own head-banging-wall dilemma came from Microsoft!
I set up a “child” account (Outlook address) for my daughter, purely so I could use Microsoft’s family features and reporting, and, on the face of it, Microsoft made a good start.
But when it came to adding my daughter to a second PC, everything fell apart because – you guessed it – the password wouldn’t work. I was unable to recover the password as the online form required information, such as previous passwords, that I didn’t have. I managed to speak to a human on the “Accessibility helpline” and explained the problem, but was told that all they could do was pass a ticket to the correct department.
Weeks later, there has been no reply, so I’ve resorted to the only option: create a new account! Sorry, Microsoft, I’m burning through your Outlook email name options as you haven’t provided a way for a parent to reset the password on a designated child account. And, like Dick’s fellow Patient Access users, a quick check of the online forums suggests I’m far from alone. Stu Hughes
Beefing up
I’d add two more password beefs to Barry Collins’ list ( see issue 320, p22):
Companies that ask you to provide three random characters from your
password. That a) makes using a password manager rather pointless, as you have to pull up the password in clear text to pick the characters, and b) makes a long and complex password impractical because you’re sure to count at least one of those three characters incorrectly.
The insistence on using a phone for 2FA when you might have no or limited mobile coverage – quite apart from the ease of fraudsters switching SIMs. Chris Bunton
Features editor Barry Collins replies: The random characters thing is an excellent point – I’ve found myself snagged by that a couple of times. Speaking as someone who also has iffy mobile reception, I share your pain on 2FA insistence too.
Making vertical waves
Regarding Paul Ockenden’s article
( see issue 320,p112), I worked in RF for over 20 years and the “V” in VSWR actually stands for “vertical standing wave ratio”, not “voltage”. A vertical wave can be measured in current and power. VSWR can also be used to measure reflected sound and water. Dave via Twitter
Contributing editor Paul Ockenden
replies: Just about every book I’ve ever read on the subject and pretty much everything on the internet says “voltage”. But it’s interesting to know that there’s debate over the term – thanks!
A helping hand
Your review of the Motorola Moto G9 Plus ( see issue 319, p69) has a verdict that begins with the words “If you have big hands…”. Well, many smartphone customers don’t have big hands. It seems to me that phones are getting larger. Most of them have 16cm screens. For those people, like my wife, who have far smaller hands, these monsters are just too big. Yet trying to find a more compact phone is difficult. How about a review of small smartphones? Lennie Bradshaw
Editor-in-chief Tim Danton replies: That’s definitely something we’ll consider for the future, thanks! And whilst I’m saying thank you for feedback, a big thanks to the 543 readers who took part in our annual survey. We’ll be using this to help guide our coverage and the balance of the magazine through this coming year. In the meantime if you have any feedback about the layout “tweaks” we’ve introduced in this issue, please email us at letters@pcpro.co.uk.
Bitwarden. It’s simple to use, open source and makes web life more secure. A no-brainer Andrew Williams
Toggl because I’m rubbish at tracking my time. Sadly, I’m also rubbish at turning Toggl on/off! Simon Hudson
Feedly Mini for RSS subscription handling and bookmarking; Mooltipass for communicating with a hardware password dongle; Multithreaded Download Manager for speeding up downloads Gareth Halfacree
1Password: password management made easy and platform and browser independent David Wright
I only use one extension: Ghostery. I hate ads and that they slow down my browsing experience Darren Davies