It’s been sometime since I posted an update here! Things have been very busy at Ubertechs HQ that’s for certain.
We continue to repair many Apple computers in the area and we look after the IT needs for an increasing number of small businesses.
We have a presence on Google+ and that will likely be the main place that we post updates to our blog from now on.
You can find our Google+ page at https://plus.google.com/u/1/b/108304950224331892682/
We’ve been in our existing location at White Cross for almost one year! Things have gone from strength to strength and whilst at the time of moving in to the new office I thought it would last us for a few years it soon became apparent that we need a bigger office! Our new office is almost twice the size, much cooler (temp!) and has high ceilings. This will give us greater space to fit more workbenches in and allow us to have more storage space, something we are lacking in our current location.
Our new offices are much easier to find too! We are moving to The Gatehouse building, which is the location of the main reception for White Cross. Our new workshop is located just behind the reception area so you won’t have any trouble finding us!
I’ll post some pictures and an update here when we have finished the move.
I went to visit a local hotel/restaurant in Lancaster this weekend to carry out a wireless survey. Their current Wi-Fi solution is not providing consistent coverage in their hotel rooms. I took along the equipment you can see in the photo above.
- MacBook Pro 13″ (ideal size & power consumption for this type of work)
- 2 x Meraki indoor units. Very small and neat wireless mesh access points.
- 2.4GHz Wi-Spy USB spectrum analyser.
- Power supplies and aerials for the Meraki units.
I was able to quickly setup the Meraki units, one at the location of the existing BT router, the other in a different part of the hotel but located so it still picked up a reasonable signal from the gateway unit. I gave the units 5 minutes to boot up and configure themselves. I could then run the Meraki site survey software which allowed me to see the speed of the wireless connection and get an idea of the signal quality between the gateway unit and the remote unit.
You can see in the above picture I am running the site survey software which is built in to the Meraki units, to test the link. I also ran the Chanalyzer software which comes with the Wi-Spy spectrum analyser to get an idea of which part of the 2.4GHz would be best suited for the Meraki network.
I was in and out within an hour and in a position to quote the customer for an installation.
Yesterday I ordered a 13 inch MacBook Pro at 1:30pm, direct from Apple. Today at 10:30am it arrived!
Several months ago I sold my 12 inch iBook which I’d used as my main laptop for a few years, I’d been getting by with a small Acer Netbook as my main Ubertechs ‘work’ laptop for some time. It was fine for basic diagnostics and network testing but it had no storage for data backups and the screen and keyboard were just too small for any extended work. The MacBook fills the gap left by the iBook nicely. It’s really fast and just the right size for carrying about.
As we are now an Authorised Apple Service Provider the MacBook is very convenient for creating diagnostic Apple service disks as we often require for testing Apple hardware.
