Month: November 2020

November 16, 2020

Domain Related

Reading Time: 5 minutes

There’s been a whole lot of hubbub about the iPhone 12 and other new smartphone offerings from the big manufacturers, but there’s no other factor that’s playing into all the hype quite like 5G network connectivity. If you’re the type to be reading this then you’re also probably one who’s had plenty of news and info thrust upon you regarding the coming of 5G, and in truth there is a lot to be enthused about. You can look at that from the individual perspective, but if you ask us the real promise here is in the collective benefit and what this means for the IoT and things like advanced remote healthcare and the like. It’s going to be fairly revolutionary and that’s likely not an exaggeration. Here at 4GoodHosting we’re like any other Canadian web hosting provider in that we know it’s likely going to have big time ramifications for how we do things in the long term too, and as you’ve likely seen it’s a topic we seemingly can’t get enough of. There’s been a lot made of how 5G infrastructure is going to go in Canada, and how the widespread consensus is that Huawei can’t be allowed to be a part of that. But let’s leave any all references to national security out of this and instead focus on what’s the current status of 5G in Canada. For starters, there’s no ‘ultra wideband’ in Canada. What’s happened here is carriers in Canada have installed 5G on channels that previously were intended for 4G. Rogers channels are very similar to T-Mobile's ‘nationwide’ and mid-band 5G down south, but as of now Bell and Telus are using a 5G channel very similar to a popular 4G band. The long and short of it is that Bell, Telus, and Rogers all view 5G as an add-on to 4G now, so that means even if you’re using a 5G enabled smartphone you’re probably still going to be connected with 4G. The good news response to that is that the 5G experience should get broader and somewhat better over the next year as the carriers extend coverage beyond their current limited areas. Think...

November 9, 2020

Domain Related

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Many people will immediately attribute a noticeable slowdown with their computer to an aging and failing hard drive, but that’s not always the case. Even desktops and notebooks that aren’t particularly old can start to have performance shortcomings, and it’s not like most of us have the means to simply replace our devices every time this occurs. Adding to this issue is the fact that modern life is demanding that we demand more for those devices too, and this makes it so that our personal and work computers are often overloaded in ways. This trend isn’t lost on anyone we imagine, and here at 4GoodHosting one of the things we’re very aware of as a Canadian web hosting provider is that anyone who has a website is going to be wary of a high bounce rate. If you don’t know what that is, it’s the rate at which visitors to your site leave within a certain time period of their arrival. Would-be visitors to your site who perceive some sort of problem with it opening and displaying may put that on you, when in fact it has much more to do with the shortcoming of their browser device of-choice. The good news is that there are ways to optimize CPI usage and performance, and a good many of them aren’t going to ask much in the way of your time, effort, or expense. So let’s have a look at those with our blog post for this week. All About Throughput The way it works for most applications is that performance is centered around throughput. The definition for that term is how much work the server can process in a certain timeframe. Nowadays most high-end servers on the market are designed with throughput in mind. Finding just one server that’s ideally optimized for running all types of workloads out-of-the-box hasn’t happened yet, however. So getting the most out of your server’s available resources is best done by the CPU’s physical limitations relative to your performance requirements. Understanding that all CPU optimization efforts are essentially software-based is a good place to start. So rather than upgrading hardware, it’s better to focus on...

November 2, 2020

Domain Related

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Some people will say you can never be too frugal or thrifty, and in honesty even if you can afford to spend more there’s really no good reason you should if there’s an alternative. This is something a lot of people can relate to. If you’re the webmaster or similarly titled individual who’s at the helm of a company or organization and needing to find savings in your web operations then the Google Cloud Free Tier offers just that if you are taking advantage of what cloud storage offers these days. The appeal of cloud storage of course needs no explanation. Physical storage is just that – physical – and that’s means space demands and as we become increasingly more digital in lives and business every day it’s more and more impractical to be housing data in physical data centers. Cloud storage has been a godsend in this regard, and we’re very fortunate to have it now. Here at 4GoodHosting, we’re like every other Canadian web hosting provider in that our data centers are usually working at near capacity, and we also take very opportunity to utilize cloud storage for internal storage needs related to our business and day-to-day operations. Google has had its Free Tier for Google Cloud for a while now, and while it’s great for the individual or smaller-scale operations there’s just not enough capacity of the likes of us. For the average individual or smaller business, however, it’s a great resource to have at your disposal. Successful businesses grow, and you wouldn’t want it any other way. But that may mean stretching your storage needs beyond what the Google Cloud Free Tier maximum. But it also many not, and particularly if you find ways to maximize your use of the Google Cloud Free Tier. Here’s how you can do that. Store Only What’s Needed Free databases included like Firestore and Cloud Storage are completely flexible tools that let you nest away key-value documents and objects respectively. Google Cloud’s always-free tier allows no-cost storage of your first 1GB (Firestore) and 10GB (Cloud Storage). For apps that keep more details, however, it’s common to go through those free...