Work-life balance: how to create a home office built around you

Glitchy work calls. We’ve all been there. From frozen screens to audio issues that make you sound like a haywire robot, nothing ruins a workday more than annoying tech problems (though running out of coffee is a close second).

Whether it’s a slow connection, or having to compete with gaming teens and binge-watching housemates, there are plenty of things that can cripple your important Zoom calls, often at the worst possible time. But there’s hope.

Enter the EE Smart Hub Plus — an advanced, tech-packed router that’s designed to help you work hard and play hard, with easy-to-use innovative features for a simpler life.

Work Mode

Imagine if, at the touch of a single button, all of your video call woes could be fixed for good. It sounds too good to be true, but that’s exactly what you’ll find with Work Mode — an ingenious feature found in a subscription-based add-on called WiFi Enhancer. As the name suggests, it’s designed to prioritise your work apps for a more reliable, dependable connection.

Simply open the EE app, turn on Work Mode, and you’re done. We won’t dive into all the technical details, but in essence, important apps like Zoom, Teams, and more, will be given their own high-priority ‘traffic lane’, ensuring that they take priority over other activities like gaming or streaming services. 

Once activated, Work Mode will help prevent lag or dropped video calls, letting you easily ensure that important meetings are prioritised above anything else, with no finicky technical know-how and complicated menus required. Work aside, you can also rest assured that social calls with family and friends from around the world will also now be smoother than ever.

Perfectly balanced

We’re all entitled to a healthy work-life balance, and the new EE Smart Hub Plus is also well-equipped to make your downtime that little bit more relaxing too. Gamers in particular will be pleased to hear that there’s also a handy Game Mode on offer, which, as you’ve probably guessed, operates in a similar fashion to Work Mode, with game connections now being a priority.

Again, all it takes is a single tap of a button in the EE app, and your internet connection will be prioritised for your online shenanigans. In this case, it’s another invaluable tool in the WiFi Enhancer package — the Ping Optimiser. Once activated, it’ll help prevent pesky lag for smoother gaming sessions, prioritising network traffic to help you reach your maximum potential. Better yet, you can also use an incredibly useful Geo-filter to set preferences for the best server locations, as well as blocking bad or lag-prone servers.

It won’t magically let you pull off precision no-scopes overnight, mind, but having a smoother, more stable experience can definitely make the difference between a well-deserved victory, and rage-quitting after a horrifically laggy match. How’s that for mindfulness?

Take control

Working and relaxing aside, the ability to easily manage your internet settings/usage is also a godsend for those with children and frequent guests. And if you’re put off by the thought of diving into a labyrinth of complicated menus with cryptic terms like “MAC Address Filtering,” you’re in luck.

EE’s Smart Hub Plus also has an invaluable WiFi Controls feature, which gives you full, hassle-free control, over all sorts of different settings to make things easier without any complications. You can pause internet connections or schedule a WiFi freeze, for a start, which can help avoid pre-bedtime distractions. You can also easily set content filters and parental controls, for additional peace of mind. Better yet, these can be set at device level, which means that you can customise the rules for every person/child, according to your preferences.

And if you’re tired of trying to remember a long, cryptic password every time guests ask to join your network, they can simply scan a handy QR code for instant, stress-free access. Throw in the ability to add devices to groups (e.g. kids' devices), and you’ve got yourself a holistic, powerful way to customise your entire home network, for any situation you can think of.