How to improve your wifi signal at home

Make sure to place it in a central location away from other electronics that may interrupt the signal. Make sure the antenna is kept straight up and down and find a high spot if at all possible. Do not have your router near a bunch of magnets or a microwave, or beside your electric fuse box, all of these things can interrupt and interfere with wifi range. So directing the antenna to concentrate the signal helps boost your wifi range! Using a pot, a can or a metal bowl you can concentrate your signal.

You can also use these with wireless access points. If your house is large enough that you need multiple devices, using a pan can help capture the signal as it repeats between devices too.

Get a Wireless Range Extender. This way, even the second floor will receive consistent coverage. Once a malware infects a router, it can steal bandwidth and spread itself across the network to other devices.

But even without a presence of a dangerous malware, routers with old firmware perform worse than routers that are properly updated.

Most WiFi routers come with small, weak antennas. Compared to the antenna that came with your router, which probably is just a few inches tall and has around 4 dB gain, a dB antenna can be anywhere between 10 to 15 inches tall.

Such antennas use the same RP-SMA connector, and there are many different models available on Amazon and other online stores. Some even come with a handy extension cable that allows you to place the antenna farther away from your router to achieve optimal signal distribution.

To boost WiFi signal, you need to purchase an antenna with more gain than your current one. The gain of an antenna system relative to an isotropic radiator at radio frequencies is expressed in dBi, or decibels relative to isotropic.

Most home routers come with small antennas, whose gain tends to be between 4—5 dBi. Replacing such antenna with a 9 dBi antenna should provide excellent signal boost. An encrypted, password-protected WiFi is a must in this day and age.

With more people than ever relying on WiFi, the hunger for open, fast WiFi networks is real. A strong password should:. If you have lots of guests, create a separate guest network and either significantly limit its range or protect it with a different password and change the password on a regular basis.

Even though they are referred to by many names, WiFi boosters, repeaters, and extenders are basically the same thing. WiFi repeaters are relatively simple devices that take an existing signal from your WiFi router and rebroadcast it as a new network. This new network is just an extension of your main network, and all data that go through it also go through the main network. WiFi boosters and extenders are very similar, but they also amplify the existing signal before rebroadcasting it to create a second network.

Because WiFi boosters typically have greater range than WiFi repeaters, they make sense in situations where the original signal is very weak. You can find a list of the top 5 WiFi boosters at the end of this article. Just like lanes on the highway, there are multiple WiFi channels on which a WiFi router can broadcast.

Even though most countries have six non-overlapping channels 1, 6, 11, and 14 , many users leave their router set on the default channel, which is usually either Channel 1 or Channel 6. This results in a WiFi traffic jam as too many packets are trying to drive on the same line.

The solution is simple: find out which channel is occupied the least and switch to it. This can be done with the help of NetSpot, a professional and easy-to-use WiFi analysis and surveillance tool. You can now verify that your router is broadcasting on the new channel using a WiFi network analyzer like NetSpot. It takes just one bandwidth-hungry application or a client to make download and upload speeds come to a crawl for everyone else on the same WiFi network.

Luckily, modern routers support services like QoS Quality of Service , which allow users to prioritize certain applications over others. Some routers make it very easy to configure QoS settings, while other routers are far from intuitive. When in doubt, consult the manufacturer of your router.

The newest wireless technology, IEEE To take advantage of the latest WiFi technologies to boost home WiFi, you need to make sure that both your home router and your WiFi-enabled devices, such as smartphones and laptops, support them. A good router should be able to serve you well for at least five years, which is approximately how long it usually takes for a major new WiFi technology to become mainstream. Near the end of this article, we recommend five best WiFi routers from leading manufacturers, so all you need to do is pick one that fits your budget.

The 5 GHz wireless frequency provides faster data rates at shorter distances and is typically much less busy than the 2. If your router supports it, consider switching to it for an instant short-range speed boost. That way, you can get the best of both worlds. A simple reboot is often enough to considerably improve your WiFi speeds.

To reboot your router, either press the restart button located on the back you may need a pointy object like a pen to get to it because many router manufacturers use recessed restart buttons or simply disconnect the router from power and turn it on again.

To do that, you need an Ethernet cable and a laptop or desktop computer with an Ethernet port. We recommend you repeat the wired internet performance test several times, preferably at different times of the day. Some of the most popular mesh WiFi systems available today come from Asus, Eero, Orbi, and Google, and we offer some recommendations later in this article.

This means that you can start with just one main router and one satellite unit and upgrade only if your WiFi is still not performing up to your expectations. The good news is that most modems let you change your DNS address, which is often the easiest way how to boost WiFi performance. This free Windows application offers features designed to enable serious DNS performance investigation, and you can use it to find the fastest DNS server in your area with just a few clicks:.

From computers and mobile phones to various smart home products and appliances, these WiFi-connected devices consume a substantial amount of bandwidth, and not all internet plans can provide it.

You might even be able to save some money since the prices of fast internet plans have gone down substantially since the early days of broadband internet. Last but not least, consider contacting your internet service provider and asking for help.

If the ISP truly cares about their customers, they will help you remotely diagnose your WiFi performance issues or even send over a technician to measure your WiFi signal strength and help you boost wireless signal. Most WiFi boosters are designed to be plug and play, making it possible for anyone to install them on their own to enjoy a strong and reliable WiFi signal everywhere.

When selecting a WiFi booster, make sure you have at least a rough idea of how large is the area that you want to cover. You can use a network analyzer like NetSpot to create a signal heatmap of your space. Then you need to set a budget and evaluate the potential candidates based on their features.

That way, the signal will blanket the area. See this wikiHow to learn how to set up a range extender. Another option is a mesh router. The advantage of a mesh router to a range extender is that you can manage all of the access points from one central admin interface. Restart your router at least once a month. To do this, turn off the router, wait for 30 seconds, and then turn it back on. Let it run for about 5 minutes, and then check your internet speed.

Create an aluminum foil reflector. If you're unable to boost your Wi-Fi signal far enough and don't have a repeater or mesh router, you can make a parabolic reflector out of aluminum foil to place behind your router's antennas. Here's how: Cut about 11" of aluminum foil from the roll. Tightly wrap the foil around a 2-liter soda bottle. Unwrap the foil after a few seconds—it should now be curved.

Place the curved foil behind the antennas of the router so the open part of the curve is facing the direction you want to send a higher level of signal. Disconnect unused computers and accessories from the network.

If you have multiple computers, phones, tablets, printers, Smart TVs, and other accessories using your wireless network at once, you might be slowing down your wireless network. Turn off or disconnect the devices you aren't using to improve network speeds for those you are using.

You can limit the number of devices your router will allow to connect at a time. This is typically done by logging in to your router's administrator website and adjusting settings in the LAN or Local Network area.

Update your router's firmware. If you're still experiencing poor reception, your router may be in need of a firmware update. This can usually be done in your router's admin portal, but some routers require additional steps.

See this wikiHow to learn the basics of updating your router's firmware. Get a new router about every 3 years. If you've had your router for 3 or more years, it's probably time to replace it. That's about their average lifespan, since they're typically on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and they're often exposed to things like power outages or surges. Did you know you can get answers researched by wikiHow Staff? Unlock staff-researched answers by supporting wikiHow.

Not Helpful 5 Helpful 2. Not Helpful 1 Helpful 3. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 7. Yes, but you need to set them up as a wireless bridge. Settings vary based on the router. Not Helpful 10 Helpful Yes, you should look for your router web settings; usually you can access this via your explorer by typing this address : Then look for wireless settings and switch the transmission channel to 1 or 11 it is probably set at channel 6 by default.

Not Helpful 32 Helpful A cellular phone can be used as a WiFi hotspot if it's available in your phone plan. If you are traveling on an airplane, many airlines offer WiFi during the flight.

The speed will be a bit slower and after some time, the proxy address might change. Not Helpful 33 Helpful Here are some additional terms you need to know about Wi-Fi connections:. With a faster Wi-Fi connection, you can easily stream movies, games, videos, and other data-heavy applications with greater reliability, lower latency, and higher data quality for images, graphics, and communication.

There are many possible reasons for slow connection speed. Physical barriers, such as walls and floors, can affect wireless signals.

The distance between the device and the access point and the number of devices using your Wi-Fi network will also impact connection speed.

Even simple things like adjusting the height of your router off the floor can impact its performance. Different providers offer different speeds, and you may not have the package that is the best fit for your connectivity needs. Three main factors impact the speed of your Internet connection—the placement of the router, the technology, and the devices that are connected to it.

Place your router in an open spot. Because Wi-Fi is just that—wireless—its connection speed is affected by distance, obstacles such as walls, floors, and ceilings , electronic interference, and the number of users on the network.

All these things contribute to the slow-down of Wi-Fi connection speed. For the best signal, put the wireless router out in the open on the main floor of your house, away from walls and obstructions. Keep it away from other electronics that might cause interference, like microwaves, baby monitors, and cordless phones. You might also try pointing the antennas perpendicularly, with one horizontally and one vertically.

Want to know where the wireless dead spots are around your house? It can also help you identify where the signal strength is best, so you can find a good spot for your router. Think of it as Wi-Fi feng shui for your wireless router. Use current Wi-Fi technologies. Technologies change rapidly, and one of the best ways to speed up your wireless network is to use the latest hardware.

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