In today’s times, internet connection is one of the most important things in our daily life. Whether you are a student, a teacher, a working professional, or an entrepreneur working from home, you need a stable and fast internet connection to fulfill your day-to-day tasks.
This is the reason, one can get frustrated when the WiFi connection at home gets finicky and gives slow speeds. Despite paying a monthly amount, and having a personal router at home, one might find himself spending loads of time in front of the screen to get tasks done. If you are working from home, slow internet speeds can give you a massive headache and it can get frustrating even when you are trying to relax by binge-watching content on Netflix after a tiring day.
So what can one do to get better WiFi speeds? How does one optimize their router so that it gives a faster and stabler internet connection? Let us try to find some solutions to these problems
There are quite a few ways to get better WiFi speeds by optimizing your router and the best part is, most of these ways are simple and easy to perform.
Home WiFi tips: Optimize your router to get maximum WiFi speeds at home
Selecting the correct Router
All the routers that are available in the market are not the same. The size and layout of your home determine which router can be best suited to it. For homes and apartments under 1500 square feet, a single wireless access point is enough. If your router is too old or outdated, try updating it to the new ones that support WiFi 6 or 802.11ax. For multilevel homes, get a mesh network to get better coverage. Once the main access point is installed, you can keep adding nodes to receive internet connectivity in every corner of your house.
Location of the Router
The location of the router in your home is one of the most crucial aspects to get better speeds. If the modem in your home is installed along the all in one of the far reaches of the house, you should try to change its position. Routers send signals in all directions and hence if the router is placed in a corner, a big percentage of your wireless coverage will be sent outside your home. It is best to choose a central location in your home to place the WiFi router. This way it will send signals around the entire house and you will get better connectivity.
Best places to put your internet router-
- On a mantle in a central living room or family room.
- On a small coffee table placed in a central hallway or living space.
- On the 2nd floor landing if you don’t have a basement.
Places to avoid putting your router in-
- The kitchen, as it has waves of other electronics.
- In a corner of your house where signals will be lost.
- In the basement.
Raise the Router
Routers send the strongest signals downwards. Try to mount the router as high as possible to get max coverage and speeds. Keeping it on a bookshelf, mounting it on a wall, or placing it on any kind of higher level, will give good results. There are many custom wall mounts available to buy, so you can get them as well.
Avoid other electronics
Try to choose a location for your router which doesn’t have any other electronic appliances or large metal objects. Walls and large electronics can cause obstructions in signals. Microwave specifically should be kept away from the router as it emits a strong signal in the 2.4GHz band, which is the same band as the router. Don’t stick your router behind a large TV as well. Bulky furniture should be avoided as well, as it can cause obstructions. WiFi signals can’t travel through water, so the aquarium should be kept away from the router.
Antennas also matter
Some routers have no antennas, while some have up to 8. These antennas might look comical to you, but they matter as these antennas help direct the signal. If there are 2 or more antennas on your router, don’t position them all in the same direction. Make them perpendicular to one another and change the position of all the antennas to cover a wide range of angles. The signal from each of these antennas will come out like a wave travelling in all directions, and this will help get better connectivity and speeds.
Mapping the signal
Mapping out signals will help when you are getting extremely poor connectivity speeds. NetSpot software will help map out the signal strength throughout the entire home so use it and get to know about the weakest WiFi network spots in your home.
Update your security to cut off bandwidth leeches
Extra users can slow down your internet connection by taking up the internet bandwidth. Protect your WiFi network from opening up to freeloaders to get a stable and faster internet connection.
Use a wireless range extender
This can boost the signal into the dead spots of your house or office. If the router is on the first floor of your house, add a wireless range extender on another floor to boost the signal. It can help in areas with thick walls or other physical structures that can impede a wireless signal.
Taking a speed test to understand what you are getting
To know the actual speed of your internet connection, take an online speed test with a computer that’s connected to your home network. This will tell you your upload and download speeds.
