Introduction
Most of us have at least one story about buggy or poor wireless connectivity. The signal gets weak or lost when you go to a corner of your room or even near the door. According to Handy, you can easily boost your Wi-Fi connectivity with cheap and easy tricks. Here are a few of them:
The Ways
- Placement of your router – Your router needs to be placed in a location where there is the least amount of interference and obstructions. For instance, if you place it near appliances that emit electromagnetic waves, it will interfere with the Wi-Fi signal and deteriorate its performance. You don’t want to place your router near metal objects or thick walls either. The invisible radio waves emitted by your Wi-Fi router diminishes in strength as they pass through those obstructions. Place the router in a central position of your home away from thick obstructions and interference.
- Opt for Strong Antennas – Most manufacturers make Wi-Fi routers with weaker antennas and for good reason. Strong antennas are usually hideous and can ruin the aesthetics of your setup. They are longer than twice the size of regular antennas. If you don’t mind the ugly, you can easily boost your Wi-Fi signal with large 9 dB antennas that cost around a dozen bucks.
- Update your router firmware – The internet is booming and so are cybercriminals. News about large scale malware attacks are very common nowadays and cost individuals and businesses in billions. With updated router firmware, most of these malware attacks won’t happen. However, even if you aren’t concerned about security, malware can steal your bandwidth once it infects your router and spreads through your network. Moreover, routers with old firmware almost always have worse performance compared to updated firmware.
- Weed out the Wi-Fi leeches – An encrypted Wi-Fi with password protection is a must, especially in the current times. People looking for open Wi-Fi networks are in the millions and if your neighbor runs out of his data plan, he is going to tap into yours. Love thy neighbor, but don’t let them steal your bandwidth. Moreover, you shouldn’t just choose any easy password that can be cracked. Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge in network security can crack into a poor password encryption. Try to choose a password with alphabets, numbers, and special characters.
- Use a Wi-Fi repeater or convert your old router into one – Wi-Fi repeaters boost the signal from your Wi-Fi router and help to increase the Wi-Fi range within your home. Some are convenient enough to directly plug into a regular socket and require minimal setup. If you want to save your dollars and have an old router lying around, you can also convert it into a Wi-Fi repeater.
Conclusion
Handy believes that boosting your Wi-Fi speed can be easily done with good antennas, updated firmware, and proper placement. You can also extend the signal to all corners of your home and even to the backyard with a repeater at a suitable position.