Improve Your WiFi

Improve your connectivity and eliminate Wifi dead spots in your home with simple tricks.

15:52 19 April 2017

Although Wifi has offered us with enormous convenience due to its various advantages over traditional Ethernet cables, it still isn’t as foolproof as the latter. In some cases, your Wi-Fi can drop for no apparent reason resulting in frustrating wifi dead spots in some parts of your home. Before you give up on your wifi and go back to the Ethernet cable, consider the following tips that may just do the tricks for you:

 

Always update your firmware

 

Just most devices available in the market today, your router also has a software that is updated periodically by its manufacturer when adding features or tweaking performance. In the past, updating firmware is such a huge pain but these days, all you have to do is log into your router’s administrator interface or management app to look for the upgrade option.

 

Move the router

 

Always place your router in a central location and keep it clear of other devices that operate in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands to avoid interference. To determine the best place to put it, test the signal strength around your house using your phone.

 

Change wireless channels

 

Although all routers operate in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, you have the option to manually change the channel in order to boost your wifi signal. On Windows, you can use the command prompt line netsh wlan show all to see nearby networks. Simply set your router to a channel with lower usage in the area to boost your connectivity.

 

Invest in a more robust antenna

 

Most routers still have external antennas that you can replace if you are having connectivity issues or if you are unable to get your router into a convenient central location. There are high-gain antennas that can be used to direct the signal in a certain direction and those that can be projected more effectively at a distance.

 

Invest in a range extender

 

If you’ve tried everything and nothing has worked, it may be time to invest in a range extender or repeater that can expand your network coverage without the expense of getting a new router. Although this can solve your connectivity issues, it comes with a drawback – setting changes to your router would mean completely redoing the setup process.

 

Take advantage of a mesh router system

 

Your other option includes using a mesh router system that consists of multiple access points managed as a single unit. Netgear Orbi, Linksys Velop and Google Wifi are some of the recommended mesh router systems and they cost between £250 and £400 for the base-level bundle.