10 proven ways to improve your home Wi-Fi
Technologies / / December 19, 2019
Wi-Fi is now the most popular way to connect to the Internet. This was made possible thanks to the good performance of this protocol, ease of connectivity and availability of a wide range of low-cost equipment.
However, there is at this interface and disadvantages. Many users are faced with incomprehensible connection is broken, errors or low data rate. Do not rush into this case, just keep ringing for service or cause a brigade of repairmen. With many troubles in the home Wi-Fi-network, you can manage on their own.
1. Reboot the router
Yes, it is above all advised to do when contacting support. And quite rightly.
Modern router is a sophisticated device, in which software errors may occur over time. The easiest and fastest way to get rid of them - to restart the equipment. Some routers let you do it automatically on a schedule, you need only look for the appropriate option in the settings.
2. Install an alternate firmware
Alternative firmware is written by enthusiasts to address the shortcomings of proprietary software. The most famous project of its kind -
DD-WRT. This firmware supports a wide range of equipment and is distributed for free.Installing third-party firmware can not only improve the performance of the network, but in some cases enable earlier inaccessible functions of the device. It should however bear in mind that the process of reprogramming and subsequent adjustment of the equipment you will require time and special expertise.
3. Use Wi-Fi-repeater
If the devices are constantly losing connection to the Internet, then the router's signal is too weak in any part of the house. To solve the problem, you can use a special relay, also called repeaters, or repeaters.
The main objective is to strengthen the repeater signal existing Wi-Fi-network. These compact, low-cost devices are produced by virtually all popular manufacturers of network equipment, as well as dozens of obscure Chinese firms.
Buy Wi-Fi-relay for 760 rubles →
4. Construct a signal amplifier
Use of Wi-Fi-Repeater can help out not in all cases. Sometimes, to enhance router signal is necessary to resort to other more primitive methods. For example, it is possible to construct a special reflector beer can or packing CD-ROM drive.
But if you need something really powerful, try to collect from scrap materials antenna to expand your "Home Zone" wireless internet, about which we wrote in this article.
5. Monitors access to the Internet
If someone in your home is constantly watching streaming video, playing online games, shakes his voluminous files, this may significantly slow down network performance. Particular attention should be paid to the torrent clients. Some of them set up in a way that automatically run at system startup and continue to download and distribute data in the background. Private pain - computer games, which are quietly multi-gigabyte download updates and additions.
6. Close access to outsiders
Default manufacturer installs all of its routers are the same good to see logins and passwords. Each user has to change them, to protect your network from unauthorized access. However, doing this is, unfortunately, not all.
If you do not want the neighbors to use your wireless network, thus impeding you, then you need to perform detailed configuration of the router. How to do this can be found in our manual "How to protect your Wi-Fi-network and router».
7. Get rid of the interference
The quality of the signal transmitted over the Wi-Fi-networks, can be affected by many different factors, including interference from phones, microwave ovens and so on. Get rid of them can only be placing the router and the source of interference at the maximum distance. To cope with this task will help a special WiFi Analyzer application, able to display the signal strength in real-time.
Price: Free
8. Tune to free channel
Modern apartment buildings at the same time running a plurality of wireless access points, occupying all the available channels. As a result, some of them have to share the same channel, which leads to a mutual reduction in the speed and stability of connection.
Rectify the situation can be reset by a router to another, more free range. How to do this, read our guide "How to speed up a home Wi-Fi».
9. Find a new location for the router
Unfortunate location of the router in the apartment may also affect the quality of the connection. If your workplace is separated from the connection point of a few concrete walls, it is not surprising that the Internet constantly slow.
Choose the optimum location for the router can only empirically, moving it around the apartment, and measuring the signal quality. Make it helps diagnostic utility and NetSpot our instruction, which is called "NetSpot: how to find out the weaknesses of its Wi-Fi-network and optimize it».
10. Use modern technology
One of the best ways to make your wireless network as quickly as possible, a stable and secure - is to use modern equipment.
Communication standards are constantly evolving and improving. New implementations of this protocol provide higher connection speed, reduce errors and susceptibility to interference.
However, to use them you need the appropriate equipment. Therefore, the most radical and costly method of improving the quality of your home network - is to buy a modern dual-band wireless router from a reputable manufacturer.