In theory, all you need is a shiny new router in your home or small office for trouble-free WiFi connections. Yet, in practice, interference problems will often plague your WiFi speed.
Interference can cause sluggish reception, more significant latency than hardwired connections, frequent disconnections and reconnections, and often a complete failure to access a WiFi signal. This cannot be easy to solve. The answer is not as easy as changing routers unless you are fortunate.
You want to avoid paying throughout your house or office for hardwired Internet connections to bypass slow or unstable wireless connectivity, and you want to avoid buying more expensive wireless routers that might still be subject to interference.
Your office or home WiFi network uses radio signals to distribute Internet bandwidth. It is the same technology used by FM radio, smartphones, and rabbit-ears on television. It’s susceptible to the same kinds of issues — interference, blocks of penetration, and limitations of range.
You can usually trace wireless communication issues to a shortlist of culprits: signal interference, router location, software problems, hardware failures, and the physical size of your home or workplace.
Your neighbors may also be responsible for your WiFi issues, however. WiFi signals and noise from nearby electric supplies are some of the most common causes of WiFi interference. This is where the image of your neighbors comes in.
How to Fix WiFi Speed
Perform a survey to Test the WiFi Speed
If you have wireless problems, ensure your service provider or ISP’s hardwired link isn’t at fault. Some providers offer the Internet cable modem as a part of the WiFi service.
By calling your ISP or service provider, you can confirm that the hardwired Internet cable to your home is working correctly. The technician can conduct line tests remotely, reset your link, and get you to run speed tests with a hardwired laptop to the modem. The technician can schedule a service call to your site to fix the problem when he finds a problem.
Skip the ISP diagnosis and concentrate on troubleshooting to fix router problems if your wireless service comes solely from a mobile WiFi system. In this case, you should protect your mobile WiFi device from interference and penetration factors. Conduct an inquiry to remove potential offenders. By trial and error, rule out every one of these errors:
Check the Location. Is your router stashed at a distant corner of your office or workspace? Is this down to the floor, or does furniture cover it? Drive it to a higher level—the more excellent the sightline, the better the connection. Seek to put your router as near as possible to the middle of your house.
Disconnect your connected devices like a computer or smartphone from the modem or router. Then turn off all your networked devices, including any media-streaming gadgets, smartphones, laptops, etc. Reboot your router and let it turn on completely. Then, if you have one, switch on the additional router and wait for the lights to stabilize. Finally, power and connect it to the wireless signal on your device.
Do a web search for your ISP speed check page, mobile WiFi service, or use third parties’ platform for speed testing. If the hardwired link gets poor results, please get in touch with your ISP. A bad-wired link produces an enormous wireless feed. By default, WiFi links are slower. Download speeds are getting higher than upload speeds.
Identify the Opposition
It’s time to extend your on-site survey if you find that your wireless tests are much too late or differ dramatically with every test you run. Start searching for nearby devices that may cause signal interference in your home or office.
Routers frequently compete with devices commonly used, such as microwave ovens, baby monitors, Bluetooth speakers, and cordless phones. Switch off All these devices are temporarily and verify the WiFi link. Turn one by one on each device to identify the suspect. Moving the wireless router elsewhere can minimize the interference or eliminate it.
Other parts of your home or office may find that reception falls off. That points to a problem of penetration or range, or both. In this case, extend the survey to areas where there is low signal power.
- Install a WiFi-analyzing app on your mobile phone. Android’s excellent choice is Farproc ‘s WiFi Analyzer, which has a signal strength meter in real-time. There are other apps, too. You can get a free download from the Google Play store at Farproc.
- Use a free tool like WiFi Heatmap, a network analyzer, and a signal meter available at Google Play to create your area’s actual WiFi heat map. Netspot works for computers running Windows and Macs. You can also use an app like the free Android WiFi Analyzer, which has a signal strength meter in real-time.
- Another healthy choice is Network Analyzer, an all-in-one Android or iPhone app that analyzes networks, tests, and identifies issues.
Change the WiFi Channels and test the WiFi Speed
Frequently used connected home gadgets use a block of 2.4 GHz tiny-wave frequencies that have problems penetrating solid, mass-like walls. The 2.4 GHz frequencies, known as “channels,” are widely used by adjacent WiFi networks and can cause interference.
WiFi standards divided WiFi signals into up to 14 overlapping channels in the 2.4 GHz block, which act as a range of frequencies. The channels are developed to function together, but they may interfere when two or more adjacent networks use the same channel, reducing bandwidth.
You can switch the WiFi channel of your network to one that is not being used close by. Open the dashboard for the router configuration from a PC browser, which is linked to your router. For guidance and password, please refer to the router manual. Carry out a Web-based search for a copy based on the model number if you need it.
Then select the wireless tab on the router. Pick an unused channel and Save setup, test the results of the connection.
If you live or work in an apartment or condo-style building, that can be helpful. If you have a nearby WiFi network running on the same channel as your network, choose a different channel.
Channel Juggling
Home appliances can cause wireless interference, including cordless phones, baby monitors, and microwave ovens. Your WiFi network could drop out when they are in use. This condition is one of the critical causes of so-called “intermittent contact.” To track down the offending device or devices, it can take some clever sleuthing.
That can happen when another device uses the same channel. Co-channel intervention can also result if access points are too close together or configured with too high output power.
An easy way for other WiFi equipment to reduce or eliminate interference is to enable auto-channel if available on your devices. WiFi access points that use auto-channel scan the WiFi spectrum periodically and select the most transparent channel based on other WiFi signals.
The same technique might work with a baby monitor or other video surveillance devices. Many baby monitors, for example, operate at 900MHz and do not interfere with WiFi. However, some wireless devices are 2.4GHz, which can conflict with 802.11 g or 802.11n single-band routers.
Change the Router Place and Test the WiFi Speed
Placement or lack of it is a physical condition that should be treated as a trigger if your WiFi signal does not hit devices in other house parts. It is similar to range issues, but physical barriers may hamper even routers with the ability to go the distance in your home or office.
Do not place the router, for example, near reflective surfaces such as glass, mirrors, and metal. WiFi signals are more likely to bounce off. Walls can severely degrade your WiFi signal, particularly those made from concrete.
All metal substrates reflect WiFi signals. Signals can bounce off walls, mirrors, metal file cabinets, and countertops in stainless steel, decreasing the network’s range and efficiency.
Water and fish tanks and other water lines behind the walls can soak up WiFi signals, impacting your signal strength dramatically. Heavy noise will come from nearby TVs, Halogen bulbs, and switches to the electric dimmer. Stereo speakers may cause interference. So, you can place a router in a wall, close to power lines.
One helpful alternative to reduce these circumstances is to install a series of WiFi boosters other than moving the router or mobile device. These tiny devices are plugged into a wall socket, paired with the router, and have a more reliable WiFi signal range.
Update the Firmware or Buy a new WiFi Router – WiFi Speed
There are two other methods for reliably fixing weak WiFi. Either update the firmware of an older router or buy a new router.
Old firmware often bears the blame. Holding the firmware up to date will mitigate or remove outright ongoing connection issues.
To update the firmware to older devices, you may need to access the router’s administrative interface through a web browser. Newer routers allow you to upgrade your device by pressing a button.
Occasionally, just getting a new router is the most natural cure. The new models offer enhanced WiFi speeds, more excellent coverage, and range.
Purchase a router with a dual- or triple-band capability with 802.11 N or AC technology. AC routers have the highest spectral bandwidth of about 8 x 160 MHz, especially the N routers standard of 4 x 40 MHz. This augmented bandwidth allows for the transmission of more data without slowing down.
Find a multi-band Router. This solution will allow you to keep older 2.4GHz devices on their bands while allocating new tools to the higher groups which support the latest WiFi standards. Essentially, it lets you run as if you had several routers.
One of the recent enhancements to the WiFi network is a Mesh network. This technology is much more costly than installing WiFi Extenders, but you may find it appropriate in hard-core reception situations. Mesh routers are designed to disperse the coverage of a WiFi network across multiple access points.
Check out: Top 6 Best WIFI Routers For Every Budget