How To Improve Wifi Signal?

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Are you searching for how to Improve Wifi Signal? If yes, you are on the right page. WiFi can be a fickle thing. You may enjoy a perfectly strong WiFi signal, you only move a few steps in one direction and see it falling to one bar.

Continue reading our guide on how to Improve Wifi Signal at home; the seemingly unreliable nature of WiFi networks has everything to do with the fact that there are many factors that influence their performance.

Table of Contents

Factors That Affect WiFi Performance and How To Improve Wifi Signal

· Physical Distance

Inbreeding for technical and safety reasons do not have the same temporary employment capacity as cell towers. Cheaper routers can even struggle to cover a relatively small apartment with a strong WiFi signal – let alone a whole house. You can determine the range of your WiFi router using a WiFi analyzer -app such as the main spot.

· Your internet provider

You can easily waste a whole day solving bad WiFi performance without realizing that your internet provider is the fault. To test whether that is really the case, connect to the internet via a wired connection and perform an internet speed test. The measured download and upload speeds must match the speeds advertised by your ISP. If they don’t, don’t hesitate to complain.

· Obstructions

WiFi signals can be partially absorbed or even completely blocked by various obstacles and objects, including walls, channel work, furniture, household appliances, and even people. These WiFi blockers have a particularly negative effect on 5 GHz WiFi networks because signals with higher frequencies hardly penetrate as well as lower frequency signals.

· Router capacity

Just as some computers can hardly process casual web browsers and some can display complex 3D objects, not all routers are equally powerful. You cannot reasonably expect a low-end router to offer reliable wireless access to the internet to a busy office with more than a dozen employees and various fax machines, WiFi-connected printers, and wireless security cameras.

· Interference

WiFi signals occupy the same radio frequency band of the electromagnetic spectrum as actual radios, mobile phones, microwave ovens, walkie-talkies, baby monitors, and many other devices, all of which can interfere with WiFi signals. Of course, WiFi networks can also disrupt each other, a problem that is especially common in apartment buildings and other densely populated areas.

· Bandwidth Hoggers

Sometimes the problem is not with the strength of your WiFi signal, but with the capacity of your internet connection. Video chat or streaming on multiple devices can even bring a strong WiFi network to a crawl. For the best experience, it is important to manage bandwidth Hoggers and to prevent them from stealing the bandwidth of all others.

· Performance-enhancing functions

Modern routers support all kinds of wonderful performance-enhancing functions, including the quality of services, multi-user Mimo (MU-MIMO), Beamforming, and others. However, these functions may have to be enabled manually to work, and they often do not support older routers at all.

Now that you understand the top factors that influence WiFi performance, it is time to view how to improve wifi signal

How To Improve Wifi Signal

1. Select a good place for your router

Not all places are equally suitable for your router. To start with, you want to prevent your router from placing your router close to metal objects and devices that electromagnetic waves emitted. Metal is the top amplifier of a WiFi signal and its presence close to a WiFi router can easily make a large dead zone.

Other materials, including glass, wood, plastics, foam, and cardboard, can also disrupt a WiFi signal, but their influence on WiFi signal strength is usually less serious. Keep in mind that many buildings use metal studs (instead of 2×4 wood) for mounting the chipboard, and placing your router in the neighborhood would be a bad idea. If in doubt, use a Handheld Stud Finder or at least a Stud Finder app on your smartphone.

Strictly speaking, all household appliances send electromagnetic waves to a certain extent, even fluorescent light bulbs, circuit breakers, and electric razors. The largest emitters of electromagnetic waves are usually found in the kitchen and include stoves, microwave stoves, and dishwashers.

Other problematic devices are washing machines, mug dryers, televisions, wireless phones, and radiation stoves. If you have one of these devices at home, keep your WLAN router away as far as possible to stimulate the WLAN signal.

Ideally, you would also like to keep a secure distance from electrical threads. To cover an area with an even WLAN signal, you must place your WLAN router in the middle. You can stimulate your wireless signal somewhat by increasing the router over the floor level.

WiFi signals ray in all directions, not just horizontally. If your router is on the floor, the ability to issue strong signals is seriously limited. For the same reason, people who live in Huizen with several shops always have to find a WLAN router near the ceiling on the first floor. In this way, even the second floor receives a consistent cover.

2. Keep your router up to date

If you follow the news, you have heard of the growing number of large malware attacks that cost both companies and individuals every year. Many of these attacks would not be possible if all routers were informed. As soon as malware infects a router, this bandwidth can steal and spread the network to other devices.

But even without dangerous malware, routers work worse with old firmware than routers that are well updated.

To check whether your router carries out the latest available firmware:
Start a web browser on your computer or mobile device and establish a connection to the network of your router.
Enter the IP address of the router in the web browser.
If you don’t know what the IP address is, check whether there is an information sticker anywhere on the router.
Register with the name and password of the administrator.
If you do not know what the right administrator password is, you will see the information sticker below or at the back of your router.
Select an option with the name firmware update or router update.
Since there are many different routers, you may have to do some excavation and detective work to find the right option.
Wait for your router to find and install the latest firmware.

Never interrupt the update. If it takes a long time and does not seem to react to your router, give it a few minutes before you separate the router from the current and switch it on again.

3. Get a stronger antenna

Most WLAN routers come with small, weak antennas. It is not the case that the manufacturers can save every cent, but powerful WiFi antennas are usually terribly large. Compared to the antenna, which was delivered with its router, which is probably only a few centimeters long and has about 4 dB reinforcements, an antenna of 10 dB can be between 10 and 15 centimeters long.

But if it doesn’t mind, a new, mighty WiFi antenna is a great way to stimulate WiFi at home or in the office without buying a new router.

There are different types of WLAN antennas, but the only type you have to take care of plastic coat to protect the antenna.

Such antennas use the same RP-SMA connection, and there are many different models in Amazon and other online stores. Some are even supplied with a practical expansion cable with which you can further remove the antenna from your router to achieve an optimal signal distribution.

To stimulate the WLAN signal, you have to buy an antenna with more profit than your current. The winning of an antenna system compared to an isotropic cooler in radio frequencies is expressed compared to isotropic in DBI or decibel. Most house routers are delivered with small antennas, the profit of which is usually between 4 and 5 DBI. Replacing such an antenna with a 9 -DBI antenna should offer an excellent signal thrust.

4. Buy a WiFi Repeater/ Booster/ Extender

Although they are called many names, WLAN booster, repeater and extensions are basically the same.

WLAN repeaters are relatively simple devices that remove an existing signal from your WLAN router and expand it as a new network. This new network is just an expansion of your main network and all data it goes through is also going through the main network.

WIFI boosters and letgers are very similar, but also strengthen the existing signal before you expand it again to create a second network. Since WLAN boosters usually have a greater range than WLAN repeaters, they are useful in situations in which the original signal is very weak.

A good repeater or booster costs less than 100 US dollars and can be installed by everyone in a few minutes since the installation process usually only contains the pressure on the WPS key. At the end of this article, you will find a list of the top 5 WLAN booster.

In order to achieve the best performance when using a WLAN repeater or booster, it is a good idea to use a WLAN booster -app to analyze the existing WLAN coverage and to determine the optimal way how this existing WLAN network can be expanded.

5. Cut off the WLAN Leeches

A coded, password-proof WiFi is a must at that time. With more people than ever, the WLAN, the hunger for open, fast WiFi networks is really. Don’t think your neighbors will not use your WiFi network just because you have your own – you will do that.

6. Switch to another WLAN channel

Just like alleys on the highway, there are several WLAN channels on which a WLAN router can radiate. Although most countries have six non -overlapping channels (1, 6, 11, and 14), many users leave their router on the standard channel, which is usually channel 1 or channel 6.

This leads to a WLAN file because too many packages try to drive the same line. The solution is simple: Discover which channel is the least occupied and switch it on. This can be done with the help of main pot, professional and user-friendly WLAN analysis, and supervisory means.

Switch to another WLAN channel
With a new channel you have to tell your WIFI router that it should use it:
Register in your router as an administrator.
Go to settings and look for wireless settings.
You should see an option called a channel. The chances are good that it will be set to the car.
Select the desired channel.
Save the new settings and wait until your router is restarted.

You can now check whether your router takes over on the new channel with the help of a WIFI network analyzer like Netspot.

Find the best WLAN channel with the main stain

Use Netspot to quickly find the least busy WiFi channels.

macOS 10.10+, Windows 7/8/10

7. Control bandwidth-hungry applications and clients

To download and upload a bandwidth-hungry application or a client, only a speed for everyone in the same WLAN network is downloaded and uploaded. Fortunately, support for modern router services such as the Support of QOS (quality), with which users can prioritize certain applications above others. With QoS, your online game meeting is never interrupted by a person who looks at a 1440p video on YouTube or downloads a huge Linux distribution of the Internet.

To change the QOS settings of your router:
Register in your router as an administrator.
Go to settings and open the Wireless Settings tab.
Find the QOS settings.
Configure your QOS rules.
Save the new settings and wait until your router is restarted.
Check bandwidth-hungry applications and clients

Some routers make it very easy to configure QOS settings, while others are anything but intuitive. If in doubt, consult the manufacturer of your router.

8. Use the latest WLAN technologies

The latest wireless technology, IEEE 802.11ac, offers superior download and upload speeds as well as an improved area compared to older WLAN technologies such as IEEE 802.11b, G, and others. In order to use the latest WLAN technologies to stimulate the WLAN for the home, you have to make sure that both your home router and your WLI-compatible devices such as smartphones and laptops support them.

If you select a new WLAN router with support for IEEE 802.11ac, do not choose the cheapest model you can find. If your budget is not very strict, it is always worthwhile to buy additional expenses for the purchase of a router with an excellent range and modern functions such as MU-MIMO, quality of services, hospitals, gigabit-ethernet connections, and interchangeable external antennas.

A good router should be able to be a service for at least five years, it usually takes until a large new WLAN technology becomes mainstream. At the end of this article, we recommend the five best WLAN routers of leading manufacturers, so you only have to choose a choice that fits your budget.

9. Change to 5 GHz

The 5 -GHz -wireless frequency offers faster data speeds at shorter distances and is usually under much less pressure than the wireless frequency of 2.4 GHz. If your router supports it, you should stop it at a short distance for an immediate speed thrust.

How to stimulate your WLAN by switching your router to 5 GHz:

Register in your router as an administrator.
Go to settings and open the Wireless Settings tab.
Change the 802.11 tires from 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz.
Start your router again to apply the new settings.

A disadvantage of the 5 GHz -wireless frequency is that it almost does not penetrate as well as the wireless frequency of 2.4 GHz. This can be a problem in office buildings and residential areas. Therefore, it is advisable to always use 5 GHz in combination with 2.4 GHz. In this way, you can get the best of both worlds.

10. Don’t forget to restart

The timeless IT council: “If it doesn’t work, try to switch it on and off” also for WLAN routers. A simple restart is often sufficient to significantly improve your WLAN speeds. A restart is attributed to the memory of the router and suggests updates to install updates.

To restart your router, press the restart button on the back (you may need a pointed object if a pen has to be added because many router manufacturers use built-in buttons) or simply separate and connect again.

If your router really starts to install an update at the restart, be patient and do not interrupt the update process by switching off your router. Depending on the performance of your router, the update process can take more than 10 minutes.

11. Measure the wired internet service

If you have tried the 10 tips described above to improve the wireless internet service without success, it is time to shift your focus from your WLAN and measure the wired internet service. To do this, you need an Ethernet cable and a laptop or a desktop computer with an Ethernet connection.

Connect an end of the Ethernet cable to your modem.
Connect the other end with your laptop or desktop computer.
Open the following address in a web browser: https://www.speedtest.net/.
Click the GO button to measure your wired internet service.
Compare the results with the speeds advertised by your internet provider.

We recommend repeating the wired internet performance test several times at different times of the day. If you are sure that your internet provider is the error, send him the results of your tests and ask him to solve the problem. If you do not do this, it’s probably time to switch to another internet provider, as even the best tips for enlarging the WLAN signal do not help you.

12. Set a mesh WLAN system

Sometimes a single router – no matter how capable – cannot reliably cover with a strong WLAN signal. In such cases, it is best to set up a Mesh WLAN system that consists of the lead router and several satellite units that together offer seamless WLAN coverage.

Some of the most popular Mesh WLAN systems are now from Asus, Eero, Orbi, and Google, and later we give some recommendations in this article. What is great about Mesh WLAN systems is generally that you can expand them depending on your needs. This means that you can start with just one main route and a satellite unit and only an upgrade if your WLAN still does not meet your expectations.

13. Change your DNS address

The domain name system (DNS) is responsible for the conversion of domain names (e.g. www.google.com) into IP addresses (64.233.160.0). By default, your modem is most likely configured for the use of the DNS server of your internet provider, the performance of which may not be the best.

The good news is that most modems change your DNS address, which is often the easiest way to stimulate the WLAN performance. There are many public DNS servers from which you can choose, including Google’s DNS server (8.8.8.8) or the DNS server from Cloudflare (1.1.1.1).

In order to select the best DNS server, we recommend that you download and implement the Domain Name Shable -Benchmark. This free Windows application offers functions that are designed in such a way that you enable serious research work for DNS performance research, and you can use it to find the fastest DNS server in your region with just a few clicks:

Download the domain -name -Benchmark and start the domain name.
Switch to the “Name Server” tab.
Click on the benchmark button.
After completing the benchmark, go to the tab.

After you have selected the best DNS server, you have to switch to the settings of your modem and replace the standard DNS address with the DNS address of the new server.

14. Buy a better internet plan

It is easy to underestimate how many devices are now connected to the Internet via WLAN. From computers and mobile phones to various smart home products and devices, these devices connected to WIFI use a considerable amount of bandwidth, and not all internet plans can offer this.

If you have paid for the same internet plan in the past 10 years, you have to see which other options are available and consider an upgrade. Perhaps you can even save some money because the prices for fast internet plans have dropped considerably since the early days of broadband internet.

Conclusion; on how to improve wifi signal

Last but not least on how to improve wifi signal, consider contacting your internet provider and asking for help. It will help you to diagnose your WLAN performance problems from a distance or even send a technician to measure your WLAN intensity and help you stimulate your wireless signal.