6 pieces
of advice for
better WiFi.
There are many ways to strengthen your home WiFI, without it costing anything. We will help you with the best ones here.
What can you do to strengthen your WiFi?
(WITHOUT IT COSTING YOU ANYTHING)
In the most cases the problem resides within the home’s four walls, and not at your internet service provider or on your own computer, tablet or mobile phone. The problem is your own WiFi signal and the other conditions that exist in your home.
Surveys have shown that nearly 90% of Danes that experience problems with wireless connections are considering changing provider, even though this will not resolve the problem. This is because the problem is not the connection, it is the installation. So before paying for a solution, consider what you can do to create better performance in the home network. We have gathered 6 pieces of good advice.
1. Speed test
Begin by performing a speed test of the wireless network in your home (not only a measurement of the speed of the internet subscription). This must be in those areas where you most often use the wireless network. The speed can vary significantly depending on where you are located in the home, and you obtain a more objective understanding of where the problem is the greatest.We recommend the Ookla Speed test application when generally testing the internet connection and the Wi-Fi SweetSpots application to test the strength of your WiFi. Both applications can be downloaded free of charge from App Store or Google Play, and both allow for storing the results of your tests.
In this way you can easily compare whether the signal is better in the living room than in the kitchen, or where on the first floor you have the best connection. We recommend that you use both applications and test in various places in the house, with the telephone on a table or similar. You can possibly place a note at the places where you have measured with the result. In this way you get the most objective results to evaluate if your improvements make a significant difference.
2. Reconsider the placement of your router
Rethink the placement of your router. By placing it in the middle of the house, or closest to where you often use your WiFi, can help resolve many problems. It doesn’t help if the router is placed furthest away in a corner if the usage needs are from the other end of the house. We always recommend that you place your router as centrally and as high as possible to get maximum benefit from its wireless network. If it is to carry the entire load of the wireless network, then it must not be stored in a cupboard or similar.
3. Watch out for disturbing elements
Your router can easily be affected by other wireless products. For example, if your Bluetooth speakers are close to your router then they can create measurable disturbances. At the same time, local conditions can vary significantly. Cement, glass, mirrors, central floor heating and similar have big effects on your wireless network.
4. Connect what you can with cables
A good rule of thumb is that the greater the number of units that use the wireless network, the worse it will perform. Cabling your smart TV, music system, units used for streaming (AppleTV or other media players), or home office, implies that these units will not load your wireless network and you will often achieve a better and more stable wireless connection. This because you will be releasing capacity.
5. Restart your router or get another from your operator
Very often one changes router when changing operator. Thus many will have old routers that create unnecessary bottlenecks for your network. Many operators are aware of this, and if your router is a few years old, then you can often have it replaced by your operator. This is often a cheap or completely free of charge way to obtain a stronger connection.
If your router is old then it can often help by simply restarting the router. This is because the router scans channels when starting up and finds those channels that are least loaded. New routers can do this automatically. If you need assistance to do this then we suggest that you contact your operator.
6. Invest in new equipment
If the recommendations have not resolved the problem, then it can be necessary to buy equipment that can improve your wireless network. If you want a strong and future-secured wireless network, then we recommend a Mesh network. A Mesh network creates an “intelligent network in the entire home”, because the units “talk to one another” and optimize the signal, bandwidth and capacity to where the users are located. This ensures stability and speed.
If you buy a standard extender or booster, then you need to be aware that often they do not permanently resolve the problem, which can be frustrating. This is because the technology in these products often strengthens the WiFi signal in a limited area or creates a completely new network away from the router.
