If you work from home or enjoy frequent streaming and gaming from your living room or bedroom, having reliable and stable WiFi is important. We all know the feeling of frustration that comes when that video just won’t load, or when downloading an important work document on your home computer becomes an excruciatingly slow process.
If you’re experiencing slower than normal speeds at home or looking for a way to strengthen your connection, we’ve got a few tips to make browsing, surfing, and working faster and easier. Whether you have Charter, Verizon, HughesNet Satellite Internet, or any other Internet provider, the tips below will get you moving faster!
#1. Is Your Modem/Router In the Best Location?
As silly as it sounds, location can mean everything when it comes to your internet connection. Though many people like to hide their modem/router equipment away in cupboards or drawers in order to maintain a cohesive aesthetic throughout their home, having them out in the open can be an easy way to improve your connection. Find a central place in your home where the equipment has the ability to reach the main places where you work, stream, and game.
#2. Avoid Interference
Many do not know that you should never place your modem/router behind another technology or appliance item. This is because items like televisions, cordless phones, and even microwaves can interfere with your internet equipment and drastically affect your signal. Keep your modem/router away from other electronic or tech equipment in your home and instead, try placing them on a shelf or table where they will experience the least amount of interference.
#3. Are You On The Correct WiFi Channel?
Much like televisions or radios, routers have a number of channels through which they can operate, some of which are better than others. To figure out which channel will work best for your needs, you can switch in between them to test which makes your signal the strongest and most reliable.
#4. Secure Your Home Network
We have all probably experienced someone sneaking into our WiFi connection at some point. If neighbors or people nearby are able to use your connection, they will clog the bandwidth and make it difficult for you and your family to go online. To avoid this, always make sure your network is private and password-protected so you can control who has access to your internet connection.
#5. Utilize the Quality of Service Mechanism
It’s an unfortunate reality that some applications you might use at home will take up more bandwidth than others. To control this and put more important action items higher up on the list of how much bandwidth they are allotted, put them in order of Quality of Service. By utilizing this tool, you can decide for yourself which apps get the most and the least bandwidth so that your online experience is improved.
#6. Update Your Existing Equipment
Though some internet providers make customers use the equipment they provide, others give you the flexibility to use your own. If this is the case with your provider, buying your own equipment is generally the way to go, especially since most providers use outdated equipment. Make sure that whatever you purchase matches up with your internet service provider’s requirements and gives you great service with fast speeds.
#7. Consider Purchasing a WiFi Extender
If you have a large house or apartment, distance between your devices and internet equipment can be the main factor working against you. By purchasing a WiFi extender, you can lengthen the range in which your equipment will reach throughout your home and even strengthen your existing connections.
#8. Don’t Clog Your Own Bandwidth
If you own many electronic devices, you can be clogging your own bandwidth if you have all of them connected to the internet at once. Consider powering down some of them while you’re not using them or disconnecting them from the WiFi. Though it can be frustrating to do this with your frequently-used items, disconnecting devices such as your iPad and game consoles when they’re not being used is an easy way to boost your connection on the ones you are using.
#9. Regularly Restart your WiFi
Restarting your WiFi is important because the equipment will use this time to update and come back fresh. To make it easier on you, you can set a reboot schedule so that you aren’t having to manually do it each morning when you wake up or before you go to sleep.
#10. Turn Off Your Equipment’s Power-Saving Mode
Power-saving mode, or eco-mode, is all well and good until you need fast speeds to complete your daily tasks. Check your router to be sure eco-mode is not activated; if it is, turning this function off will give you a boost in speeds. It’s important to note also that eco-mode doesn’t save much power, so halting this feature won’t affect much of anything.