Optimizing Your Home Wi‑Fi Network to Get the Best Coverage and Performance

These days, our home Wi-Fi network is just about as essential to everyday life as electricity and running water. So, when we have problems connecting to the network from our smart devices, we feel the impact in many different areas of our life — whether we’re trying to download important files for work, research our next vacation, or watch the latest episode of our favorite TV show.

It is also clear that our connectivity expectations are higher than ever before. We all have little patience while waiting for files to download, for jittery video, or for Internet/Wi-Fi service disruptions.

On the rare occasions when issues do occur, turning your Wi-Fi router off and then back on again usually solves the problem. But when you’re constantly having trouble connecting, or experiencing very slow performance, there’s a good chance there are other problems you need to address.

Is your router out of date?

One potential cause of Wi-Fi problems is an old router. Wi-Fi technology has improved a lot recently, so if your router is a few years old, it won’t work nearly as well as a new one. For example, newer Wi-Fi technology uses stronger wireless signals and allows multiple users to connect at the same time.

Physical Interferences In Your Home

If your router itself is not the problem, it may just be the location. To enjoy the best possible online experience, your router needs to be able to send out a strong signal to your wireless devices, wherever you are in your home. If possible, you should place the Wi-Fi router on a table or a shelf. The ideal position is half-way between the floor and the ceiling.

The physical features of your house may also be contributing to the problem. For example, certain materials used in your interior walls can reduce the strength of your signal. Most common construction materials, such as wood or drywall, won’t cause a problem, but if your router is located near walls made from concrete or brick, these will block some — or all — of your Wi-Fi signal.

Metal surfaces can also weaken your Wi-Fi signal, so placing your router in a kitchen or laundry room that has a lot of metal appliances is not a good idea either.

Finally, one of the most obstructive materials for Wi-Fi signal is a mirror. If you have a sizeable mirror near your Wi-Fi router, it may negatively impact Wi-Fi performance.

Interference from Other Electronic Devices

Another factor that can cause poor performance is interference from other electronic devices. Certain non-Wi-Fi devices — like baby monitors, Bluetooth devices, microwave ovens, and cordless phones — may share the same frequency as your Wi-Fi router. As a result, when these devices are in use, you may notice your Wi-Fi performance getting worse.

The mostly likely source of interference is other Wi-Fi routers located nearby. There’s a good chance that one or more of your neighbors has a Wi-Fi router that operates on the same frequency as yours. In this case, the signal coming from your neighbor’s router may be interfering with the signal from your router, and that may be contributing to the connection and performance problems you are experiencing.

If you think that interference from nearby routers is affecting your Wi-F network, contact your service provider for technical support. They can help you reconfigure your router to limit the impact of nearby routers and help you get your Wi-Fi performing the way it should be.

Need More Coverage?

Another option is to purchase a simple repeater or a mesh Wi-Fi system. Please beware, however, that not all Wi-Fi enhancement solutions are created equally. The ideal approach is to look through our general troubleshooting section that can help you solve an issue on your own. If you have tried troubleshooting the issue but do not see any improvement contact our GigabitNow customer support team to have them help you with any Wi-Fi issues you may be experiencing.

Check for Outdated Client Devices

While your Wi-Fi router is an important part of the Wi-Fi network, the wireless devices that you use to connect to the Internet also impact the quality of you Wi- Fi experience. As with the router, older devices are going to have outdated technology, resulting in slower connection speeds.

If you’re ready for a faster, more reliable Internet connection order GigatbitNow fiber Internet! Not only will you get awesomely fast fiber Internet speeds, you can get the fastest Wi-Fi available today with our router.