Wifi Boosting Tips

If Netflix dropping out is a regular occurrence, or you’ve become far too familiar with staring at the buffering symbol for what feels like an eternity, than you need to read this list of do-it-yourself Wifi boosting tips.

1) Move the router away from metal objects: pretty straight forward. Metal objects nearby can absorb the Wifi signal, or can reflect it, making it weaker.

2) Keep your router away from electrical appliances: Certain appliances can interfere with the Wifi signal around the home. Things like microwaves and cordless phones can play havoc, or even other routers in your neighbour’s apartment or house can create interference, which brings me to my next point…

3) Run a channel search for your router in your particular area: A lot of routers have an automatic function which is supposed to search for the best channel, but we find that they don’t usually work well at all. There are some online applications that you can use which can help you find the better wireless channel with a lesser amount of interference.

4) Reset your router regularly: The hilarious computer support lads in the UK TV Series ‘I.T Crowd’ answer their desk phones by saying “Hello, I.T department, Have you tried turning it off and on again.” It’s funny but it’s true. Jokes aside, this approach has merit, as this simple action can solve a lot of technical issues. If you can’t be bothered trying to remember to do this yourself (like most of us), then buy an outlet timer from your local electrical appliance store and set the router to reset at an off peak time every 24 hours.

5) Have a good password on your network: The number of people using your home Wifi can affect the speeds, and sometimes every little bit can help. So use the security already built into your router and choose a strong password that is a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. This will ensure that only authorized people are using your network.

6) Check the direction of the antennas on the router: A lot of routers have a couple of adjustable antennas on top. If yours are parallel, then move them to perpendicular. Wifi works best when signals are parallel to the internal antenna. These are horizontal in laptops and vertical in desktop computers. Internal antennas vary in mobile devices, depending on how you’re holding them (in portrait or landscape mode). Keeping a router’s antennas perpendicular to each other will keep a good connection between your home’s network and your devices you’re using in that home.

7) Try to stagger out the usage: If too many people are using chunky bandwidth all at the same time, it can really affect the speeds. Now I know that it’s not often convenient, but if everyone in the home is mindful of each other’s patterns of usage, perhaps you could plan your data download choices around each other without too much trouble. It is at best..an option. We at Signal Fox are not fans of this option, as we believe that in this day and age, we should be able to use our Wifi exactly when we want or need it.

So if at the end you have tried all of these little tips and still aren’t getting the Wifi that you want, call someone in (a professional) and get them to pull out the big guns to put an end to the eternal frustration…..of that constantly visiting buffer symbol!