Electronics

Increasing Wi-Fi Range: What you need to know?

logo-812763_960_720Staying connected to the network has become inevitable for many, some for the pure entertainment it offers and some for the sake of work. At times, you get tired of sitting in the same room as that of the router so that you can continue with what you are doing uninterrupted.

The Wi-Fi signal has the optimal range of travel and the signal decreases in quality as the distance increases, especially if it has to penetrate walls. Another issue that weakens the signal is interference. Given below are some of the ways to enhance the range of the network.

Tips to optimize the network

  1. Right placement of the router

The placement of the router affects the wireless coverage to a great extent. Every room in your place is not equal in size, and hence optimal placement can make a lot of difference. A wireless router has to be placed away from walls and other obstructions and needs open spaces. Its performance is also affected by electronic devices nearby. You can set the router to an elevated space like the top of a shelf for the stronger signal.

  1. Update the router’s Firmware

Router manufacturers make it a point to update the software frequently to improve the performance of the routers. Most of the current routers have built-in update process in the administrator interface. You may just press the firmware upgrade button to get it updated. The older models require you to download the firmware from the website of the manufacturer, but, it is worth doing it. Remember to do this update on a regular basis for optimum efficiency. This will also offer better features and security updates.

  1. Control the quality

These days, you can limit the bandwidth used by different apps by using the Quality-of-Service (QoS) tools that come with the routers. This is especially beneficial if you use VoIP often or do video streaming regularly. You don’t want your call quality to come down just because somebody is downloading a long video. You can specify the services and applications that should be given priority and give the least priority to downloading. In the network’s administrator interface, go to the advanced settings to find the QoS configuration.

  1. Change the channel

Most of the routers you find today are multichannel. So when your devices are being used, they can switch the channels. It is the router default channel that is often used. But if the neighboring networks are using the same channel as yours, you may face signal congestion. In computers that are Windows-based, you can easily find out which channel is being used by the neighboring networks. Once you know this, select the less congested channel and manually change your router to use this channel. This setting is again found on the network’s administrator interface.

  1. Use a wireless range extender

You might be aware that every router can broadcast up to a limited distance only. When your device is beyond that, the signal gets weak. If you want your wireless network to cover a larger area, it is better to use a wireless range extender. This is a device which boosts the signal and is particularly useful if there are physical structures or thick walls that could be an obstruction to the signal. The extender picks up the Wi-Fi signal from the router and rebroadcasts it. It should be kept near the router so that it picks up the good signal.

  1. Add access points

An alternative to wireless range extender is the access point. Instead of a single extender, you can add multiple access points, each of which transmits the signal to each other. In essence, this works like a mesh network making the signal strong. But, adding access points can be expensive and is mainly used if there is a large area to cover like a big campus with some buildings or a single building with multiple floors. The advantage is that this creates a stable wireless network.

Most of the above-discussed points enable you to improve the signal strength making use of the features already built into the routers. The administrator interface of the wireless network is worth exploring. It contributes a lot in making your network fast and reliable.

Information shared by Inspire WIFI

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