If you feel that web browsing has slowed down to a crawl, your wireless Internet connection may not perform as it should. Here are a few tips which will improve connectivity and boost Internet download/upload speeds.Many buildings use metal and concrete structures, and these materials are known to reduce Wi-Fi signal strength significantly. According to George Hardesty, CEO at https://www.data-alliance.net/, each concrete wall reduces the strength of the 2.4GHz signal by 6-8 dB, and the value doubles for the 5GHz band. So, if the signal has to travel through three consecutive walls, it will be reduced by about 21 dB, which means that only about 10% of it will reach the destination.
This simple example shows that the position of your router is essential. Make sure to place it away from metal and concrete; wood and glass can diminish Wi-Fi signal strength as well, but their influence isn't that severe. And if you have a multi-level home, elevate the router and place it as close to the center as possible, or - even better - use a mesh network system, a collection of routers which are built by the same manufacturer, communicate with each other and have the potential to increase Wi-Fi signal strength significantly. On a side note, if you want to send more signal towards a particular room, you should point your router's antennas in that direction.
Routers can interfere with the devices that are placed near them; baby monitors, cordless phones, TV sets, and other similar electronics are known to cause trouble. So, keep this in mind when you choose your router's position.
Did you know that your router is in fact a tiny, and yet powerful computer? It has a CPU, RAM memory and runs a dedicated operating system. And just like regular computers, its RAM gets fragmented from time to time. So, it makes a lot of sense to restart it every week or so, and thus clear its memory.
Change the channel. Your router's channel! By default, most routers are set to broadcast on channel #6. However, your neighbors have routers as well, and if they have left them to the default settings, their Wi-Fi networks interfere with yours. To fix that, search your favorite store for a Wi-Fi analyzer app, install it on your smartphone, and then write down what channels are busy. If your neighbors use (let's say) channels #6 and #11, you should pick the one that's as far as possible from them - #1 in this example.
You can change the channel by logging into your router's admin password. You should have written down the username/pass combination when you have set up the router for the very first time; however, if you can't find the info, you can usually reset the router to its default settings by holding down the reset button for 10-20 seconds. Just check the manual; you should be able to find digital copies of it online, in case that you've lost the manual as well :)
If signal strength hasn't improved enough, it's time to use more radical measures. Purchase an access point, an inexpensive device which receives Wi-Fi signal from your router and transmits it further. Alternatively, if your house has got many concrete walls, you can use a pair of Powerline adapters, which will utilize the existing electrical wiring as a data transmission channel. By applying this method, data transfer rates will improve significantly, but you'll have to either connect your devices using cables, or use another cheap router at the other end of the Powerline network.
Don't forget that you will always achieve the fastest Internet speed if you use wires. So, make sure to connect your computers to the network using Ethernet cables that are plugged straight into the router whenever it is possible to do so.
