Wireless internet has become pretty much a necessity in most homes. Especially during the pandemic, which has lef to people largely working from home offices and many students going to school online.
The lockdowns impacted internet congestion across the country, causing an average rise in congestion of 6% in the nation’s capital, and Melbourne was just shy of that with a 5.84% increase.
While you may not b able to do anything about the increased number of activities happening online due to COVID, you can help reduce problems and improve speed and coverage for your own home network.
Often a slow or spotty home Wi-Fi network can be remedied with a few simple tips.
Would you like to stop encountering buffering when binging your favourite streaming show? Need to ensure your zoom calls for work don’t end up with your face frozen on the screen? Check out these tactics below to improve your wireless experience.
Update Your Router Firmware
Home users often forget about upgrading their router firmware, which not only can lead to security issues, but also poor maintenance.
You have to specifically log into your router settings to look for and apply updates. Once you do, you may find that your router’s performance has improved, as these updates often contain bug fixes along with other enhancements.
Use QoS on Your Router
QoS stands for Quality of Service. This is a setting area in most routers where you can direct bandwidth traffic.
For example, you could make your business device a high priority for bandwidth delivery, while making your smart coffee maker a low priority.When you set up a QoS rules, you can stop things like large downloads from stealing bandwidth away from your video calls or entertainment streaming.
Ask Your ISP if They Have Upgraded Their Modem
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will continually upgrade their network infrastructure. If you haven’t checked in with them in a while, call and ask if you still have the newest model of modem they issue to customers.
You may find that you are behind a model and swapping that out for an upgrade can improve Wi-Fi coverage and speeds.
Place Your Router In Optimum Spot
The Wireless signal coming from your router travels through the air, and it can be blocked. Things like solid block walls, large heavy furniture, and even the microwave being on can interfere with your interfere with your Wi-Fi signal to the other area of your home.
These units all communicte with each other and can automatically switch a device’s connection from a congested unit to a less congested unit to improve signal quality.
Mesh networks also allow you to easily extend your Wi-Fi signal farther and keep the same strength. They even make units for outdoor use.
Get a Router Using Wi-Fi 6
Wi-Fi 6 is the latest version of the Wi-Fi standard. It came out in 2019 and provides multiple improvements over the prior model. These include:
- Faster Speeds
- Better multi-device handling
- Improved Security
- More optimised data packet delivery
Upgrading your Router from Wi-Fi 5 to Wi-Fi 6 can make a noticeable difference in the handling of traffic on your home network and the speed of your internet connection.
Take advantage of the 5GHz Band
Many routers have a dual-band capability. This means they allow you to setup a 2.5 GHz band network (the most commonly used) and a 5.0 GHz band network. Having both networks provides you with options and allows you to take advantage of the less used, 5 Ghz band.
Here is how you would use each of these two networks:
- 2.5GHz
- Use for Mobile and IoT devices
- It is better when you are farther away from router
- Can travel long distances
- Can suffer intereference from microwaves
- 5.0 GHz
- Use for PCs
- It is better when you are close to the router
- More interference from solid objects
- Faster than the 2.5 Ghz band
Get Expert Help for Optimising You Home Network
Do not suffer from a slow problematic home network! Mr IT can provide affordable Wi-Fi solutions for your Melbourne home to improve speed, reach, and reliability.
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