WiFi Troubleshooting Tips
Best practices and WiFi troubleshooting tips while working from home
The Litchfield School District IT Department has compiled the following tips to get the most out of your wireless experience at home. Due to limitless setups and configurations of WiFi systems, it is impossible to the IT Department to troubleshoot specific community members network issues and it is best to reach out to your Internet Service Provider (Comcast, Fairpoint, etc.) for service.
However, if you want to increase WiFi speed or connectivity issues yourself, it may be easier than you think. 95% of the time, if your network feels slow, simple fixes can solve the problem.
Reboot
The simplest solution if you’re having latency issues is the cliche of IT departments everywhere — “have you tried restarting it?” Rebooting your router once in a while helps it perform better. This also applies to your laptop or Chromebook as well. Do you notice that other devices are connected to your WiFi except your device in question? Rebooting and ensuring it is connected to your wireless network can help restore connectivity.
Wireless Switches
Did you know that many laptops today come with wireless switches located on the side or top of the laptop? The switch type will depend on the manufacturer of the device but typically white lights mean enabled and orange lights mean the wireless card is disabled. If you aren't seeing any WiFi networks broadcasted or your laptop is in airplane mode, checking the wireless switch is a good first step.
Use Ethernet
Another easy way to solve trouble with latency, ping, and other speed-related issues is to always wire in as many devices as possible. If your desktop computer or laptop is close enough to your router to run an ethernet cable, you’ll almost certainly get faster speeds by doing so — not to mention optimizing the speeds on your WiFi network by freeing up bandwidth for other devices.
Call your ISP
If you don’t think the problem is on your end, don’t be scared to pick up the phone and call your Internet service provider. Getting a technician to look at your network can save hours of trouble — particularly if the trouble turns out to be on their end.
2.4GHz vs. 5GHz Wireless Networks
Is it better to connect to the 2.4GHz or the 5GHz band?
On the client device side, all other things being equal, 5GHz connections will provide better performance at short ranges than 2.4GHz. This is because 5GHz, while somewhat faster, can't travel as far or transmit through some objects due to that band's shorter wavelengths. The 2.4GHz band tends to have more congestion and fewer channel options. That said, if you want to keep using 2.4GHz, consider experimenting with the channel selection. "Auto" usually does a decent job of hopping around the channel options and finding the best one.
The last thing to keep in mind is latency or a connectivity issue may also be on the other person's end. The best thing to do in that case would be to direct them to this page for them to conduct some troubleshooting of their own.
Wi-Fi Information and Help For Home