How to Boost Your WiFi

1. Select a Good Spot for Your Router

Not every spot will automatically work out for a router. First of all avoid placing it around metal objects or appliance emitting electromagnetic waves. It is not so easy, but try keeping the distance from electric wires. Think of an area you want to cover with a wireless signal and place the router roughly in the center of an area. Elevating the router above the floor level can also help boost the WiFi signal.

2. Keep Your Router Up-to-date

Unfortunately, hackers come up with more and more twisted schemes for their attacks. Many of malware attacks have a chance of happening simply because the routers are not kept up-to-date. When a malware infects a router, it can steal bandwidth and spread over the network to other devices connected to it. Even if there is no dangerous malware on the horizon, routers with older firmware will function worse than those up-to-date.

3. Get a Stronger Antenna

A majority of routers have antennas on a smaller side, thus with a weaker reception. The powerful antennas can be extremely large, so it is understandable that home routers have neat antennas that will fit in a household easier. A standard antenna that you most probably already have is usually about several inches tall and has around 4 dB gain, while a 10dB antenna can be around 10-15 inches tall. So if a bigger antenna is not a bother, this is a great way to boost your current router capabilities. All WiFi antennas feature the same RP-SMA connector, so it should be no problem to choose a new one you like.

4. Switch to a Different WiFi Channel

There are many WiFi channels that a router can broadcast on - most countries have six non-overlapping channels (1, 6, 11, and 14). Despite that, many users have their routers set on the default channel - usually either 1 or 6 - which results in a crowded channel because too many packets of data are trying to go through. The solution is to switch among the available channels and set on the one that's occupied the least. NetSpot - a professional yet easy-to-use WiFi survey software - can help you with that.

5. Switch to 5GHz

The 5 GHz wireless frequency is often less busy than the 2.4 GHz one and offers faster data rates at shorter distances. Check whether your router supports this frequency and switch to it to get a faster speed in a short instant.

6. Reboot

Simplicity is genius. Try a simple and classical solution to switch your WiFi router off and then on again to improve wireless speed. A reboot clears the router’s memory and lets it install the updates.

More useful information on how to boost WiFi signal.