With a large chunk of the population that is increasingly working from home or staying at home, the internet has become the backbone to fulfill education, work as well as entertainment requirements. This has certainly put a tremendous amount of pressure on the existing network infrastructure leading to reduced bandwidths and upset users. Therefore, the demand for faster internet connections is rising. In this blog we will discuss some effective ways to boost internet connection—easily boosts your Wi-Fi speed & signal with these 12 tips.
A simple internet connection consistency test can tell you if there is a problem with your internet. However, you need not wait for the service providers to improve their infrastructure so that you can get more bandwidth. The following internet boosting tips can help you improve your home internet speed to get more out of your existing connection.
Optimizing the router to check which setting works better for your requirements can help boost your signal strength. To begin with, if you have a router with ‘entertainment settings’ then you can try to optimize your bandwidth to stream content or play video games.
However, if multiple users are accessing the same wi-fi signal then this optimization technique will not be very effective. Instead, you can turn off the entertainment settings entirely in such cases.
Another optimization method is to set the fragmentation level of your router at a lower value to allow a more efficient data packet transfer thereby overcoming your network’s reliability related issues.
This router optimization technique will only be effective if you have an unreliable network. If your network performance is reliable, then lowering the threshold to a much smaller size will decrease the performance of the network.
Thirdly, you can try to optimize your router by resetting the RTS or Request to Send thresholds. This protocol is designed to clear data transmission channels prior to sending the data packets. By setting your RTS thresholds at a lower value can enhance your wi-fi performance, especially in crowded areas.
It is important to ensure that your wi-fi is secured from unwanted access. Without appropriate protection, your network remains open for free-loaders to latch on to. And extra users will certainly take up bandwidth and impact your network’s performance.
Another motivation of keeping your home wi-fi secure is the increasing presence of smart home devices in our lives. Since all such devices run on the home wi-fi network, it is more than even essential to ensure that this access is secured.
If your bandwidth is being consumed by unwanted entrants on your home wi0fi, then your home automated devices will also suffer from a lack of appropriate bandwidth. Further, failure to maintain secured network access can leave your device control vulnerable to outside attacks as well.
Upgrading your aging router can be another instant internet connection booster if you are suffering from consistently slow connections. Purchasing a high-end router that is equipped with latest technology can also help improve your home security features.
Most new routers are designed to work and connect better with smart home devices than their older versions. Apart from this, there are a host of advantages that accompany a router upgrade. Compatibility with home devices and additional security help users automate their living spaces with a more secure network.
For large businesses, only a router upgradation might not be enough to boost internet connection. CarrierBid offers professional telecom consulting services for small and large enterprises. You can consult us to determine which plan best suits your organization.
Wi-fi channels help portion out the device connections across the entire spectrum thereby lowering the demands on a single channel. This results in speedier connections and prevents the bands from getting over-crowded.
Most routers today offer connections that are over 5GHz and 2.5GHz frequencies. While these are mostly dual-band, some routers today even come with tri-band settings with an extra 5GHz band for spreading out the connections.
Some routers are pre-configured with features like automatic allocation. Based on the connection requirements, these devices can assign a device to an appropriate channel and even switch it to a new channel if necessary. If this is not preconfigured in your router, then you can head to Settings and check if networks are set up to include all the bands on your router.
Once you have confirmed this, you can go ahead and connect particular devices to specific channels that are most appropriate for then to connect on.
According to experts, the wi-fi signal is emitted in a perpendicular direction to your router. However, this signal can become considerably weak if it travels through walls especially at an angle. Therefore, routers with antennas must have their antennas angled properly to help them travel through the walls while retaining their strength.
So, if your router has 2 antennas then you can angle one vertically and the other horizontally so that the signal travels side to side as well as upward and downward, respectively.
You may also experience slow internet connectivity if your wireless router is not placed in a suitable position. Ideally, the router must be located centrally to deal with a slow internet connection and increase the speed throughout the house, such locations can be a central living space mantle, on a table in the common hallway, etc.
Under no circumstances must you place your router in the kitchen. This is because other devices like the microwave can interfere with its signal. You must also avoid placing the router in the basement or in a corner of the house.
Wi-fi repeaters are cost-effective and efficient ways of improving your internet speed. Without changing your SSID or password settings, you can carry your wi-fi signal much further with the help of a wi-fi repeater.
Such a repeater includes a wireless router that is designed to pick up your wi-fi signal, boost it, and subsequently transmit it to different devices in your house. A spare router can perform this activity for you just as easily. You can connect the 2 routers using their LAN ports.
More often than not, a user is bound to suffer from a weak network if the router is not designed to cater to the size of the area in which the network is being accessed. In other words, you can overcome the problem of the distance from your router by adding a wireless range extender. But first, check out our comparison of wireless access point vs range extender.
A router can only broadcast reliably up to a certain range. Also, its strength can be impacted by factors like too many walls or too many interfering electronic devices around it.
A range extender or amplifier can help you overcome these limitations as it extends the broadcasting capabilities of your router by picking up its signals and extending them beyond the router’s range.
Malicious software or malware can attack your router and impact its performance. To avoid such viruses and other attacks it is important to check your devices for updates and use effective anti-virus software to protect them.
Further, the firmware of your router must be updated periodically as per the device manufacturer’s recommendations. These can be found easily on the wireless router manufacturer’s website.
A wi-fi connection is most effective when your device is near the router. As you move further away, the connection can become weaker. However, if you are accessing the wi-fi connection near your router and still feed the need for an internet connection booster, then it is a good idea to try and connect your computer to the router using a wired ethernet connection.
This is an extremely simple and reliable way of enhancing network speed. This is mainly because, unlike a wireless connection, a wired connection is free from interferences that may be suffered by a wi-fi connection.
Most home routers are designed to cater to over 200 devices at a time. However, this is purely in theory. In reality, the bandwidth issues begin as more and more devices get added leading to slower network performance.
In our current lives, routers are bound to be overworked with numerous smartphones, tablets, PCs, smart home devices connecting to it. So if you are looking at an internet connection booster as a result of multiple devices slowing down your internet connectivity, then the best way to overcome this is by creating a limit on the number of devices accessing your home internet at a given point in time.
You can see the list of devices connected to your router on your router app. Here, you can find unnecessary devices, especially if they look like third-party devices latching on to your network. Such devices can be removed here and also banned from accessing again.
You can also manage your devices by throttling your bandwidth. In other words, your router may allow you to select some devices and slow down their connection speed. This is ideal of devices that are using your network from performing simple and non-critical tasks.
Some routers are capable of ‘restricting’ the number of hours for which a device can access the network. This is also beneficial for managing the network access hours of your children.
The cache is where you can view all the clutter that has collected from all your activities online. Clearing the cache as well as the internet history periodically can help reduce browser blockages. Both cache and browser history need to be cleared for each individual browser that you are using. Therefore, it is recommended to keep this number down to as few as possible.
Further, different browsers work in different ways and at different speeds. However, irrespective of the browser you are using, it is important to maintain as few plugins as possible and also to ensure that it is up to date.
Lastly, download an ad-blocker to increase your browsing speed.
Most residential areas have two to four internet providers available such as DSL from the Local Exchange Carrier (LEC), cable coax, fixed wireless (line of sight to a nearby tower) and LTE 4G/5G. You may even try internet connection bonding to combine multiple connections.
CarrierBid can assist in providing quotes and bandwidth availability for your home based business (and home worker) since we have over 180 carriers in our portfolio. We’ll then work with the chosen carrier to ensure that the service is quickly and properly installed and can assist you in setting up new and greater bandwidth at your corporate locations. After all, most home users are using VPN which can quickly degrade a business’ internet access.
A wi-fi router is probably one of the first places to look for when you are looking for an internet connection booster. It is a crucial component in the network and is capable of delivering excellent performance with the right configuration and settings.
These 12 tips are collated to help you try your hand at giving a boost to your internet connection before looking for a different ISP or a plan upgrade. Apart from these, periodic testing of your network signal strength can also help you stay one step ahead of any potential network performance issues.
If you want a temporary boost to your speed while you are on the go, you may share the mobile data with your other devices, find out how.
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