The confinement caused by the COVID-19 has made our Wi-Fi connection more important than ever, and it is normal, since spending more hours at home depends much more on it.
Its importance grows, and therefore performance problems also affect us more. Imagine the scene, you are going to enjoy your favorite movie in streaming but the stops are constant and the experience is not good. Wi-Fi is slow, and you don’t know where to start.
That is just one of many problems that we can have when we find ourselves in a situation like this (of confinement), in which Wi-Fi is being used intensively by several people. But rest assured, in this article we are going to help you improve the performance of your Wi-Fi connection effortlessly so that you can enjoy your favorite content, websites and games.
1. – Wi-Fi and router placement
It is the most basic step and one of the easiest, but it is also one of the most helpful to improve the performance of our Internet connection, so it is the first one that we should consider.
If we have the router in the wrong position, the range and performance of our Wi-Fi connection may be so poor that it barely covers a few meters and is not capable of reaching minimally acceptable speeds.
The ideal is to always place the router in a high position, free of obstacles and sources of interference, and place it in a central location since the Wi-Fi signal will cover each of the dependencies of our home in a more balanced way .
2. – Wi-Fi and obstacles
There is no doubt, our homes are full of obstacles and sources of interference that can end up completely blocking the signal of our Wi-Fi if we are not a little careful when setting up the router.
In some cases, even though we take the utmost care in the placement of the router, we may encounter obstacles that we have not been able to overcome. If this situation occurs, the best we can do is try to eliminate those obstacles that can destroy your Wi-Fi.
For example, we can open the doors when we are going to use a Wi-Fi device in a remote area, or change mirrors and other site objects whenever possible.
3. – Check for updates to the router
It is a very important point. Some manufacturers, such as AVM, release periodic updates that improve both the security, stability and performance of their routers.
In some cases they also introduce improvements at the functional level that can improve the performance of our router, and they are completely free.
Updates update our router and improve it without us having to bear any cost, so they are essential to enjoy an optimal experience. Some features and innovations can directly or indirectly improve the performance of our Wi-Fi connection.
4. – Control the use you make of your Wi-Fi
Every Internet connection has a certain bandwidth, and now, with the confinement situation we live in, it is easier than ever to overcome it.
If several people are using the same Wi-Fi connection, the bandwidth can be saturated almost instantly, so we must be very careful with the downloads, the applications and everything that we have open simultaneously that is using network resources.
Closing applications and downloads will help us improve performance significantly. In this case, agreeing usage times with our relatives can be a good option to avoid conflicts.
5. – Prioritize the traffic of your connection
This point comes from the previous one, and as we will see is of great importance, since it allows us to better manage bandwidth consumption when we have several people using an Internet connection at the same time.
Most of today’s routers have tools and technologies that allow us to prioritize traffic and guarantee minimum bandwidth to certain services, such as online gaming or content streaming.
If we make adjustments to prioritize traffic we will ensure that the most intensive applications will always have available the network resources they need so that the user experience they offer is optimal.
6. – Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 standards
We must use both standards correctly, since it is not always better to use one of them and therefore we should not be “blinded” with it, the ideal is to alternate between them.
The Wi-Fi 5 standard offers higher performance and is less affected by interference, but its range is less compared to the Wi-Fi 4 standard. This has a clear consequence, and that is that if we are going to use devices at a relatively small distance is the best option.
In contrast, if we are going to use devices at a relatively large distance from the router, it would be best to resort to the Wi-Fi 4 standard, which is slower but has a longer range.
7. – Change the default channels
Most of today’s routers manage the use of channels automatically and search for those that are less saturated by themselves.
If you have a router that does not carry out this task automatically, performing a manual channel change can help you improve the performance of your Wi-Fi significantly.
To change channels manually, the easiest way is to use specific applications, such as WiFiInfoView (if we use Windows), which will analyze and show us which channels are less saturated. Once we are clear what channels we are going to use, we enter the router interface and change the configuration.
8. – Change the width of the channel
It is a relatively simple option that can be very useful if we apply it and take advantage of it correctly.
In the most current routers, it is normal to find widths ranging from 20 MHz to 40 MHz, but we can raise it, for example, to 80 MHz without problem.
With this increase in Wi-Fi 5 connections, we would improve performance on devices that are further away from the router, that is, the improvement would be considered when we are away from the router.
9. – Restart the router
Most users never turn off the router. This is not bad, but sometimes errors can occur that end up affecting the performance of our Internet connection, and in some cases we may even go offline.
When we have performance problems and cannot directly find a clear and reasonable explanation, we must proceed to restart the router.
It is a very simple process, we turn it off and disconnect it from the electric current for at least a minute. We reconnect, turn on and go.
10. – Check the security settings
Sometimes the loss of performance of a Wi-Fi connection can be due to the presence of intruders in our network, something common when those losses are very marked and occur suddenly.
To solve this problem, enter the configuration interface of your router and check the connected devices. If you find one that you don’t recognize, change the password and the name of your Wi-Fi connection.
You can also take other, more drastic measures, like whitelisting MAC filtering or disabling the SSID. In this article you will find useful information on how to protect your Internet connection.