Fix Your Wi-Fi: Free Tweaks and Major Overhauls
Is your trusty Wi-Fi network falter? Are you encountering problems with streaming media, online games, or web backups? As more people turn of events to Wi-Fi for tasks that depend on high bandwidth and low latency, the technology's weaknesses–a limited power to accommodate multiple neighboring networks and multimedia-related design issues, among others–have become more apparent.
Tackling these problems may regard purchasing new gear, but you might just need to adjust your router settings. Here are a few common problems and some fixes.
Fix Your Wi-Fi for Free
If you'Re having serious difficulties with your Wi-Fi range or streaming media, you power have to spend some money to fix them. Before you buy anything, however, bring i destined that you're doing the unsurpassed you can with the gear you already personal.
Start with the location of your router. You should place it as centrally to the location of your networked paraphernalia as possible. If you'ray using 802.11b, g, or n equipment on the 2.4GHz band, try to keep the router away from potential sources of interference, much as microwave ovens and some cordless phones. If possible, direct it higher rather than frown–closer to the cap than to the floor. Generally, it's best to status the router far from any sources of electrical intervention.
Speech production of interference, be aware of IT. Try not to use the microwave while you're observance a video recording. Bluetooth too runs happening the 2.4GHz band, and then believe putting away your Bluetooth headset.
Try victimisation channels otherwise the defaults. Over again, this is chiefly an issue only for 2.4GHz networks, which have scarce three nonoverlapping channels (1, 6, and 11). Many routers have an Auto setting that's purported to figure out which channel is the least crowded, but you can experiment with setting a specific channel. Make a point that the adapters on all opposite networked devices are set up to the same channel.
IT goes without expression that scene security is important, not just to protect secrecy but also to keep in bandwidth thieves away. Even if you undergo set up WPA2 encoding, it's a good idea to check on whether any unofficial cogwheel is using your meshwork. Most routers experience a status page in their firmware that lets you reckon at active DHCP clients–take a peek from time to time.
Extend Your Wi-Fi Signal
The breadth of your Wi-Fi coverage depends on a good deal of variables, including everything from the distance and number of walls between a networked device and the Badger State-Fi router to the weather and time of Clarence Shepard Day Jr.. If your Wi-Fi reception is okay up close simply iffy a board operating room two away, you may find that boosting the signaling helps–especially if you're still victimization an older 802.11b/g router (802.11n gear significantly improves coverage).
You have several ways to act up this. One is to replace your router's inbuilt antennas with better third-party ones, which will send impermissible a much powerful signal. Such products are available in two flavors: Omnidirectional antennas (the kind that most routers come with) broadcast the signal all told directions, patc guiding antennas let you focus on a problem area. (Note that the FCC places limits on transmitting aerial signal military posture, but these consumer products fall symptomless within them.)
Since these antennas work only with routers that either let you remove the new antennas or provide a jack for third-party
antennas, check your router to see whether replacing the antennas is level an option. Several vendors extend so-called high-addition antennas; when shopping, take trusty to find one that supports your current Wi-Fi technology. Few older units happening the market work with 802.11b/g gear, but if you've upgraded to 802.11n, confirm that the new antenna supports the latest and fastest Wisconsin-Fi criterion.
The $50 Buffalo Technology AirStation WLE-2DA Leading Antenna supports 802.11n and claims to boost a router's signalize from the stock 1-2db to 6db; IT's a big, flat thingmabob that you point in the direction of your problem spots. Meanwhile, the Amped Wireless High Power 12dBi Omni-Directional Wireless fidelity Antenna ($40) promises even to a greater extent chesty amplification. Note that both of these work only with 2.4GHz 802.11n networks (which are backward-miscible with the most popular legacy standards, 802.11b/g) and are designed primarily for interior use. Trendnet sells a full line of antennas designed for outdoor use, including some that support threefold-dance band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) networks.
Do-it-yourself types can experiment with a homebrew antenna, such as the one I found on a site called FreeAntennas.com, which uses foil. (I've never done this, but links to testimonials are on several forums, and I've likewise seen the conception documented on Lifehacker.)
What if your router doesn't support extrinsic or refilling antennas? Investing in a repeater might help. This is basically a device that you put down on the outskirts of–but definitely within–the range of your router's sure reporting; it receives, amplifies, and rebroadcasts the original signal, thereby extending the stray. Stephen Hawking Technology offers an $80 model (the HWREN1) that supports 2.4GHz 802.11n and is designed for interior use; the Netgear WN2000RPT delivers synonymous functionality for $70.
Implement Moving Media Solutions
If you can browse the Web and download e-chain mail on your Wi-Fi, but run into born signals or issues with moving multimedia system, you're probably having problems with signal interference, especially if you're using 2.4GHz 802.11n (surgery even worse, 802.11b/g) Wi-Fi. In densely populated areas, even if other devices aren't in use, many an neighboring networks may be competing for bandwidth: If more than iii devices are trying to use the 2.4GHz spectrum at the same time, someone will get knocked dispatch, at least shortly. This ISN't usually a problem for nonmedia applications–you wouldn't notice a microscopic delay in e-mail obstetrical delivery, for example–but it becomes quickly apparent with flowing media, which john falter or freeze.
One room to see whether channel overcrowding might be a problem is to come in your PC's Wi-Fi utility to detect networks that are in range. If you see to it much six, chances are good that all of them are battling for bandwidth. You can download the liberal InSSIDer Wisconsin-Fi scanning instrument to arrive an well-to-do read-out of all your local Wi-Fi networks, including their channels and signaling specialty, so you toilet figure out which channels are fewer crowded.
Channel overcrowding is less of a problem on the 5GHz dance band, because information technology has some more channels and it isn't in use as much as 2.4GHz is to begin with. In the Wi-Fi universe, only 802.11a devices used 5GHz in the past, and they were far outnumbered by 2.4GHz-based 802.11b and g devices.
However, manufacturers are starting to turn to 5GHz for streaming media. If you have a twofold-band router, and you have devices that documentation a 5GHz network (for instance, we're starting to see adjoining TVs that support dual-band Wi-Fi), you should try setting your devices to use the 5GHz set. Note, however, that the 5GHz band doesn't support the range that 2.4GHz does, thus you leave want to checker whether the 5GHz coverage is equal to where you motive it.
Even if you have a router that doesn't support the 5GHz band–maybe you invested with in a 2.4GHz 802.11n router before dual-band routers were widely available–you can ADHD 5GHz support via an access point (which you would plug into an available ethernet point on your 2.4GHz router). Few vendors ever released 5GHz-only access points, but you should be able to pick improving a dual-banding access pointedness–the D-Link DAP-1522, e.g.–for under $100 and run it in 5GHz mode.
Besides, if you'atomic number 75 shopping for an 802.11n router and you intend to utilization it for streaming media, check its antenna align. The speed and coverage of 802.11n count a lot on the applied science's ability to beam and receive multiple data streams simultaneously, so the more antennas you have, the faster and farther the mesh should reach. The fastest 802.11n gear uses 3×3 (three transmitting and three receiving) antennas; geared wheel with 2×2 antenna arrays is less expensive and non as powerful. The conflict in antenna arrays is responsible for the variform top potential speeds you see connected 802.11n promotional material.
Try Hybrid Home Networking
If multimedia system and coverage issues persist, consider adding a wired component to your meshing. Although I wouldn't ever want to give astir the convenience of Wi-Fi for portable devices such as cell phones, tablets, and laptops, there's no compelling reason to prefer tune connections for equipment that stays in place, such as home amusement gear Oregon a desktop PC.
A couple of age ago I added HomePlug AV powerline-networking support to my WI-Fi electronic network, and I've never looked back. It's specially useful in my home entertainment center, where I induce quaternion networked devices connected via ethernet to a Little Jo-port HomePlug AV switch plugged into a wall release.
I enabled the powerline network by plugging a HomePlug AV transcriber into a free ethernet port happening my Wi-Fi router at one end, and into a wall way out on the some other. But a few vendors are starting to ship hybrid routers that funding both Wi-Fi and HomePlug AV, out of the box. The D-Link DHP-1320, for one, announced at CES, is shipping for arsenic little as $100 (but it doesn't support 5GHz 802.11n, only the 2.4GHz flavor).
HomePlug Av powerline isn't as good As gigabit ethernet, but generally it has proved more reliable than even 5GHz Wisconsin-Fi for streaming media. Unless the electrical circuitry in your home is in truth old, it can make up a gravid substitute–and course, IT doesn't require running game new cables behind walls.
Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/490610/fix_your_wifi_free_tweaks_and_major_overhauls.html
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