We bring you a guide on how you can extend the WiFi signal in your home, where we are going to try to explain everything you need to know to achieve it.
We are going to try to do it without too many technicalities, and in a simple way in which you can understand everything. And we’ll start by teaching you ways to improve the signal of the router you already have without having to buy anything else.
That’s right. Before you start spending money on improving your WiFi signal, it’s best to try to get the most out of what you already have. In this case, you should know that placing the router in the right place can help you greatly improve the range of its signal.
When you contract your fiber or your connection, the technician who comes to your house is limited to placing the router in a place closest to the cable connection. That person probably won’t spend extra time looking at what your house is like, so it depends on you to get the best coverage.
It is recommended to place the router in the center of the area you want to cover. Although sometimes this is not enough either, since some obstacles can affect the range of your WiFi.
Walls and doors, for example, hinder the wireless signal propagation, so depending on their distribution, thickness, or density, the signal will be more or less attenuated.
Other devices in your home, such as wireless intercoms or cordless home phones may also interfere with your WiFi network.
Therefore, in addition to having it in a fairly central area of your home, it is equally important that it be an area free of obstacles.
Many of today’s routers work with dual-band technology. These create two different WiFis for the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. And each of these bands has different characteristics, so it will also be important to choose the most suitable for each device you connect.
The 2.4 GHz band tends to have more interference, which means that the connection can be slower. It also has fewer channels, which we’ll talk about a little later, making all connected devices have to “fight” for the little space there is for everyone.
The good news is that 2.4 GHz WiFi gives greater coverage to areas within your home or office (or home office) where the 5 GHz does not reach you.
On the other hand, the 5 GHz band has less interference because it is more recent and less used, and it has more channels to distribute the devices, so it is more comfortable.
Their range is better and they have more trouble getting over obstacles, but they have a higher maximum connection speed, which makes devices connected to them have a better connection.
So in short: the 5 GHz WiFi is the best for devices that need a higher connection speed, although they will have to be close to the router or the amplifier that you have so that the distance does not play against it. And 2.4 GHz WiFi is the network of choice for those who need a higher range of coverage, but not much speed.
By the way, the first WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E routers began to be released just months ago. These offer a new 6 GHz band. However, this technology is still too new to be seen in operators’ routers, so it will only be an option if you want to buy a new router.
If channels are roads, then you and some neighbors may be occupying one more than another, so that’s why there’s more traffic and circulation is slower.
In these cases, it is best to change the WiFi channel. But how do you do that?
Change this by visiting your router’s configuration page (accessible with the following IPs: IPs 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1).
In there, usually on the same page where you change basic values like SSID name, there’s another option called Control Channel or channel control. It will usually be set to automatically choose the least congested channel, but this is an auto mode that is not always entirely reliable.
The number of channels depends on whether you use 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz WiFi, so this is a setting that, if you have a dual-band router, you can apply to either. The 5 GHz bands have more channels, but the 2.4 GHz bands only have 1 to 13, and you have to watch out for congestion, especially “if you live in communities with many neighbors.”
Firmware is the basic program that controls the electronic circuitry of any device, including routers. It is a program that knows what a device has to do, and makes sure that it does it by making it work as well as possible.
As if they were some instructions on which it depends how well everything works.
When a router is brought to you or purchased, it comes with firmware installed. However, this firmware may not always be up to date, and in this case, you could be missing an update that slightly or substantially improves some features of the router.
Therefore, it is important to ensure that the firmware of your router is always up to date. This is not always easy, because although many updates it automatically, there are times when some models may need you to update them manually.
This is not always going to be clear, so you can do two things.
First, you can look in the router’s instruction manual to see if it specifies how the updates are done.
But if not, you can also go directly to the configuration page of your router and look for an option to check for updates. This page, as we have told you a few times, is reached by typing the IPs 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 in the browser.
We told you. There’s no need to spend extra money if any of the previous methods helped you extend your WiFi range. In the rare case that any worked for you, then we promise you to reply to any questions you may have and solve all of your doubts related.
Ask for a consultation and our experts we’ll contact as soon as possible!
Serving The Woodlands, the Greater Houston Area, Austin, & Dallas. LayerLogix is a trusted business partner for Expert IT and structured cabling solutions based in The Woodlands, Texas.