In this article, I will share the simplest ways of speeding up your Wi-Fi. I’ll do my best to make it as simple and easy as possible. The thing with troubleshooting electronics is that often the solutions are so simple you’ll feel stupid if you knew the culprit. Of course, some problems are outside the scope of knowledge of some people but let’s save those for later. If you are having Wi-Fi speed woes, try these things first.
Location!
I noticed that when I place my router at some locations in my apartment, I would get high speeds and at other places, the speed would be sluggish. So what’s the natural thing to do? I marked the area where I get the top speeds (I literally took a marker and made marks on the floor) and ensured that’s where my router is always located.
Things like walls, particularly if made of concrete, act like obstacles for radio waves and will interfere with radio wave signals. Furthermore, stuff like microwaves and modern fridges that emit electromagnetic waves also tend to interfere with Wi-Fi signals. Since we are keeping things as simple as possible, just like me, identify the area in your habitat where you get the best speeds and put your router there.
Ban the Leeches
Wi-Fi uses bandwidth, which is like a road. The higher the number of vehicles using a certain road, the higher the chance is that there will be traffic. Traffic tends to slow things down, and the degree of traffic will determine how fast the vehicles can move. Heavy traffic is so bad that it even brings things down to a halt.
In other words, the more people are using your Wi-Fi, the higher the chances are that its speed will be adversely affected.
There are people you give consent to connect to your Wi-Fi and there are those who just give themselves permission to use your Wi-Fi.
Your move here should be to limit the number of people who can access your Wi-Fi network. This is important for both your Wi-Fi speed and security. A slow network will make you inquire about how to test your Wi-Fi speed to determine how fast it is. Moreover, it is good to know its speed because it helps you determine when it is working fine or something is wrong.
If you are the good neighbor that likes to please everyone by sharing your Wi-Fi with whoever is within range, then first determine how many people can comfortably connect to your network simultaneously. This will help you determine how many devices your router can handle at a time. This is usually highlighted on the box that came with your device, on the device’s manual, or manufacturer’s website.
Knowing your limits will help you know when things are in critical condition.
Contain Bandwidth-hogging Applications
There are applications, even your very own operating system, that hog all the bandwidth when you are connected to the internet. And this mostly happens if there is an internet connection. If you are connected to a Wi-Fi network without an internet connection, you may not experience the same thing.
Your move here is to identify these applications and restrict their Wi-Fi usage. Operating systems often do system updates and prefer to do this automatically. But just because it is recommended, does not mean you have to do it. Download updates when you are ready to and not necessarily when they are available.
Set your apps to notify you when there are updates but let you download them when you are ready to download the updates. This goes for both your operating system and other apps. For other software on your device, find out how to turn off automatic updates and take necessary measures.
Restart Your Router
This is one of the most magical moves for improving your Wi-Fi speed. If you often experience high speeds and then suddenly things are slow and nothing seems to be wrong, just restart your router. Sometimes it is just undergoing mood swings and a simple restart will refresh the system and return things back to normal
Upgrade
Well, every device has its limits. You can’t get a 50Mbps speed from a device that’s designed to do 20Mbps. If you want 50Mbps then you should ensure your device can deliver such kinds of speed. Sometimes an upgrade is the best solution; especially when the device you are using does not have the features you prefer or if the device is just archaic.
I’ve shied away from very technical stuff and provided the simplest solutions. If none of the above works for you – albeit I’m sure the last option will definitely work for anyone – then you may want to do further research to get the best solution for your situation.
