Tips for Optimizing Your Home Wi-Fi

I want you to imagine for a minute you are a salesman. You are in a zoom meeting with a potential client worth millions of dollars. You worked painstakingly on your presentation, dressed in your best suit, and practiced your pitch in the mirror till you were saying it in your sleep. The time for the meeting comes and just as you are getting in your groove, your screen freezes and you get bumped from your own meeting. This is at best embarrassing and can take you out of your groove. At worse, it can ruin your chances of making a life changing deal.

In the Covid and Post Covid era, working from home has gone from something enjoyed by a select few, to over half of the workforce. Many employers have found that their fear of a productivity dip was misguided. In fact, over 70% of employers have stated that they will continue to encourage remote working as they have seen a productivity increase, not the expected decrease. That is not to say that working from home is one giant bed of roses. It has it’s perks and it’s drawbacks just like anything else. One of the biggest factors in one’s ability to work from home is their home wi-fi network.

TEST YOUR SPEED

We live in an age of high speed internet, but what about those who live in rural areas, are working in parts of their homes far from their routers, or are otherwise having wi-fi issues? The first thing you can do to make sure that your wi-fi is giving you it’s all to check your wired connection. First bring your laptop over to your modem. From there, grab an ethernet cable and plug one end into your modem and the other into your laptop. Depending on the age of your laptop, you may have to get a converter for ethernet to HDMI. From there, run a speed test. There are many sites available via a simple Google search that can test the speed of your connection. If you have an issue, such as getting less bandwidth then you are paying for, call your Internet Service Provider to get it resolved. Why you have them on the line, check if it’s possible to upgrade to a higher bandwidth service. Usually this can be done without even having to change out your hardware!

LOCATION MATTERS

Check where you have your router in the house. Is the signal being blocked or obstructed by a cabinet it may be in or thick walls? While it may seem like an overly simplistic fix, remember that the signal needs to effortlessly pass through your space to achieve optimal wi-fi. Moving it to an unobscured section of the house could drastically change the quality of your signal. You can also try changing the channel on your router. Like the walkie talkies used by security forces, construction companies, and children around the globe, your router has multiple channels. If one has to many signals passing through it, it can slow your wi-fi signal to a crawl. Think about it like driving to work. You see that one route is full of traffic and will make you late. The alternate route however gives you a clear path to work with far less congestion. Your wi-fi signal is no different, so pick the path of least resistance as often as you can.

UPDATE YOUR ROUTER

If these steps do not work for you, you may need a hardware update. Usually, a new modem can be obtained from your ISP for no charge, or a small increase to your monthly bill. Routers are technology just like anything else and are updated and upgraded on a consistent basis from the manufacturers. You can also pick up a wireless antenna from an electronics store which allows you to direct the signal. You can even choose between a multidirectional antenna or one that points the signal into the direction of your workstation.

BUY AN EXTENDER

While these steps may help those, who have an issue of placement of their router or their signal direction, it is not going to help those who have offices on the other side of the house. It’s also not going to work all that well if there are a lot of walls to pass through in order for the signal to reach you. In these cases, the best thing you can do is invest in

either a wi-fi extender or a wireless mesh system. These are more costly options than those listed above. However, they are powerful tools for extending the range of your signal when all else fails. A wi-fi extender does exactly what it says it does, stretches your wireless signal so it reaches the far ends of your house, no matter where your router is. It does this through acquiring you signal and rebroadcasting it. The strength of your signal in this case diminishes slightly as anything being received through the extender because you are not receiving the original signal.

UPGRADE TO MESH

If the extender is not doing the trick, the best solution in your Wi-Fi optimization bag of tricks is something called a mesh system. The mesh system does not work in conjunction with your router like an extender does. It replaces your router. While a router signal comes from a single unit, a mesh system is made of multiple pieces, called nodes. One node plugs into your modem, similar to how your router is set up. From there, the other nodes are placed throughout your house. They work as sort of an air traffic control system, routing the signal effortlessly throughout the house from node to node. This causes the signal to be spread out over your house, like an invisible blanket of wi-fi. This system makes a mesh your best option for those with larger floorplans or large amounts of walls to pass through.

Working from home can be daunting enough as it is. The last thing you need is to lose a deal because your connection decides to drop right when you are hitting the peak of a presentation. Utilizing these tips, you can work through your day without worry that you’re going to drop an important call or miss vital information. After all, between your kids, pets, and significant others, working from home can be daunting in and of itself. By optimizing your wi-fi, you optimize your workday, and maximize your productivity and potential.