How to Improve Wi-Fi Signal and Increase Internet Speed

WiFi is an internet technology where any WiFi capable device i.e Laptops, Phones, PDA etc can connect to the internet without any physical cable using radio waves. WiFi gives portability to the internet users by removing the need for cable and users can log on to the internet at any place they want if the signals are in the  the range of the Wireless Router of Modem.

A WiFi internet connection needs a WiFi enabled device and a WiFi Router or Modem. The WiFi Router establishes the WiFi connection by sending out Radio Waves using its antenna and the WiFi enabled device receives the signal and the connection is made. Most WiFi connections require a security key to connect to the Router. Security is very important in WiFi because if there is no security then anybody can connect to your network and exploit / hack or do unnecessary damage to your network or your Data.

WiFi is an advanced technology, but it too has its own share of advantages and disadvantages. The main drawback of WiFi is the reduced internet speed most of the times. This is because of the undue interference and loss of signal quality over the air. WiFi do give us portability and ease of work but it cannot match the speed of a wired Ethernet connection. If you have an internet connection of 2 Mbps and a WiFi + LAN (Ethernet) enabled router, and if you connect two Laptops to it, one by WiFi and other by LAN cable and then download the same file one at a time then you will notice that the download Speed that you get in WiFi connection is nearly the half that you get in an Ethernet mode. This tells us that how much signal interference is there even if you get the full signal strength indication on your WiFi device.

Advantages of WiFi

1. Portability
2. Ease of Use
3. Can be used to create Ad hoc Network
4. Cheap as Cables are Costly and Needs Maintenance sometimes

Disadvantages of WiFi

1. Reduced Speeds compared to Wired Cable Intenet (Ethernet)
2. Less Secure as compare to Ethernet

How to make your WiFi work Faster

Here are some things that you can do to make your WiFi internet to work at its full potential. You can also say that you can boost your wifi signal by following these simple things.

Remove Obstructions in the Path

This is the first and foremost thing to do, which is remove any unnecessary obstructions in your path or the other thing you can do is to place your WiFi router to a place where it has minimum amount of things around it so that it can transmit the signals to a wider range.

Get rid off or Switch off Mobiles Phones and other Radio Devices

This is most important thing to do when you are connected to WiFi. I suggest you to keep any other radio enabled device like Mobile phones to keep away from your WiFi device like Laptop. You can also switch them off if you don’t need them at the time when you are using WiFi. The waves from the other device can interfere with Wifi waves and this result in poor connection or it make the signals weak. I have experienced this myself so do keep this tip in mind.

Find the Best Available Channel in your Area

Try to find the best available channel to connect WiFi at the time of using it. Normally WiFi Router has the option set to Auto to detect the channel but you change this setting it to manual mode in your Router Configuration and select the best available channel by testing each one of them. You can find the best channel by using WiFi Scanning and Monitoring utility called inSSIDer. To know more about inSSIDer Click here.

See also:

• Best WiFi Range Extenders for Improving WiFi Range
• Solutions for DSL Modem / WiFi Router Restart Problem