If you have internet connectivity issues on a regular basis, then you know just how maddening it can be when you pay a monthly bill for poor and inconsistent service. Unfortunately, if you have an old computer, or live in an area that is relatively isolated or in a building that is poorly wired, there may not be much that your cable company can do for you. In any case, even if they could improve the service they’re providing, there may not be much incentive on their end, especially if they’ve dominated the cable market in your community completely. However, there are a few things that you can do to improve the situation on your end. Here are a few pointers on how to improve your home wifi signal.
- Turn off your bluetooth. These days it’s really nice to be able to use a lot of your electronics without needing to plug everything in. Although, sometimes your bluetooth signal will hog space, so to speak, and block your wifi signal. If you are having trouble connecting to the Internet, simply try turning off your bluetooth, turn your wifi signal off and back on again, and see if things improve.
- Restart your router. Like everyone and everything, sometimes your router just needs to turn off for a few seconds and rest, and then it will work perfectly when it turns back on. Just thirty seconds of rest can make a huge difference for the performance of your router. It’s doing a lot of work making the infinite collection of the world’s knowledge available to you at all times. So give it a break.
- Close unused pages and applications. Sometimes, it’s not your wireless signal that’s weak, it’s just your computer’s fatigue while processing lots of applications at once. If you are using any programs or applications that do a lot of heavy lifting, such as operating and managing large audio, video, or photo files, you’re going to want to turn those off. Be sure to save any documents that you’ve been working on and don’t just close the window, be sure to quit the application. If it’s been a while since you’ve restarted your computer, go ahead and give that a try as well. You want to refresh things in every way possible.
- Buy a signal repeater. If you have thick walls or any other kind of obstructions in the design of your home, there’s a good chance that the signal is being blocked by the house itself. If this is the case, then you will notice that the signal is strong on one side of your house and not on the other – leaving you in a frenzy trying find the best place to sit. Fortunately, you can buy a signal repeater from Sunsight Instruments or any other electronics distributor, which will pick up the signal from your router and it will bounce off in the opposite direction.