Picture this, you are prepared to sit down down and watch a film with pals however your web retains stuttering and lagging. While you possibly can spend the time attempting to determine the issue, it is not supreme, particularly should you’re paying for prime velocity web. Here’s the excellent news: it is possible that your sluggish web is definitely attributable to your router’s settings or placement. Zooey Liao/CNETThe repair often is not a costlier month-to-month invoice or a $300 new router. It’s about fundamental physics. Wi-Fi indicators hate obstacles like partitions, cupboards and even your kitchen microwave. By making a couple of strategic, zero-cost strikes — like getting your router off the ground and away from different electronics — you possibly can drastically widen your protection space and stabilize your connection immediately.
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Stop tolerating a sign that drops out the second you permit the lounge. These fast, simple tweaks will optimize the gear you already personal, making certain your gaming, streaming and video calls really run on the speeds you are paying for.Don’t miss any of CNET’s unbiased tech content material and lab-based evaluations. Add us as a most well-liked Google supply on Chrome.Read More: Best Wi-Fi 6 Routers for 2025 1. Invest in the suitable router in your areaFirst issues first: you possibly can hint many connection points again to your gear. It all begins with selecting the best router. Not all routers are the identical, and your wi-fi speeds rely on variables like the scale and format of your private home.A single wi-fi entry level ought to suffice for many residences and smaller houses (beneath 1,500 sq. ft). If your router is a number of years previous, take into account upgrading to a more recent mannequin or Wi-Fi 6E. That’s not the newest and best era of Wi-Fi know-how — that will be Wi-Fi 7 — nevertheless it’s newer than what most have of their houses. It ought to offer you quicker wi-fi speeds and higher total protection for an affordable value. For larger, multilevel houses, it is price contemplating upgrading to a mesh community to supply constant protection all through the home. If you put in the primary entry level and discover {that a} far nook of your private home does not have strong wi-fi protection, simply add one other node to that space. Problem solved. To be taught extra, take a look at our listing of the perfect mesh routers. If you want some extra steering, seek the advice of our router shopping for information. It’s price noting that the place you place the first entry level nonetheless issues, no matter whether or not you may have a single entry level or a mesh community. 2. Find the perfect place in your router Chris Monroe/CNETWhen you first transfer into a brand new house or house, the modem is often put in alongside the wall in one of many far reaches of the home. This is just because that is the place the road comes into the home and the technician’s job is to arrange the connection, not optimize your community. That half is as much as you. It’s tempting to go away the whole lot the place the technician set it up, particularly should you really feel clueless about the perfect place to place a router, nevertheless it’s unlikely that the unique location is essentially the most optimum place in your router. That mentioned, location may simply be an important consideration when attempting to spice up your Wi-Fi. Even when you’ve got the latest router know-how, you may not be getting the quickest speeds in case your router is poorly positioned.Choose a central locationRouters ship the sign out in all instructions. If you retain your router within the left nook of the home, you are dropping wi-fi protection, and in case your neighbors can guess your Wi-Fi password, they’ll simply entry your community. Moving the router to a central location is your finest wager for constant speeds (and community safety). Installing a router throughout the home from the modem could show troublesome. It could require manually working an particularly lengthy Ethernet cable beneath the ground or alongside the underside of your partitions, or enlisting the assistance of energy line community adapters, which use your private home’s electrical wiring to go an web sign from level to level. The improved wi-fi protection can be price it. If you are curious in regards to the distinction between a Wi-Fi and Ethernet connection, former CNET broadband author Hallie Seltzer examined each connections at her home to find out which labored higher. Raise the router Routers are likely to unfold their strongest indicators downward, so it is best to mount the router as excessive as doable to maximise protection. Try putting it excessive on a bookshelf or mounting it on the wall. Search on-line, and you will find many customized wall mounts constructed for particular routers, like this stick-up mount for the Eero Pro 6 mesh router. A router mount is a straightforward answer should you’re struggling to search out an elevated spot in your router with no tangle of messy cords. Avoid different electronicsPick a location that is away from different electronics and huge metallic objects. The extra partitions, massive obstructions and electronics close to your router, the upper the probabilities are that one thing will intervene with the energy of your sign. One kind of digital gadget to particularly keep away from is the microwave, which emits a powerful sign within the 2.4GHz band, the identical wi-fi band your router operates in. Be cautious to not stick your router behind a big TV, which may trigger digital interference whereas additionally bodily blocking or disrupting the sign. Along with electronics, preserve an eye fixed out for cumbersome furnishings and the like that is likely to be limiting the sign’s attain. Wi-Fi does not journey nicely by means of water, as an example, so when you’ve got an aquarium in your house, attempt to keep away from conditions the place it’s going to be in between your router and the gadget that should join. 3. Change Wi-Fi channels The Wi-Fi bands your router makes use of have an effect on your speeds, nevertheless it’s fairly simple to change between channels. Most routers include 2.4Ghz or 5GHz channels — you possibly can consider these channels because the freeway your web community makes use of to transmit knowledge. More superior routers, just like the Wi-Fi 6E and the Wi-Fi 7, come outfitted with a 6GHz channel.You ought to be capable of swap your router’s Wi-Fi band within the Wi-Fi community settings, although which will differ barely relying on the router. While most routers use a dual-band know-how, which permits them to make use of each frequencies on the similar time, you might be able to select a Wi-Fi band to prioritize. The 2.4GHz band gives a wider vary however is slower than the 5GHz band. Conversely, the 5GHz band is quicker, nevertheless it struggles with brief vary and conserving your complete home linked at quick speeds. Still, switching channels is a fast answer to sluggish Wi-Fi.4. Set up your Wi-Fi antennas properlySome routers haven’t any antennas in any respect, however some have as much as eight. These antennas assist direct the sign. If there are two or extra antennas in your router, do not place all of them in the identical course. Instead, make them perpendicular to at least one one other — place one horizontally and the opposite vertically. Or barely change the place of all of the antennas to cowl a variety of angles. You may need to experiment with velocity assessments to search out the simplest configuration.The sign from every of these antennas will come out like a wave touring in all instructions, and that wave can be perpendicular to the antenna itself, so a vertical antenna goes to be extra useful in single-story houses, whereas a horizontal or angled antenna goes to place out a sign that travels upward, which is likely to be extra helpful in a multistory house. Wi-Fi mapping software program — like NetSpot — may help you visualize your community’s strengths and discover and tackle weak spots. Matt Elliott/CNET5. Map your Wi-Fi sign In worst-case eventualities, you will have to map out the Wi-Fi sign in your house to search out lifeless zones and analyze the vary of protection. Several years in the past, we used the NetSpot software program to map out the sign energy all through the CNET Smart Home. Ultimately, we received an ideal take a look at the weak spots in our Wi-Fi community, which helped us shore issues up by transferring our {hardware} to extra optimum places.
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