Whether you are a gamer, a streamer, a tv binge-watcher, or working remotely, you have one specific need: high-speed internet. So many items in your house are connected to your Wi-Fi…your TV, any gaming consoles, smart devices, security systems, etc. There really is no such thing as too much bandwidth in your home with everything that is running on it. Whether you add to your internet plan or incorporate a few gadgets here and there throughout the house, you can always find a way to make your internet connection faster. In this article, we will pick out 6 of the smartest ways to speed up your internet connection.
“Having fast internet is not just a luxury these days. It is a necessity. People all over the world have been doing more online, and the need for a great internet connection is more important than ever.”
Step one out of any internet speed search will be to start out with a good internet provider. Our personal pick is SmartMove, which offers a great variety of speeds, sizes, and assistance to all of its users. You can also do a speed test online to see where you are starting from with your internet speed, then test it after you try these tips to see what the change is! Having good internet to start with is the best base to work on the rest of these tips from. Let’s get learning!
- Make sure your router is in a good location. Wi-Fi has a limited range that it can travel, and hiding it away out of sight is not the best way to facilitate that travel distance. The signal can also be interrupted by other frequencies like microwaves, baby monitors, and Bluetooth devices. Sometimes you will need to get a little…creative with your placement and wiring in order to find that centralized sweet spot for the router but making sure that your router can reach the most space in your home is incredibly important. We recommend a spot that is central to your home, elevated, and minimally blocked by objects. Remember that your router’s signal travels perpendicularly from the router, so if you keep it low to the ground, then that’s what it will reach more. Not very useful, right?
- Get Wi-Fi extenders or repeaters. These handy little devices will help move your Wi-Fi all throughout your home. They come in many forms, too, so you can decide what will work best for you. There are boosters, which will plug into walls to fill the spaces between wherever you put your router and any dead zones in your house to boost the signal. Repeaters will work a lot like the boosters, but the repeater will be wirelessly connected. There are mesh systems that will replace a router and work together from different spots in the house to cover everything. There are a few others that you can look into, but each of them will help you get that internet flowing smoothly through your home.
- Put a password on your Wi-Fi. This one will come in handy in more ways than one. Putting a password on your Wi-Fi will keep strangers off your private internet. This will protect both your privacy as well as limit the number of people that can take up your internet speed. This is especially crucial to do if you have a lot of smart features in your home. Leaving your Wi-Fi unprotected by a password means that someone could access your internet and mess around with your smart features, compromising the safety of your home and your family.
- Try a new channel. Wi-Fi routers run on channels, like radios. If your current channel for your router is not getting the job done, try switching to a different channel to see if that improves the connection and reach. If you and all of your neighbors are on the same frequency, it will get jammed up and become clogged, slowing down the internet for everyone. Test out other channels to see if you can find one that will work for your internet and is less crowded.
- Have you tried turning it off and back on again? Ah, the age-old IT trick. While we may use this phrase as a joke oftentimes, it actually holds true much of the time. Just like restarting a computer or your phone can magically fix whatever issue you are having, restarting the router is worth a try. If you have not had any luck with getting your router to work or work well, try shutting the router off, letting it rest for a moment, and then switching it back on. This will usually alleviate any connectivity issues you were handling. However, if you find yourself using this trick this often, you may want to get a tech call placed because that is not normal.
- Use ethernet cables. With the number of wireless devices and mass Wi-Fi accessibility, we tend to forget that wires are still around. If you have a device that will be stationary and is in a location where you have the ability to hook it up, try using an ethernet cable for those. Ethernet connections will usually be a bit faster and have fewer connectivity issues, but it will limit where your devices can be…plus, you will need to get a little creative with the cord placements if you like a tidy living area. By only having the truly wireless-needing object connected to your Wi-Fi, you will bump up the speed a good bit.
Along with all of these tips, you can find so many more little tips and tricks online about how to reposition your router antennas, get a better router, etc. These tips that we have gone over here are the big six that we recommend starting with, though. Having fast internet is not just a luxury these days. It is a necessity. People all over the world have been doing more online, and the need for a great internet connection is more important than ever. We hope these tips and tricks for boosting your internet speed have been useful. Come back to see us again for the more great information!
