Whether your struggling with your Wi-Fi connection at home or just want to optimize the connection you already have here are a few steps you can take to improve your Wi-Fi reception.
1. Keep your router in a central location, basically keep your router away from outside walls and if you have a multi-level home, keep the router on the first floor and not tucked deep in the corner of the basement.
2. Keep away from mirrors, this causes more problems than you would think. All metal surfaces reflect Wi-Fi and mirrors contain a thin layer of metal which can create dead zones.
3. Keep the router off the floor, this is not the greatest location for a router for many reasons, especially Wi-fi reception. Try placing it on a high shelf or at least on top of a desk or table.
4.Check your cordless phones, do you have cordless phones in the home that operate on 2.4 Ghz? If you do, chances are your having issues with your Wi-Fi. Wireless routers and older cordless phones operate on the same frequency and interfere with each other, newer cordless phones work at 5GHz and up and should not cause interference.
5. Keep adapters and routers away from other electronics and power cords as these may hinder your Wi-Fi signal as well.
6. Change your routers broadcast channel, to do this you will need to log in to your router. Here are a few of the default addresses you can use to access your routers settings. You simply enter the following IP addresses into your browsers address bar.
**You will need to get the specific instructions for your router manufacturer in order to locate the area in your router settings that allows you to change the broadcast channel.
Router Address
D-Link 192.168.0.1
3Com 192.168.1.1
NetGear 192.168.0.1
Linksys 192.168.1.1
Mircrosoft 192.168.2.1
Actiontec 192.168.0.1
7.Keep up-to-date, always keep your router and or adapter firmware up-to-date. These firmware releases often fix buggy software problems including reception issues. The same goes with you device drivers.
8. Stick with the same vendor, if you utilize a wireless adapter such as a USB adapter, to receive Wi-Fi then try to utilize the same vendor that made your router. These companies after all designed these components to work together and getting support for either device should be easier since you can go to the same website for all your drivers and firmware.
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