Here’s a question for you.What expectations have you got for your WiFi, and what’s the relationship between your WiFi and your broadband? The two are obviously interlinked in that your WiFi will only work on the internet if you have broadband, but do you ever find yourself blaming your WiFi when it’s really your broadband letting you down, or vice versa?
Let’s start with your broadband. It’s amazing how forgiving people are about their broadband. If your water company cut off your supply without telling you, you’d be pretty cheesed off, wouldn’t you? Or if your electricity flickered all the time? Ultimately broadband is now just another commodity but, unlike the other traditional commodities, we tend to accept whatever our suppliers give us, no matter whether it lives up to the promises on which we based our decision to buy from that supplier or not.
So, how do you check your incoming broadband speed? As good as any is https://broadbandtest.which.co.uk/ (offering some useful advice) or https://testmy.net/ (more accurate than typical ‘Flash’ based tests and uses a variety of servers by itself)
Once you’ve run the test you can compare the figures you get against your service supplier’s claims and, if necessary, contact them about it
Of course not everyone has an access to the Internet that they can complain about, many still have very limited access, especially to anything high speed. In these cases it is always worth remembering that no matter how remote you may be, there’s still a way you can be connected – it’s just a compromise between need, speed and cost, and if you want to talk to us at Invisible Network, we can help.
Assuming that your broadband connection is quite literally up to speed, then what else can you do to make sure you have the best possible WiFi connection in your premises. Here are a few tips:
- You’ll have placed your WiFi box somewhere close to your internet connection. This may not be the best place for it. It needs to be as out in the open as possible. If it’s hidden behind your computer, or tidied away somewhere, it won’t work at its best. Nor will it help if it’s placed beside other WiFi enabled equipment such as a cordless phone.
- Things like games consoles and smart TVs consume a lot of signal. If you can connect these directly to your hub using an Ethernet line they’ll work a lot better.
- You’ll probably have noticed that your mobile phone shows you that your hub is transmitting on two frequencies, 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Here’s why: the 2.4GHz works better long range; the 5GHz works better and faster close to. You’ll find that some WiFi service providers will advise you to turn whatever WiFi device you’re using off and on as you use it around the house to make sure it connects to the better of the signals for wherever it is. We’re not in favour of this. If the best possible connection is required our advice would be to call in your local WiFi experts to conduct a survey to identify precisely the overall WiFi coverage in your premises. Then decide on the best channel to use and set your devices accordingly.
- Do not just add repeaters willy-nilly throughout your premises to try and improve WiFi reception. You’ll find this advice being offered by many WiFi service providers, but it is bad advice that ignores the effect of what amounts to radio waves from different repeaters all competing to be picked up. Worse still, trying to extend a signal that is too weak to be able to be used can seem to work but with confusing and frustrating results. In fact from experience we have found more cases of significantly increased speed and reliability by removing excess WiFi equipment as cases of adding more! A professional WiFi Improvement visit can prove an excellent investment – and saves buying unnecessary equipment at all. At Invisible Network we’ll analyse exactly what is needed in your home first, then do it once – and do it right.
And that’s the best advice of all, always ask a professional WiFi improvements company to visit to ensure a full signal throughout your premises. That’s where Invisible Network comes in. Call us in to do a survey and we’ll work out exactly where your black spots are and how to overcome them. Our job is to ensure you have the best possible Wifi from your roof slates to your cellar floor and from the end of your garden to the back of the garage…or, if you’re a farmer, from your farm office to your furthest field. It’s what we do. Just give us a call.