Ten Steps to Enhance Your Wi-Fi Experience

It’s true. You need to give your devices a break every once in a while—even your router and modem. If you think about it, these devices don’t ever really get to have a rest unless you do it manually. Your phone or computer, in contrast, can easily be turned off when not in use.

You can do a few things to help your router out: soft resets and power cycling. A soft reset can be used to solve internet connectivity issues and reestablish a connection between the router and the modem. To get the most success with this method, look up the instructions for a soft reset that apply to your specific router.

Power cycling is used to help your router recover from glitches that force your router to drop its connections. This process only involves removing and reapplying power to your router. Depending on your device, you might have to flip a power switch, unplug a power cord or remove a battery to power it down. Wait a few seconds, and then hook your router back up or turn it on again. Give it some time to reconnect to everything after you’ve turned it back on—that can take a few minutes.

Another router-based method you can try would be to update your router’s firmware. The firmware in your router is the software that is installed into your router before it arrives at your home. This software controls all of the main functions of your router, which include routing protocols, administrative features and security.

Finally, replace your router if it is outdated. Professionals recommend that your router should be upgraded every five years—fewer if you enjoy using smart home gadgets. If that’s the case, upgrade your router every two to three years.

Not sure about what a router is? Read about the Differences Between Modems and Routers to learn more.

If your Wi-Fi is only slow during certain days of the month, you may have hit a data cap associated with your internet subscription. Check with your ISP to see if your plan has any data caps that you’ve been exceeding. If you have, your ISP could be “throttling” your service by deprioritizing it amongst other subscribers in your area. If you frequently experience slow internet at the end of your monthly billing period, this is probably why.

Other reasons for throttling on your internet might also include high ISP usage by other users in your area. Such throttling would slow down your internet at certain times of day, however. These times might be more sporadic and less predictable, especially since so many of us work and learn from home these days.

Yes, Wi-Fi has channels to choose from. Modern routers come equipped with different options for receiving Wi-Fi based on speed and service congestion. Terms for these options include bands and channels. There are two primary bands to choose from: 2.5 Hertz (Hz) and 5 Hz. The 2.5 Hz band is often used for lower-interaction devices like smart home tech (i.e. speakers, cameras, etc.), while the 5 Hz band is better for computers, smart phones and online gaming. You can find out which band you’re connected to by logging into your router through any web browser.

Once you have selected the most appropriate band, you can change the individual channel your device is using through that band. Although the 5 Hz band has 24 non-overlapping channels to choose from, plenty of bands overlap in the 2.5 Hz band. That being said, channels 1, 6, and 11 do not overlap with each other and may give you better results.

If your Wi-Fi is great near the router but spotty in other parts of the house, consider using a mesh network or a Wi-Fi extender to help your router reach even the trickiest corners of your home. See our related post about the virtues of mesh networking for larger homes.

The newer your device is, the more potential it has for accommodating faster Wi-Fi speeds. Additionally, it’s common knowledge that computers and tech devices have the tendency to slow down as they age, which we can’t exactly blame them for. They start getting left behind by software updates at some point in the development of the tech producer’s technology. Not only can having older tech kill the speed your device could have through complete software updates, but it could also leave your computer susceptible to new threats that have appeared since the installation of your most recent software.

Additionally, you might want to ensure that your computer has updated security software. If you don’t have a security software or if it isn’t updated, your device could be vulnerable to all sorts of malware which might affect the safety and productivity of your device. If malware accesses your computer, it can install programs on your device that run in the background without your knowledge. Not only does this jeopardize your digital safety, but it can also hog the bandwidth through your device. Some ISPs offer security software, such as Spectrum, AT&T, Cox, and Frontier. For more information about how to stay secure online, please see our related post about safe online practices. In any case, make sure that your devices (including your router) are protected by complex passwords, fresh updates and solid security software.

A maintenance task you could get into the habit of doing would be to periodically clear your cache for a boost in browsing speed. A web cache on your browser is a program that saves chunks of the data you interact with online to help speed up download times in the future. For example, your cache might save a website’s images, data or other documents so that your browser can pull that website back up more quickly the next time you return to it. Sometimes a buildup of all that saved data can bog down your browser speed. Make it a point to clear your cache every couple of weeks (or every day, if you’re eager) to help keep your browser optimized.

You can also check for and kill the apps running in the background of your device to help your tech focus on the applications you’re trying to use in the moment. Sometimes the apps you install like to invite themselves to start up when you open your device whether or not you’ve asked them to. If we’re talking about your phone, then some of the apps you haven’t fully closed may still be operating in the background. Do your best to eliminate any extraneous app operation on your devices.