If you are one of those who have experienced seemingly abrupt disconnections during live streaming, playing games or online surfing, then you must know the frustration. The poor wireless connection does not only affect your internet speed but also wastes a lot of time while spoiling your mood.
The good news is that buying a brand new router is not the only solution if your router has run out. There are a plethora of ways you can improve both the speed and performance of your router. Here are a few of them.
Tips to improve your Router’s Performance
1. Choose an Open Space to position Your Router
You might not have heard it before but wireless signals disrupt when they penetrate into dense and metal objects. Obstructions like pipes, wall, metal filing can significantly limit your wireless connection. That means obstructions between your computer and the router is one of the reasons you face severe interference in connection.
The best way to overcome these random obstructions is to position your router in an open space. This way, it will have less interfering objects and will help you maximize the router’s signal strength. However, that does not mean that you should place your router in the basement or somewhere in a corner. It may reduce both the capacity and the range of the signals by affecting its efficacy. That is why try to keep your router in an open space but in a central location. It will significantly improve its performance
2. Do some Changing in Wireless Channels
Most wireless routers run with specific channels, ranging from 1 to 11 for sending and receiving data. If you are operating a router on a certain channel for five to six months, chances are it will slow the connection speed.
The easy way to detect the wireless channel your router has is to use a free tool like an insider. It scans the Wi-Fi networks in your surrounding and helps you detect the best router channel.
If the surrounding routers are working with the same channel setting, it may affect the speed of your router. There will be limited power and range. Switching to another wireless channel setting is very easy. All you need to do is find the correct IP address in the documentation that you receive with the router. Type the address in your browser’s bar and change the wireless channel setting.
3. Update Adapter Drivers
It is not only your router that needs to be updated periodically but the wireless adapter too. It is an easy way to boost the performance of your Wi-Fi. Through a few simple steps, you can update the latest adapter drivers.
To install the latest drivers, identify the manufacturer of your adapter. Go to control panel and expand network adapter to explore the model of your adapter driver. The next step is to check the manufacturer’s website to download the latest wireless drivers for the router. Once you download these drivers, run them by double-clicking the wireless adapter’s name.
4. Protect Your Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi signals broadcast over an extensive range of radius, including your neighborhood or houses near your vicinity. If your Wi-Fi is not password protected, people may easily freeload using your wireless connection, leaving your bandwidth dry. That makes preventing people from stealing your Wi-Fi extremely important.
The first step is to check your router connection is not being used by unauthorized users. Most modern routers usually have a common client to list the connected devices to the network. Some prefer to add more details to it, such as IP address, data usage of the devices that are connected to the Wi-Fi.
If you identify an intruder, delete his device from your Wi-Fi network. You have an option to block the intruders completely.
Following are the other preventative measures you can take to avoid this problem:
- Change your admin password
- Always use a strong password
- Use a highly secure WPA2 encryption for protecting your password
- Keep your WPS turned off
- Keep your SSIS hidden
- If possible, enable Mac filtering
- Use VPN on Router
Sometimes when you access certain websites, ISP slows down the internet connection speed. Mostly it happens during website streaming like BBC iplayer or Netflix that require good bandwidth. Typically when ISPs monitors data usage, it limits internet speed if it detects the use of high bandwidth or streaming services. The technical name of this ISP’s function is throttling and it often happens when user download torrents and other large files such as games.
Fortunately, prevention ISP from limiting your internet connectivity is possible. VPN is an easy way you encrypt your traffic, making it impossible for network ISP to see or detect your traffic content. It is better to setup VPN on the browser rather than on the device. It will allow network devices to freely access your content without increasing the throttling risk.
Not only setting up VPN will improve the performance of your router, but also the security of the devices that are using that same network because of data encryption. The most interesting thing about using a VPN is that it will apply to the devices that do not support its installation.
5. Use a Wi-Fi Extender
If your router’s performance is sub-optimal, another way to boost it is using a range extender. As its name suggests, the device can significantly extend the range of Wi-Fi signals. Installing DD-WRT firmware is a good option as it is a low-cost Wi-Fi extender. It helps you extend Wi-Fi signals even in the dead-zones of your house.
Final Thoughts
All in all, even brand new routers may show you troubleshooting signs if they are not positioned in the right place or is open to other devices that are on the network. Poor internet speed is also caused if Wi-Fi adapters are not updated or the router is running with the same Wi-Fi channel setting. Regardless of what the reason for poor internet speed, if it interferes with your work or leisure hours, it is enough to frustrate you. All the aforementioned tips are great to help you improve the performance of your router.
