With today's technology, we need our wifi to be fast and reliable, especially in a business. There isn't anything more frustrating for employees or customers than lagging wifi as it means everything takes longer than it's supposed to, making productivity decrease. When your wifi isn't providing what your business needs your first thought might be to go through the hassle of finding a new provider but there are a few things you could try before putting the time and funds into that. Here are our top tips on how you can improve your wifi with just a few simple steps.
Check your speed!
First of all, you need to check your wifi speeds, we suggest checking it at the closest desk to the router and the furthest point to get a better understanding of how far your wifi reachers and to get the best understanding of the problem. You will want to pay attention to the upload and download speed in busy and quiet times in your office and where the wifi signal drops. Once you have found the problem you can then administer one of our solutions.
Selecting a good location
If you put your router lowdown in the corner you're going to lose single as you get further away. Pick a spot that is central and make sure the router is elevated to get the best results throughout your office.
You should also keep in mind if there is anything that can block the signal. Metal is the top disrupter of a WiFi signal, however, glass, wood, plastics, foam, and cardboard, can also disrupt a WiFi signal but their influence on WiFi signal strength tends to be less severe. Keep this in mind when choosing a place to mount the router, if you know where any metal beams are try to place the router on a different part of the wall, on a desk. You should also try to keep your router away from televisions, cordless phones, and radiant heaters as this can also help boost the signal.
Updates
Updates will work out any kinks in the system that have developed over time, they also allow the software to run to its best ability. If you can set your router to update automatically but if you can't and you're noticing your wifi getting slower check to see if any updates are due and do them sooner rather than later. Not only does skipping updates make your computer slower but can cause it brake over time if too many updates are skipped. When companies send out updates for your devices they are fixing any ways hackers have been able to get in in the past so if you don't update you could be in some serious trouble with people leaching off your wifi and GDPR, if people can get on your network then your client's information isn't safe.
Hungry Applications
Most modern routers support services like QoS (Quality of Service), which allow users to prioritise certain applications over others. This means if you find one application is taking up more bandwidth than it should you can use QoS to prioritise what applications get specific amounts of bandwidth so that the more important applications can run smoothly. QoS will also allow you to see if there are specific members of staff or customers that are using more than their fair share of bandwidth causing everyone else to have massive delays in their day. QoS will allow you to limit their share of the bandwidth so that it gets distributed evenly.
To see if you have QoS available on your router go into the settings and it is normally under a features section, or contact your provider.
Antenna
If you're feeling your wifi struggling it might be that your antenna is simply too short. Most suppliers put the shorter one on there as it looks nicer and the majority of customers don't need a long one. An antenna that is a few inches tall and has around 4 dB gain whereas a 10-dB antenna can be anywhere between 10 to 15 inches tall.
There are lots different types of WiFi antennas, but the most common is the “rubber duck” antenna, which is an electrically short monopole antenna that consists of a springy wire in the shape of a narrow helix, sealed in a rubber or plastic jacket to protect the antenna. You can find these is most online stores including amazon, some even come with extensions.
You can also try tilting your wifi antenna in the direction where you lose signal as it might be the case that the signal is going towards the wall instead of towards the room.
Boosts
Wifi boosters, repeaters, and extenders all have the same job, to boost your wifi signal to your device. Repeaters take the already existing signal from your router and rebroadcast it making them ideal if the only issue you're facing is length. Boosters and extenders do a similar thing but before they rebroadcast the signal they amplify the existing signal first making them ideal if the general wifi signal is weak.
Upgrade
If none of these solutions works and your wifi still isn't meeting your requirements then maybe it's time for an upgrade. Try contacting your provider to discuss different deals, and speeds and see what they suggest. If you're not satisfied with their options then maybe it's time for a different provider. take a look at different comparison websites and reviews. If you would like quick and simple solutions contact us today and our experts will recommend what they think is best for your business so that you can get all of your connectivity needs met. Contact us!