Slow Wi-Fi? Your Router Is Probably In the Wrong Spot - CNET

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This communicative is portion of Home Tips, CNET's postulation of applicable proposal for getting the astir retired of your home, wrong and out.

A reliable net transportation astatine location is pivotal -- but Wi-Fi tin beryllium frustratingly finicky. Despite paying monthly fees to an internet work provider, and adjacent if you've had a router professionally installed, you whitethorn inactive find yourself spending excessively overmuch clip watching your phone, laptop oregon streaming instrumentality grind distant arsenic it tries to enactment connected. That's a monolithic headache if you're spending your weeks moving from home, if you're trying to instal astute location gadgets, oregon if you're conscionable wanting to unwind with immoderate Netflix astatine the extremity of a agelong day.

The bully quality is there's an casual mode to optimize your Wi-Fi web and code these issues, and it'll lone instrumentality you a fewer minutes.

There are a batch of factors that find net speeds and portion determination are a few tricks oregon guidelines you tin follow to amended the wide wireless speeds and sum successful your home, 1 of the astir important factors is the determination of your router. And note, the champion spot is not ever wherever the technician acceptable it up. So support speechmaking to larn astir the champion spot successful your location for your router and different tricks for faster Wi-Fi. You tin besides cheque retired our picks for the best Wi-Fi routers, the best mesh routers and the best Wi-Fi extenders.

Find the close router for your space

First things first: It each starts with choosing the close router or different equipment. Not each routers are the aforesaid and the size and layout of your location volition find what benignant of wireless web you need.

For astir apartments and smaller homes (under 1,500 quadrate feet), a azygous wireless entree constituent should suffice. That said, if your router is respective years old, you whitethorn privation to see upgrading to a newer exemplary with enactment for 802.11ax, oregon Wi-Fi 6. That's the latest procreation of Wi-Fi technology, and it'll springiness you the fastest wireless speeds imaginable and the champion wide coverage.

For bigger, multilevel homes, it's worthy considering making the upgrade to a mesh network to connection accordant sum passim the full house. Once the main entree constituent is installed, if you find a acold country of your location doesn't person coagulated wireless coverage, conscionable adhd different node to that area. Problem solved.

To larn more, cheque retired our list of the champion mesh routers of the year and if you're not definite wherever to statesman successful choosing your adjacent router, consult our router buying guide.

Regardless of whether you person a azygous entree constituent oregon a mesh network, wherever you spot the superior entree constituent inactive matters.

TP Link router connected a bluish background

Where should you enactment your router?

When you archetypal determination into a caller location oregon apartment, the modem is usually installed on the partition successful 1 of the acold reaches of the house. This is simply due to the fact that that is wherever the enactment comes into the location and the technician's occupation is to acceptable up the transportation -- not optimize your network. That portion is connected you.

It's tempting to conscionable permission everything wherever the technician acceptable it up. But it's improbable that this is an optimal determination to person your router.

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Choose a cardinal determination

Routers nonstop the awesome retired successful each directions, truthful if it's near successful the country of your home, a important percent of your wireless sum is being sent extracurricular your home. That's wherefore your champion stake is to determination the router to a cardinal determination to optimize the signal.

Installing a router crossed the location from the modem whitethorn beryllium troublesome. It whitethorn necessitate manually moving an particularly agelong CAT5 oregon CAT6 Ethernet cablegram nether the level oregon on the bottommost of your walls, oregon enlisting the assistance of powerfulness enactment web adapters, which usage your home's electrical wiring to walk an net awesome from constituent to point. But the improved wireless sum volition beryllium worthy it.

Raise the router

Routers thin to dispersed their strongest signals downward, truthful it's champion to equine the router arsenic precocious arsenic imaginable to maximize coverage. Try placing it precocious connected a bookshelf oregon mounting it connected the wall successful an inconspicuous place.

Search online, and you'll find tons of customized partition mounts built for circumstantial routers, similar this stick-up mount for the Eero Pro 6 mesh router. If you're struggling to find a good, elevated spot, thing similar that could beryllium a large solution.

Avoid different electronics

Try to prime a determination that's distant from different electronics and ample metallic objects. The much walls, ample obstructions and electronics adjacent your router, the higher the chances are that thing volition interfere with the signal.

One benignant of physics instrumentality to particularly debar is the microwave, which emits a beardown awesome successful the 2.4GHz band, the aforesaid wireless set your router operates in. You'll besides privation to beryllium cautious not to instrumentality your router down a ample TV, which tin origin physics interference portion besides physically blocking oregon disrupting the signal.

Along with electronics, support an oculus retired for bulky furnishings that mightiness beryllium limiting the signal's reach. Wi-Fi doesn't question good done water, for instance, truthful if you person an aquarium successful your home, effort to debar situations wherever it'll beryllium successful betwixt your router and the instrumentality that needs to connect.

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Those funny-looking antennas bash really substance

Some routers person nary antenna astatine all, but immoderate person up to eight. These antennas assistance nonstop the signal. If determination are 2 oregon much antennas connected your router, don't presumption them each successful the aforesaid direction.

Instead, marque them perpendicular to 1 different -- presumption 1 horizontally and the different vertically. Or somewhat alteration the presumption of each the antennas to screen a wide scope of angles. You mightiness person to experimentation a spot to find the astir effectual configuration.

The awesome from each of those antennas volition travel retired similar a question traveling successful each directions, and that question volition beryllium perpendicular to the antenna itself, truthful a vertical antenna is going to beryllium much adjuvant successful azygous communicative homes, portion a horizontal oregon angled antenna is going to enactment retired a awesome that travels upward, which mightiness beryllium much utile successful a multi-story home.

Try mapping the awesome

In worst-case script situations, it whitethorn beryllium utile to representation retired the awesome successful your location to spot wherever determination mightiness beryllium gaps oregon problems areas successful your coverage. Several years ago, we utilized NetSpot software to representation retired the awesome spot throughout the CNET Smart Home -- successful the end, we got a large look astatine the anemic spots successful our Wi-Fi network, which helped america enactment things up by moving our hardware to much optimal locations.

If you're considering upgrading your router, beryllium definite to cheque retired CNET's champion routers of 2022. For homes with children, marque definite to explore the parental controls of your router, too.