Tips on Improving Your Internet Speed
One option is to pay your internet provider for faster speeds, another is to purchase a new router
Before you choose one of those options, try these tips and tricks to speed up your internet and WiFi without spending any money.
1. How fast is the internet you’re paying for? By checking the speed you may find out you’re not getting what you’re paying for. Go the website, www.speedtest.net to check your speed.
If your main computer is connected to the router directly you’ll be able to see what your provider is actually giving you. If it’s considerably less, call your internet provider and ask them to come out and check it.
If you want to check the speed of your WiFi connection, log on to that website with a mobile device or laptop connected to your
router. The speeds shown will be much lower which indicates whether your router should be in a different location.
2. Location. The location of your router plays a big factor in WiFi speeds. The router should be close to the center of your home.
Many providers install it where it’s most convenient to them which may be on the lowest floor or basement and on one end
of the house or the other.
3. Moving the router is not always possible but you can do it by connecting the router to a second router closer to the center of the house. You’ll need to use an Ethernet cable that is available at most hardware stores and online.
Connect the cable to one of the Ethernet ports on the main router and connect the other end into a second router somewhere in the house. This will allow you to connect to either router.
4. If you have particularly tough trouble spots in the house like in an office or bedroom, consider purchasing a WiFi extender. These generally are not that expensive and will repeat the WiFi signal to other rooms.
5. One word of advice: do not put the extender in the room you need to connect. Rather, place it halfway between the primary router and the room with a weak signal.
6. Update your router. Some routers do this automatically but it’s a good idea to check for yourself. Download the app for your router and check the updates.
7. If you don’t have the app you can turn off the router, wait 10 seconds and turn it back on. Or unplug it for 10 seconds. This often installs updates and speeds up your signal.
8. If you’re all home, your family isn’t using all of the data you’re paying your wireless carrier. Rather than letting that data go to waste, turn off WiFi on devices used mainly for watching TikTok or YouTube videos or just browsing the web. This will allow for computers access to the bandwidth they need.
If these tricks don’t work, you may need a new router to increase your WiFi speeds.
