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Machine and Engineering

How to Boost Your WiFi Antenna Signal at Home?

We have to admit that a strong, far-reaching Wi-Fi antenna signal is now a part and parcel of modern living. The absence of the sheer lack of access to the Internet or home network these days is like a death sentence to many, especially for those who work and business depend so much on their Web connectivity.

Those who happen to have an online enterprise and those whose role in their work necessitates them to have constant access to the Internet, are the people who really have a  dire need for seamless connectivity to the Internet. Otherwise, they won’t be able to deliver their delegated functions at all. 

When you relocate your router further away from your wireless device, the natural tendency of the Wi-Fi signal is to grow weaker and weaker. You get to access the Wi-Fi Dark Zone if you go further enough. This is that region where your wireless network is not visible at all to your device.  

With that scenario in mind, how can you improve the Wi-Fi signal? Do you think you should turn it up in the house? Into your backyard? To your next-door neighbors?

Yes! That is a resounding answer you will hear from us. So, how do we improve our home WiFi signal with the situation described above? Here are some of the common and practical ways you can do so.   

Relocate Your Router to Another Location

The quality of your WiFi signal will be compromised if you deliberately have it inside enclosed or cramped spaces like the area under the stairs. It will also have the same fate if you have it in a cupboard. 

Router placement is crucial, especially when you are intending to increase the range of its coverage area. Having your wireless router nestled behind a humongous solid object will certainly hamper its signal broadcast and thus giving it a limited/reduced range. 

Often, the best place to install your WiFi router is a hallway or a corridor. But it should be central to your home. That way, the signal will spread out equally or evenly across the house. However, in reality, we know for a fact that this suggestion is not always actionable or possible for many households or workspaces like offices. 

Resolve this by: 

A possible solution to consider is to move your router out from the area where public obstacles are blocking the Wi-Fi signal. Moving your router to a different location should be taken into account, if necessary.

Upgrade Your Receivers and WiFi Antennas

wifi routerYour router is equipped with a WiFi antenna to be able to broadcast Wi-Fi to its nearby surroundings like the rooms inside your home.  Consider updating your WiFi antenna, particularly its firmware and use the 802.11ac instead.

If you are not a tech-savvy person, what we have below might help you understand the importance of firmware update in relation to your networking devices: 

The 802.11ac standard is in a whole different class from the older 802.11 protocols, with regards to data throughput when you go further away from the router. 

Consider, for instance:

  • 802.11n was launched in 2009 and is capable of broadcasting at approximately 75MB/s over a 300-foot outdoor range with around 50 feet indoor range. 
  • The 802.11ac specification, which was launched in 2014, was shown to be capable of broadcasting at speeds of about 166.25 MB/s (1.13 GB/s) over a similar range.

Resolve this by: 

If at all possible, consider upgrading to an 802.11ax router. By this measure, you can future-proof your home network for the upcoming wave of a new generation of wireless devices. You will surely acquire some of them inevitably in the near future because they will not just be gizmos but as you can see they clearly have become a necessity, too. Much like how we are having them now. 

Don’t sweat out too much on this: Don’t worry, a dual-band 802.11ac router will help ensure that your home network remains connected for at least several decades.

Improve Your Coverage by Wireless Mesh 

An excellent method for providing consistent Wi-Fi coverage throughout your home is by making use of a wireless mesh network. 

Mesh Wi-Fi utilizes more than one network system and continues to provide consistent Wi-Fi coverage across your entire home or even in your office/workspace, etc.

Unlike a Wi-Fi signal extender, which generates a newly expanded network, a mesh network employs the use of a single unified wireless network. They have long been used in different kinds of crowded venues, like sports events, festivals, and shopping malls, among other places. Mesh Wi-Fi technology, on the other hand, has found its way into the home in recent years.

Solution: 

Take this into consideration, switching to a wireless mesh network to significantly improve your home network’s consistency.

Wrapping Up!

One of the solutions we indicated above should help improve your home or workplace Wi-Fi signal. Some of them would even allow you to extend your Wi-Fi signal into other unlikely areas of your home, like the garden area, garage, and so on. 

Clearly, many of us have had our share of unpleasant experiences with the sundry connectivity issues and setbacks involving WiFi antenna signal. We all agree this is a bane to modern living; hence, do not suffer in silence.