Wireless connections are now the standard for connecting to the internet in many homes and offices, both because they take up the clutter of pulling long cables in the rooms, and because through it it becomes possible to connect to the internet with your smartphone, game consoles and with modern Smart TVs. The Wi-Fi connection can be obtained at home by connecting a router that distributes the signal to the room via the LAN or by using the Wi-Fi module integrated in most modems supplied by operators and available on the market. Unfortunately, it can happen that the connection drops and our devices frequently disconnect, also due to too weak a signal or a high interference with nearby networks.
To enhance the Wi-Fi signal, to speed up and stabilize the data transfer and also to avoid frequent disconnections, in this guide we have collected all the valid suggestions to be able to improve any wireless connection, so you can surf at maximum speed.
READ ALSO: How to increase and improve the speed of WIFI
How to enhance the Wi-Fi signal
If our wireless connection is too slow or does not take in some areas of the home or office, let's see together what we can do to improve the situation.First of all, you can read here how to find out the WiFi signal strength on Windows PC in order to have a comparison.
Change transmission channel
Routers, by default, are almost all set on the same channel, number 6. If you live in an urban center full of houses or offices, it may be that the channel is very busy so you have to change it from the router settings and using the channel 1, channel 11 or any other free channel.In order to change the channel we access the configuration panel of our modem or router (as seen in the guide to configure a wifi router) and check in the Wireless or Wi-Fi menu until you find the item relating to the Channel or Channel .
To choose the best channel to use for the home or office, we can use the InSSider program that I have already talked about in the article Connect to the wireless channel of the wifi network without signal interference . Thanks to this tool it is possible to analyze the signal and find the best channel from which to transmit. Routers, by default, are almost all set on the same channel, number 6. If you live in an urban center full of houses or offices, it may be that the channel is very busy so you have to change it from the router settings by putting the number 1 or the number 11 using InSSider to understand which signal is more free and less used by the received wifi.
Also for Windows, you can use the NetSurveyor tool, an application that discovers existing and receivable Wi-Fi networks in an area and collects information about nearby wireless access points. Through detailed graphs, it shows real-time statistics on signal strength and quality, channel, type of radio, activity status and encryption. NetSurveyor is however a diagnostic tool for professionals.
With other programs it is possible to draw a signal map to see where wireless takes better, so as to understand which channel to use and how to better orient the router.
If we have an Android smartphone, we can install the free WiFiAnalyzer application which analyzes the wireless networks received by the phone, shows its signal strength and also gives indications about the channels, showing the best ones.
Connect a second router
To increase coverage and get a faster connection, we can also connect a new router to your home or office modem. So let's get a router (even old, as long as it supports modern Wi-Fi connections), connect it via an Ethernet cable to the main modem and configure it as if it were a separate network.
To learn how to correctly configure both devices, we recommend you read our guide on how to increase the wifi signal by connecting the two routers .
If we do not have a second router to be connected in cascade, we advise you to focus on complete and inexpensive models such as the TP-Link TL-WR940N (20 €) or the TP-Link Archer C6 (49 €).
Connect a range extender
If the devices to be connected are too far away, we can use a Wi-Fi range extender to extend the range of the Wi-Fi connection without having to connect a second router.
By connecting these small devices to a home outlet and using the WPS button (or by accessing the device configurations via an Ethernet cable) we will be able to expand the wireless network, keeping the same password and creating a network with a similar name (the only difference will be in the presence of the suffix EXT, to distinguish it). We can take a look at how these devices work in our guide to How the wifi repeater or "Range Extender" works and which one to buy .
If instead we are looking for two cheap and effective models, we recommend you focus on the TP-Link RE200 Wireless WiFi Repeater (€ 22) or on the Netgear EX2700 (€ 24).
Use the Wi-Fi Powerline
For very large houses we can focus on the Powerline, so as to bring the Internet signal through the home outlets, as already seen in our guide on How the Powerline works, secrets and limits. Wi-Fi connection is also available for some Powerline models, which we can therefore use to have a wireless network away from the modem but fast and stable, without having to use range extenders or second routers.
The cheapest and most effective models to exploit this technology are the TP-Link TL-WPA4220 (€ 48) and the Netgear PLW1000-100PES (€ 59).
Use 5 GHz networks
If our modem or router supports 5 GHz wireless networks, we can use them to navigate quickly and without interference, as well described in our guide to the Differences between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks; which is better?
To activate it, all we have to do is enter the modem or router settings, check the presence of the 5GHz network, enable it (perhaps by setting a slightly different name than the 2.4 GHz network), choose a robust WPA2 password and finally set as 802.11n or 802.11ac protocol. This network is much faster but the coverage is not exceptional (for a physical limit): we will hardly be able to cover more than two rooms.
If our router does not support 5GHz connections, the best models we can buy are visible in our guide to the Best Modems to buy (fiber, dual band, wireless AC) .
Conclusions
By following the suggestions proposed in this guide to the letter, we will be able to enhance the Wi-Fi signal and avoid frequent disconnections with our routers. In some cases we will not have to spend anything to obtain benefits, in others we will have to have a router, extender or Powerline to achieve a real improvement in the connection.If we still have problems surfing the Internet, we recommend you read our guide to solutions to problems with wifi and router connections . In another guide instead we showed you What slows down the speed of the Wifi network and the internet connection, so that we can intervene promptly.
READ ALSO: Amplify the home Wi-Fi and extend the wireless reception
