Tips to Boost WiFi Connectivity While Working From Home

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By now, most of us may be better adjusted to learning and working from home due to coronavirus pandemic. You have probably developed a routine that helps maximize productivity or found a workplace that enables you to comfortably work or learn with minimum distractions. Although your network seems fine, there may be times when you need to boost WiFi connectivity as it is running at snail’s pace, resulting in lagging video conference calls, slow load times while accessing school assignments, or dropped connections when downloading important files. On the off chance if you often face WiFi connectivity issues, there is a good chance that the culprit is none other than your existing equipment or your home environment.

Objects like pipes, wiring, and walls – all can affect and weaken your Netgear router’s WiFi signals. Additionally, some lesser-known causes of WiFi interference involve mirrors, fish tanks, and even household appliances. And you would be amazed to know that the main culprit is the microwave oven. When used, it can block pretty much any 2.4 GHz band, leaving you with a spotty wireless connection.

So, what exactly you need to do? Well, this post can prove a lot helpful! Here, we have curated a list of some DIY tips and tricks to boost WiFi connectivity and speed, ensuring your learning and working from home experience is as smooth as possible.

Boost WiFi Connectivity While Working From Home

1. Router Placement

If possible, place your WiFi router in a central location of your home. In this way, your router will be able to spread WiFi signals evenly throughout. The placement also plays an important role in the Netgear Nighthawk setup and installation. You can place your router in your dining room, bedroom, hall, or even in the store room of your home.
Regardless of where you place it, make sure that your router is not sitting on the ground, hidden inside of cabinets, or even under beds. If possible, keep your router elevated on a table, countertop, shelf, or desk to ensure superior signal distribution. Doing so will remove the need for WiFi signals to pass through unnecessary objects.

2. Use QoS to Improve Internet Traffic Management

QoS or Quality of Service is a feature that comes embedded with a router, enabling you to prioritize traffic to a particular device or for particular usage. With no QoS enabled, bandwidth is allocated across different applications or services as required. You can enable QoS via the default web address.

Once enabled, it prioritizes common internet usage such as web browsing, gaming, or streaming based on the household’s requirements. In a distance learning or work from home situation, this can help immensely when internet traffic is required for more important usage such as streaming lessons or video conference calls

3. Maximize the Use of Your WiFi Frequency Bands

In case you own a dual-band router, your WiFi network will divide by two frequency bands, i.e. 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. With these two bands, you can better optimize your network by allocating particular devices to different bands. The major difference between the two frequencies is speed and coverage each band offers.

The 2.4 GHz band offers coverage at a longer range but transfers data at slower speeds. On the other hand, the 5 GHz band offers less coverage but transmits data at faster speeds. When all is said and done, you may wish to consider connecting your key devices such as laptops or tablets to the 5 GHz band when it comes to working or learning from home. For Netgear router, you can change its frequency band by navigating to the Netgear genie setup web page.