In this modern-day and age, slow wi-fi has turned into one of the most turbulent problems in our work and home life. From the minute a webpage takes a slow turn at loading, we are prompted into a series of infuriating outbursts. While slow Wi-Fi may just as well be our emotional triggers into a rage, there’s a better way to handle the situation out and get your Wi-Fi back to its normal speed.

You don’t have to search far to find the culprit behind your slow working internet – it’s almost always your router who’s at fault. However, there are many ways to fix your router and increase your internet speed for a streamlined experience with your internet service. Here are the ways you can improve your Wi-Fi network for better streaming and overall performance.

Improve the network settings in your router

Each router has its functions and optimizations which make it favorable for certain environments and specific uses. This simply indicates that your router may be optimized for entertainment and streaming, making it optimal for watching movies or playing video games. However, with more than a few internet users joining in and using the same internet service, the entertainment setting that is turned on with your Wi-Fi’s bandwidth can wreak havoc with an extremely slow Wi-Fi.

To improve on the settings within your router, you can choose to reset the Request to Send (RTS) thresholds. The process includes a bit of technological knowledge and expertise to truly understand and implement but the basic undertone is that you should tune your RTS threshold to a lower number if you live with a lot of people.

Take your router to a better spot

One of the possible reasons for slow Wi-Fi is that the router itself has physical barriers which prevent it from providing quality performance. Walls and floors are physical obstructions which close off proper Wi-Fi signal to be sent around a house or place. Therefore, if you keep your router in a closed-off area, you cannot expect a steady and fast network connection.

Apart from physical barriers, there’s also a concern of excessive electromagnetic waves deterring the proper spread of a network connection. These signals are often sent through electrical appliances, such as a refrigerator or even fluorescent lightbulbs. The interference between these waves with the signal sent by your router would typically lead to a really slow Wi-Fi connection.

Choose to keep your router somewhere in the middle of your house or workplace, and far away from electrical appliances. It is also best to have the antennas facing upwards for an even faster internet performance.

Get Rid of Your Leeches

Like all things in life, your Wi-Fi will also have a parasite living on its connection. If you do not have a password-protected Wi-Fi network, you can expect multiple people from around your neighborhood to continuously use your service while keeping you with an overcrowded network.

The higher the number of users in a specific network, the slower the internet service can be. Therefore, if you’re opening your Wi-Fi to your neighborhood, then chances are you will not find a sliver of proper internet connection for your use. This is why it is pertinent that you wade off the freeloaders infesting on your Wi-Fi by updating your security settings.

To encrypt your Wi-Fi and set it up with a higher guard against leeches, it is best to come up with a strong-build password. It is recommended that you use a lot of symbols or numbers as well as uppercase and lowercase letters for a heavily guarded Wi-Fi network. You should also remember to not share your password with a neighbor as it is likely that they’ll continue to use your service without notifying you.

Get a Better Antenna

Antennas are the long-standing poles attached on all corners of your router, and these small sturdy things are critical to you getting a faster speed from your Wi-Fi. Most cable and internet providers supply routers with very weak antennas and you can hardly get a strong signal in your device with a cheap antenna.

You should take up the decision of buying your antenna and checking the manufacturer’s details to identify a strong and sturdy one, with around 10-dB. Some antennas are also considered to be omnidirectional where you can expect strong signals from your router regardless of how the antenna is set up. Upgrading your antenna can be a definite step towards a faster internet connection.

Update your router

Sometimes, the problem with your router isn’t with its integration and functions. Instead, it could be a malware attack or an old and non-updated firmware that is causing such trouble with your internet connection.

Malware is one of the worst things you could have your router infected with, simply because it’s a virus that spreads and destroys everything in its wake. If you do detect malware in your system, it is better to ring up your internet service provider for fixes.

However, one way you can prevent malware attacks as well as increase your internet speed is by making sure your firmware is operating with the latest information. The firmware is a software that is sent off a list of instructions to hardware about how it should perform. Therefore, a non-updated firmware can lead to obsolete information that does not apply to your hardware, making it more vulnerable to pesky malware attacks.

You can check whether your router is running with the latest firmware by opening up a web browser and entering the IP address of your router, which is a number that you can typically find stuck on your router’s exterior. You will then have to log in with an admin password and username, which can be also found in the sticker or asked for from your ISP. Afterward, select the option called Firmware Update or Router Update to see if the firmware has been recently updated or manually update it by yourself.

Takeaway

Apart from these ways, there could be other reasons associated with poor internet performance for your household or workplace. You should check with your ISP about the bandwidth that you’re receiving while also opting to purchase a higher-end router for better service. If you’ve followed most of these steps, you’re likely on your way to enhancing your internet performance and enjoying a smoother and faster streaming service.