Whether or not you are working from residence, binge-watching Netflix, or streaming your gameplay on Twitch, there isn’t any such factor as an excessive amount of bandwidth. Even if in case you have gigabit fiber mainlined into your router, everybody may use assist getting quicker web round the home. It does not matter if in case you have the very best wires outdoors your own home—eliminating subpar speeds and Wi-Fi lifeless zones is essentially as much as you. Listed here are some methods to troubleshoot and, hopefully, enhance the standard of the Wi-Fi inside and outdoors your house.
Take a look at our different networking guides, together with the Finest Mesh Routers, Finest Wi-Fi Routers, Finest House Workplace Gear, and explainers, like how one can safe your house Wi-Fi community, router purchasing ideas, and Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 breakdowns.
Up to date Might 2025: We added particulars to most sections, together with tips about Ethernet, Wi-Fi bands, and adjusting antennas.
1. Transfer Your Router
That router within the closet? Not a good suggestion. Partitions, cabinets, and even bookshelves can probably dampen your Wi-Fi sign. Bodily shifting the router could make an actual distinction to web speeds and the way far wi-fi transmissions attain. The right spot will rely on your house, however strive to not cover your router in a nook, underneath a cabinet, or inside a drawer—the extra central and distinguished it’s, the higher. For more information, learn our information on the place to place your router for the very best residence Wi-Fi.
You may have to get artistic with cabling to get your router in a greater place, however it will likely be well worth the effort. The objective is to get your most important units—consoles, laptops, and so forth—as shut as attainable to your router. Gadgets that do not want fairly a lot bandwidth, like good thermostats, do not need to be a precedence by way of bodily proximity.
For that reason, it is value contemplating the look of your router when buying. For those who purchase a hideous router, you’re extra prone to put it in a closet. Determine the most effective spot given the placement of your high-priority units, then take into account what is going to look good to you in that spot. If you do not have a flat floor close to the most effective space, mount your router midway up a wall. If attainable, maintain it away from different units that use electromagnetic waves; that features child screens, wi-fi keyboards, and microwaves.
Routers have antennas, both inner or exterior, and even simply altering the angle can affect the energy of your Wi-Fi somewhere else round your house, so do not be afraid to waggle these antennas and see if there’s an enchancment. For routers with inner antennas, even turning the router round or angling it in a different way could make a distinction.
2. Use an Ethernet Cable
Ethernet. It nonetheless works.
{Photograph}: Eskay Lim/Getty Photos
It is easy to neglect that wires nonetheless exist! We do not, it is in our title, but it surely must be stated: You do not want Wi-Fi. A wired Ethernet connection to your router is quicker and extra secure than Wi-Fi, and it may’t be affected by different units or massive fish tanks. The draw back is that it limits the place your units could be, and it is much less handy.
