Do you know what’s worse than spending hours on end searching Netflix for a movie night pick? Finding a good film only to be interrupted by slow Wi-Fi. We’ve all been there, there’s no denying a slow connection and endless loading times is one of the things we can all relate.
They say nothing bonds people more than sharing a common enemy, *cough, cough* slow Wi-Fi. Well, we say eliminating an enemy bonds people even more, and since GVTC sees all of you in our surrounding community as family, we thought we’d share 5 ways to get rid of your biggest internet pet peeves. No “thanks” necessary!
1. Feng Shui for Speed
The smallest things can make a big difference. You may not think the way your furniture is positioned could affect how fast your internet works, but it can. How you may ask? The signal travels in a comparable way to how we think wind or sound travels, where large items can interrupt a signal. Therefore, that big leather couch in the middle of the living room can and will block the signal traveling from your router all the way to your computer. But don't worry, there's no need to downsize and start a tiny furniture club to avoid low internet speeds...as long as large furniture is positioned against the wall and not interrupting the flow of the room, it's likely not affecting your connection.
2. Prime Real Estate
You don’t need to be a computer engineer to get the fastest speed out of your internet connection; in fact, there are very simple tweaks you can make in order to kick those slowing speeds to the curve. Similar to the concept of placing furniture along the outer edges of the walls, where your router resides can have a big impact.
Real estate agents can be expensive, but you don’t need to worry as GVTC is happy to find you the best place for your router for free! Living in an open-concept, ranch-style home? The best place would be in the center of your home, so it can easily disperse the radio waves throughout. If you’re living in a multiple-story home, it’s better to place the router upstairs as the signal travels down better than up. Aside from that, prime real estate for your router is far away from highly-wired areas such as wired phones and computer cables, as they obstruct the radio signal of your Wi-Fi.
3. It’s Good to be Picky
What do significant others, neighborhoods, friends, and connected devices have in common? Aside from satisfying our need for human connection and choosing the right place to live, it’s important to be picky with which devices you connect to your internet at once.
Fewer devices = better network speed.
It sounds silly, but think about how many internet-connected devices you have at your home right this moment. Video Game consoles, TVs, computers (desktops and laptops), Smart Home devices, cellphones, tablets, and all other devices compete for internet usage.
Unless you’re currently subscribed to one of the highest internet broadband speeds, it’s very likely that too many devices are the reason why it’s taking so long to stream repeats of Game of Thrones.
4. Sharing Isn’t Caring
Unlike the golden rule for children, sharing your Wi-Fi internet does not lead to a better world. Your intention may not be to share your internet, but open networks can be security hazards as well as a cause for major slowdowns. Think about it... you lock your doors to keep strangers from having access to your things, so you really want to ensure you also protect your network with a strong password to avoid data hackers as well as internet leeches, aka bad neighbors.
Besides adding a password, you can also protect yourself by changing your Wi-Fi to a WPA/WPA2 connection, which is more secure from a WEP security algorithm. We’re not suggesting you stop inviting Susan next door over for iced tea and neighborhood gossip every once in a while! Just try to prevent her and others from mooching off your signal and slowing down your connection!
5. Building Bridges
Isn’t it wonderful how in shows and movies, families are often so united and spend so much time together? Absolutely, but in real life, there’s often so much time you also spend independent of each other (thank heavens).
Picture a regular family where dad is in the kitchen trying a new recipe for dinner, mom is listening to music outside while watering the plants, and the kids are in their rooms working on homework and watching Netflix. Depending on the size of their home, their Wi-Fi signal may not extend long enough to provide them all with the internet to do their activities. To avoid the need to crowd in one room to reach a signal and your kids from constantly interrupting you, a good solution to get better reception and expand the areas with good signal could be a wireless bridge (also called an Ethernet converter). Now that’s one bridge that brings you closer by allowing you to do things individually and keeping your peace of mind!
Now that you’re equipped with the 5 ultimate hacks to maximize your Wi-Fi connection, you can say goodbye to infuriating loading times and failed downloads!
GVTC offers starting Fiber speeds of up to 250 Mbps upload and download speeds to help you kickstart a happy home Wi-Fi experience. See what’s available in your area by visiting gvtc.com/shop and gain a little more control and peace of mind over your connection!