The Secrets to Keep Your WiFi Within Range

Just imagine being stuck on a flight with no WiFi or out of WiFi range in a coffee shop. It will of course not be a pleasant experience. Access to the customer database can be cut off or an important business presentation can go unfinished if the WiFi connection does not remain within range. Therefore, we should be aware of the quick tips to maximize the WiFi signal strength and minimize the interference.

There is a host of options to keep your WiFi within range. However, why not start with the basics? This may include buying small devices to ensure consistent connectivity to the web or turning your Smartphones into hotspot. Therefore, let us find the different ways to prevent WiFi interference and make life easier.

Invest in the latest standard for WiFi wireless:

The range of 802.11N makes WiFi more practical. Obstructions such as brick walls and metal frames at home can highly reduce the range of a WiFi LAN. In addition to these, interference from microwave ovens can also greatly impact the range. Ideally, 802.11b and 802.11g are both susceptible to these equipments.

Pay attention to different angles while setting WiFi:

Angle is important while setting up equipment’s. As angle can enhance the thickness of floors and walls. Thus, to improve the signal strength and the range, you can add extenders to the wireless network.

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Keep electrical devices away from wireless:

Router placement is also considered important when it is a matter of consistent WiFi connection. Keep all your networked devices away from electrical devices that produce RF noise such as electric motors, UPS units, microwaves or monitor. Also 2.4 GHz wireless phones or power cables can interfere with the wireless connection. You can consider DECT technology to upgrade your wireless phone to avoid any sort of interference. With the explosion of WiFi networks, technologies are creating different products to prevent interference with your wireless network.

Install additional wired connection with multiple WiFi hubs:

If you are running WiFi in your house, installer can add a wired connection between several wireless hubs.  This method creates a much wider range of access points to the end users. Therefore, your laptop can roam through 3 levels of your house. If one signal fades, the connection can pick up the other access point that is the hard-wired to the router.

[Read also: The Impact of WiFi Technology in Different Sectors]

Get a wireless signal repeater:

Install a wireless signal repeater in case your workplace is far away from the access point and you have to stretch yourself to the other end of your office room to receive better reception. The purpose of the wireless repeater is to extend the WiFi coverage without the need for more wires. To get an instant boost, place the repeater between your laptop and access point.

Check for the security system in your internet:

WEP and WPA/WPA2 are security systems that prevent hackers from interfering into your network. However, WEP is less secured than WPA/WPA2. Therefore, if you are running WEP in your internet, you should immediately change to stop unwanted force breaking into your network.

Add external antenna:

Adding high gain (higher dBi), an external antenna often augment the reception signal and the WiFi performance. However, please note, that if you want to higher dBi maximizes the speed horizontally and minimize it vertically. Therefore, higher dBi does not effectively work when you need to cover several floors.

Reflector can do wonders:

Reflector can be a great choice to keep your WiFi signal within range. To tune the right placement of the reflector, you can use NetStumbler. Reflector should be placed behind the antenna to increase signal strength and is a quick trick especially for cell phones. Here’s a cheap and easy way to make yourself a reflector.

Some of The Best WiFi service provider:

Some of the renowned WiFi service provider provides you the best options to keep their WiFi hotspot with anyone in range. KARMA service uses Clearwire data network with 4G connection. The KARMA device is compressed and the first gigabyte of their data is free of cost. The gigabytes have the capacity to download around 170 music files of typical size.

AT&T’s plans involve the improved hotspot features for cell phone’s talk and text services. The plan also includes the sprint charges as an add-on fee to use your phone for tethering. The same plan is also available for other devices such as tablets, iPads, and Android tablet into hotspot.

Even FreedomPop provides an unusual approach. You can get upto 500 megabytes of data in a month for mobile hotspot. As this is not sufficient for downloading videos, you opt for their monthly plan for gigabytes to efficiently run your W-Fi network.

As you can see, with the correct planning and strategies, you no longer have to face any WiFi challenges.

[Read also: How to Locate Free WiFi Wherever You Go]