UPGRADE YOUR WI-FI

ENSURE YOUR FLOTILLA OF WIRELESS GADGETS ARE ALWAYS CONNECTED

Better positioning

If you’re struggling to get a decent signal from your Wi-Fi router, it might not be in the best spot in your house. Wi-Fi signals can bounce, scatter, be absorbed and refracted. Move your router away from walls, and take it out of that bookshelf – the clearer the path to your intended reception location, the better the signal quality will be. Make sure the receiver is on the same side of your body as your phone if you don’t want the fluids in your torso absorbing most of that signal.

Reduce interference

The 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies used by Wi-Fi networks are not exclusively reserved for home networking. Modern digital baby monitors, for example, will often operate on these frequencies – and they’re going to hammer out that signal without worrying about whether they’re killing your Wi-Fi or not. Move any similar transmitters away from your router, and switch them off completely when not in use. Dedicated transmitters are not the only culprit, either: keep an eye on your signal strength when you’re running your microwave, and you’ll probably notice a distinct drop.

Better antennas

Your ISP-supplied router might not have any visible antennas, or even a way to add one in – that is, it seems, the price of free kit. Pick up a third-party wireless router and you’ll likely see a notable increase in signal strength, particularly if you can direct its antennas to where you need it most. If not, an external high-powered antenna could be a good choice for increasing the relative loudness of your Wi-Fi signal or blasting it directly to those trouble spots.