How to improve your WiFi while you’re stuck at home

With orders to stay home due to the coronavirus, quality internet service is more important than ever. Whether you’re using your WiFi to work or just to stay sane with streaming and gaming, you need to get the most out of your wireless internet.

Unfortunately, life doesn’t always work that way. If your home WiFi is crapping out on a regular basis or isn’t any good, it can feel like there’s nothing you can do. This isn’t true. Depending on how much money you want to spend, you can improve your WiFi situation in pretty short order.

Even if you don’t want to spend money, there are some steps you can take to fix your busted WiFi right now. 

Things you can do for free

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As you probably know, WiFi only works if you have a functional router. But you can’t just put a router anywhere and expect peak performance. It would be nice if things worked that way, but we live in a world where wireless signals can only do so much on their own, so we need to help them as much as we can.

Is your router in your basement, or in a cupboard, or generally far away from the devices you use? If so, consider fixing that. Your router needs to be in as central a location as possible. I realize that isn’t always easy; my modem is at the far end of a long apartment because that’s where the cable is. That said, if you have a lengthy ethernet cable lying around, you can make it work.

Even if you can’t, you can still improve your signal by putting the router in an elevated position and making sure there’s open air between it and any device you’re using. Don’t put it on the floor if you can help it. Walls, especially thick ones, can also be hell for wireless signals. It’s possible for other electronic devices in close proximity to the router to disrupt the signal, too. 

In general, keep the router away from other devices, don’t make the signal pass through too many walls, and keep it up as high as you can. Of course, you could always try limiting the number of devices you have connected to WiFi, too. All of those things should help.

Things you can’t do for free, but could help a lot

It’s possible the problem is more serious than simple router placement. That would really suck given the current predicament we’re all in, but if you have the means, there are some steps you can take to fix your crappy WiFi by opening up your wallet.

On the cheap end, you can get some ethernet cables and try to wire up as many of your devices as you can. I realize this is inconvenient and will invariably lead to cable clutter. Still, if you’re having signal problems, a direct connection between your device and your router should help stabilize things.

For those at wit’s end after trying the above, you might simply need a new router. Our friends over at PCMag have rounded up some of the best available routers right now, keeping both price and performance in mind. For about $60 you can get this router from D-Link, or you can splurge on a more expensive option. 

If you wind up getting a new router, make sure it has a good number of ethernet ports. You don’t want to be stuck shuffling wires in and out of a limited number of ports. Also, if a router you’re looking at is “WiFi 6” certified, consider this a plus! It’s a newer, faster WiFi standard that will only help you in the future as more devices support it.

Maybe you have a decent router, but it doesn’t cover your entire home on its own. This is where mesh WiFi systems or WiFi extenders come into play. These are neat little gadgets that can lock onto your router’s WiFi signal and belch out a weaker, but still usable version of it in a different part of the home. It’s a little pricey, but I reviewed Google Nest Wifi last year and found it to be a mostly excellent way to cover an apartment that’s otherwise hostile to WiFi.

If your signal strength is fine but speed is an issue, one way to go is simply paying for better internet. We hope nobody is forced to do this right now, but the option is there. You’ll need to consult your ISP to find out what speeds you’re currently paying for and if it’s possible to get a speed boost.

Hopefully, some combination of the tricks we’ve suggested will help. Fingers crossed.