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February 29, 2016

My home network is slow on Wi-Fi

I'm keeping it as simple as possible to explain slow Wi-Fi on your home network. If your paying for high-speed Internet service and it's slow that's not good. Test out your Desktop PC or your Laptop that is connected to an Ethernet cable and look at the connection speed to see if your Internet provider is delivering the speed you are paying for. If your wired connection is working fine your Internet provider is not the problem. They are not responsible for your Wi-Fi that's your problem. 

Before you make any router setting changes check the location of your router. The location could be the problem in your home. Try to place the router in the center of the home if possible to see if you get a stronger Wi-Fi signal. The material in the construction of your home could also be causing signal loss. Solution get a (Wi-Fi range extender) to expand the Wi-Fi broadcast to dead spots in your home.

Router channel selection is important too. You should be on the best channel to ensure good Wi-Fi performance. You need to know how to log into your router with your admin login to view and make changes to the settings. There are only three non overlaping channels that deliver better network performance than the other available overlaping channels. The three best channels that do not overlap are 1, 6 & 11. Network performance will improve using one of these channels that do not overlap, but a channel will slowly degrade when it gets overcrowded by other routers genetrating a lot of traffic on the channel. You can experiment by trying out the three channels to find the best one that works for you. In the USA we are not allowed to use channels 12-14.

The view of the 11 available channels that you share with other routers.



The graphical view of the Wi-Fi traffic across the 11 channel spectrum from a Wi-Fi Analyzer app. Note that the Wi-Fi Analyzer app is available only on android devices. The app shows all the network traffic your neighborhood is generating that is near the location you are in. Powerful routers are broadcasting beyond their owners properties causing Wi-Fi congestion across the 11 channels. If you don't have an android device to run the Wi-Fi Analyzer find a friend that has one to help you.

The Wi-Fi Analyzer has many tools to analyze your home network. This is just a sample screen of what it can do.

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