If you are about to invest in WiFi for the first time, congratulations! There are a number of benefits to having WiFi in the home, including the ability to connect your computers, game consoles, TVs and wireless phones through the same internet connection.
However, just as you wouldn’t install your brand-new television in the middle of a hallway or try to plug 10 devices into one overworked outlet, you do have to be mindful of where and how you install your WiFi system. To help set up your new WiFi as effectively as possible, please consider the following tips and tricks:
Experiment to Find the Best Band and Channel
Many routers can broadcast both 2.4GHz and 5GHz from their Wi-Fi signal. If you live in a pretty large home and your router will have to transmit across multiple floors and walls, go for the 2.4GHz band. But in smaller spaces, you should find faster speeds with the 5GHz option. Also, if you are in a large apartment building or condo and your neighbors all have WiFi too, experiment with the different channels on the device—for instance, 1, 6 or 11—to see which one works the quickest. In other words, how you initially hook up your WiFi to get it going may be quite different than how you use it in a week or so—take your time and fiddle with the settings until you find the fastest one.
Look Into a Whole Home or Mesh WiFi System
Going back to the large household comment, if your kids love video games, your spouse is addicted to streaming shows on Netflix and you want to hole up in your home office to get some work done—all at the same time, mind you—you might want to look into a whole home WiFi system. This type of system, which is also known as a mesh network, will figuratively blanket your whole home with a strong internet connection. Like regular WiFi, a whole home system has a central hub that is connected to your router. But it also has satellite stations that you place around your abode to boost connectivity and speed throughout the entire space. One of the many benefits of a whole home WiFi system is the way you can customize it—for instance, if your video game console is in the family room downstairs, but you love binging on Netflix shows on the TV in your bedroom upstairs, a whole home WiFi system will help you to enjoy strong internet connections in both spots.
When Connecting for the First Time, Use an Ethernet Cable
When you configure the Wi-Fi settings on your wireless router for the first time, you should be connected to the device from a separate computer. To do this as easily as you can, use an Ethernet cable to connect to the computer. If you use the wireless link during setup, you might encounter some glitches because the router’s WiFi might not start working properly until it’s correctly configured. Save yourself a headache by using the Ethernet cable and keep it plugged in until everything is linked up correctly and up and running.
Enjoy Your New WiFi
Once you have WiFi installed in your home, you will probably wonder how you ever lived without it. There are so many benefits to having this type of system, and now that you now the tips and tricks to installing it, you will soon be up and running with your whole home or regular WiFi system.
