{"id":99029,"date":"2018-05-17T17:54:09","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T17:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=99029"},"modified":"2025-07-01T23:29:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T06:29:00","slug":"how-to-speed-up-your-home-wifi-network-and-improve-your-internet-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/how-to-speed-up-your-home-wifi-network-and-improve-your-internet-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"How to speed up your home Wi-Fi network in 5 steps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having Wi-Fi at home was a luxury a few short years ago. In our lives today, it&#8217;s not merely an excellent commodity to brag with; it&#8217;s an essential part of our lives that we need for work and play.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wi-Fi is arguably one of the most important and useful technologies you can have in your home. But, it can also be incredibly frustrating when it slows to a crawl just as you&#8217;re finishing a work project or trying to send a file. Let&#8217;s not even talk about the frustration when your Netflix has to reload frequently while you&#8217;re trying to binge-watch your favorite series. It can drive even the calmest of people to contemplate throwing their router out the window.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before you do that, though, read on because it&#8217;s possible to boost your Wi-Fi connection and speed up your home network! With modern tools and techs such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kqzyfj.com\/mg101efolfn2A3A7C8B2466985B3?sid=carden\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CCleaner<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.juryojj.com\/?a_fid=softonic&amp;offer=3monthsfree%20&amp;data1=carden\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ExpressVPN<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/macpaw.com\/store\/cleanmymac?clickid=1w80CV3m0xyLRCuwUx0Mo3ELUkERae3xFT2kxE0&amp;iradid=94160&amp;irpid=310668&amp;utm_content=TEXT_LINK&amp;utm_campaign=Softonic%20International%20S.A.&amp;sharedid=&amp;utm_medium=affiliate&amp;mpaid=3&amp;utm_source=impactradius\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clean my Mac X<\/a>, your family life and your windows can all stay intact.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-99030 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/03\/wifi_speed_image1-1024x488.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/03\/wifi_speed_image1-1024x488.png 1024w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/03\/wifi_speed_image1-300x143.png 300w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/03\/wifi_speed_image1-768x366.png 768w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/03\/wifi_speed_image1-1200x572.png 1200w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/03\/wifi_speed_image1.png 1872w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>How to boost your wi-fi<\/h2>\n<h3><b>Step 1 &#8211; Find the right place for your router<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you want the best Wi-Fi signal, you should place your router out in the open, if possible, in the center of your home without walls or furniture obstructing it. Although a router isn&#8217;t the prettiest of things, you should avoid hiding it behind objects and furniture that could hinder the signal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Your router&#8217;s placement is often dictated by where your internet connection enters your home. Still, by purchasing a longer ethernet cable and some clips to hold the line in place, you can place it in a more prominent part of your home. Keep in mind that using the ethernet cable does secure a more robust connection, no matter how unsightly it is. To maximize the router placement benefits, arrange the antenna perpendicularly, with one pointing vertically and the other horizontally.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Step 2 &#8211; Check your internet speed<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Depending on where you&#8217;re located, your internet speed can fluctuate a great deal from what you&#8217;re paying for. The great news is that your ISP has many tricks up their sleeve that can increase your internet speed if they know that it&#8217;s underperforming. If you&#8217;re struggling to get a stable and uninterrupted connection, you can quickly check the connection speed with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/network-speed-test-windows-10.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Network Speed Test<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> tools. It&#8217;s free and safe to download and quickly shows you how fast your internet is downloading and uploading.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Download a Speed Test app or open a free one.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Open up the app and click &#8216;Begin.&#8217;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Compare your upload and download speeds against your ISP agreement.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If it varies significantly, log a call to your provider for assistance.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Step 3 &#8211; Change your Wi-Fi channel<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">With your router&#8217;s initial set up, it detects the least crowded channel and uses it, making it the router&#8217;s default channel. But, as the area around your home becomes more crowded, the channel can begin to fill up, which can slow you down.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tools such as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nirsoft-installer.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NirSoft<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> can analyze the Wi-Fi spectrum and give you details about your home network, including channel utilization, which can help you decide whether to change to a less populated one.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Your internet service provider should have a step-by-step guide on how you can change to a different Wi-Fi channel, as the process can vary. Let&#8217;s look at a typical procedure:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Open your web browser and type in your router&#8217;s IP address in the search bar.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Press&#8217; Enter.&#8217;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Type in your username and password.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Select &#8216;Wireless Settings.&#8217;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Click on the drop-down menu for &#8216;Channels&#8217; and select another Wi-Fi channel.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Save your changes.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-162653\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2021\/04\/router_2_bltlax.jpg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\"><\/p>\n<h3><b>Step 4 &#8211; U<\/b><b>pdate your router&#8217;s firmware<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Problems with your Wi-Fi network can be as simple as your router needs an update. Manufacturers are continually tweaking software to make slight improvements to router performance, and you could be a few (or, probably a lot of) updates behind.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Updating your router&#8217;s firmware can vary significantly in difficulty depending upon your device&#8217;s manufacturer. Still, most modern routers have an update function built into the router&#8217;s administrator panel, so it is just a case of pressing a button and waiting. Here are a few simple steps to update your router:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Connect your PC to the Wi-Fi network in question.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">T<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">ype the IP address of the router into your search bar.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Navigate to the &#8216;Update&#8217; or &#8216;Firmware&#8217; section.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Select the manufacturer of your specific router.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Select to download the &#8216;Firmware Update&#8217; file.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Move the file to your desktop. Open the ZIP file and extract the firmware files.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Click on &#8216;Browse&#8217; in the &#8216;Update&#8217; section.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Click on the extracted update file.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Follow the prompts to start the upgrade process.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Please don&#8217;t interrupt the update; it can take a few minutes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When the firmware update is complete, you can reboot your router.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Step 5 &#8211; L<\/b><b>ock down your Wi-Fi network<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It would help if you always had a password on your Wi-Fi network, as unsecured networks can cause all sorts of problems, are vulnerable to attacks and can put your data at risk. In addition to this, neighbors piggybacking on your network can significantly slow it down for obvious reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In addition to this, you can hide your Wi-Fi network from prying eyes via cloaking. If outsiders cannot see your network, it cannot be accessed \u2013 simple! Consider a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wifi-protector.en.softonic.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wi-Fi Protector <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">to cloak your network from unauthorized opportunists.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Having Wi-Fi at home was a luxury a few short years ago. In our lives today, it&#8217;s not merely an excellent commodity to brag with; it&#8217;s an essential part of our lives that we need for work and play.&nbsp; Wi-Fi is arguably one of the most important and useful technologies you can have in your &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/how-to-speed-up-your-home-wifi-network-and-improve-your-internet-experience\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;How to speed up your home Wi-Fi network in 5 steps&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9115,"featured_media":162652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":3},"categories":[2441],"tags":[2414],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-99029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to","tag-app-subdomain-redirectionexpressvpn"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99029"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":327978,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99029\/revisions\/327978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99029"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=99029"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=99029"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=99029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}