As a society, we’ve replaced many things with the internet. DVDs, cookbooks, maps, encyclopedias, phone books—who needs them when we can access all the entertainment and information we need over Wi-Fi? 

While the internet is an incredible tool, it doesn’t always work as it should. If you experience buffering video on the TV, frozen video calls on Zoom, or poor connections in areas of your house, your Wi-Fi needs an upgrade. 

Not all hope is lost if you have slow or unreliable internet in your Stuart, FL, home. With the right networking hardware and a professional installation, we can bring whole-house Wi-Fi to every room and the backyard, too. Learn how we can improve your internet below! 

SEE ALSO: Why DIY Smart Homes Fall Short

Wi-Fi Culprit #1: Your House 

Many factors can harm a home network’s performance. If you live in a large home, you may not have enough wireless access points to cover the square footage. There may also be too many Wi-Fi devices using the same channel, which will cause congestion. Other household appliances run on the same frequency as Wi-Fi, which can interfere with the signal. Wireless speakers, microwaves, and baby monitors should not be placed too close to your router or access points. 

Your house itself may also be tampering with Wi-Fi! For instance, Wi-Fi has trouble traveling through brick, marble, concrete, metal, or plaster-and-lath walls. Wi-Fi only moves in straight lines and can’t travel around corners and furniture without losing strength. 

Wi-Fi Culprit #2: Outdated or Insufficient Hardware 

If your entire house is running on a single router, and if that router is several years old, it may not be able to handle the burden of your devices. As we stream higher-quality entertainment and add smarter devices to our homes, we need more bandwidth and support. 

So, if your family is still running a Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) router, you’d benefit by upgrading to a Wi-Fi 6 router for much faster performance. Wi-Fi 6 can communicate with more devices simultaneously at faster speeds. So even if someone is playing video games online while you are joining a video conference, it won’t congest the network and slow it down. 

How We Can Fix It 

No matter what’s causing issues in your house, there are steps we can take to improve Wi-Fi performance. After upgrading the router to Wi-Fi 6, we recommend extending coverage by installing wireless access points. Access points are wired to the router and redistribute the network to new areas. We use access points and not repeaters, because repeaters wirelessly rebroadcast a much weaker signal. 

Sometimes the only way to treat hard-to-reach areas with interfering walls is to wire devices to the network. If you won’t be moving your office computer or home theater system, a wired connection will guarantee it stays online. Often a hybrid approach with wired and wireless connections is the best solution. 

 

Are you ready to upgrade your house’s Wi-Fi for good? Definitive Electronics is here to help. We’ll design and install a customized system that suits your home’s unique needs. Contact us here to learn more!