Dead zones in your home can be incredibly frustrating, especially if you frequently stream movies or music from the internet on your laptop or phone. Luckily, there are some great ways to address this problem! In this article, we’ll review the five best ways to fix WiFi dead zones in your home.
1) Buy the best modem
It may be tempting to buy a cheap modem at your local big-box store, but that’s rarely going to give you good results. The best-performing modems are usually made by name brands like Netgear, Motorola and Linksys, and there are models available for both cable and DSL connections.
In addition, even if you already have an old modem lying around somewhere, it’s probably not performing up to par. Some modems now come with Internet speed tests so you can see just how slow your connection is compared with others on your network; that way you can more easily spot weak links on your network (like old hardware) before they become too much of a problem.
2) Up your internet game
If you have kids or live with roommates, chances are that there are some places in your home where your internet access is weak. These areas could be caused by anything from an awkward layout to a shared router.
If these dead zones are interfering with your daily life and productivity, it’s time to take action! Here’s what you can do.
- A high-speed internet connection: It’s not possible to get rid of dead zones without a solid internet connection. This means that if you only have 1 or 2Mbps available from your ISP, you’re going to have a hard time improving your service. Luckily, it’s easy and affordable to upgrade your plan for faster speeds at little cost.
- Wi-Fi extenders: These devices can serve as an easy fix if you have a single dead zone and are on a budget. Depending on your setup, you may even be able to use a Wi-Fi repeater, which is cheaper but only reaches short distances. For anything larger than one or two rooms, however, you’ll want to invest in an actual access point.
3) Identify where you have dead spots
You might only have a problem with your Wi-Fi connection in one room, or maybe you don’t have any issues at all.
If you are having problems, find out where and when they tend to occur. Are you struggling during peak hours when everyone else is home? Or do you lose connectivity when streaming videos? When it comes time to improve your Wi-Fi coverage, figuring out what areas need help will go a long way toward making things better.
4) Try Powerline Adapters
In short, powerline adapters are easy and cheap ways to add internet connections to your home that don’t involve digging up walls. Simply plug one adapter into an outlet near your router, and then plug another into an outlet near your dead zone.
Connect both with a simple Ethernet cable (or Wi-Fi for wireless) and you can route internet traffic over these hot spots as if they were direct connections from your modem. You can get a pair for less than $50, or several pairs for larger homes that may have many dead zones.
5) Upgrade your router
If you’re consistently dealing with slow speeds, dead zones, dropped connections or other connectivity issues, consider upgrading your wifi and networking devices.
Routers can be expensive though, so make sure to consider your needs first before making a purchase. If you don’t use much bandwidth now (or at all), it probably doesn’t make sense to buy something super powerful. On the other hand, if you plan on streaming 4K video or downloading multiple large files at once often, invest in an upgraded device.
Conclusion
If you have dead zones around your home, there’s a variety of different things you can do to improve wireless connectivity.
You can install new equipment, reposition your router, or even invest in new Wi-Fi extenders that bring wireless coverage into corners and hard-to-reach places. Remember that all these methods have pros and cons; for example, a mesh network is reliable but also expensive; external Wi-Fi extenders are cheap but less reliable. It’s up to you what works best for your needs.
With that, we will bring this article to a close. Hope you had a good read.