One thing that working from home has highlighted is the importance of a good internet connection and ensuring your wifi extends to all areas of your house.
I was on a zoom call with a friend recently, and she started in her backyard before moving inside. When I asked why the change, she said the internet connection was a bit dodgy.
There are a number of tricks and tactics you can use to ensure your wifi coverage is strong all over your property.
The first thing to do is look at where your modem is located.
Depending on how your home is set up and where your NB or phone points are located, you may not have too much choice, but you should try to make sure your modem or router is as centrally located as possible within your house.
The location of your router is especially important if you have a big house or brick walls.
If you can’t locate the router in a central location, at least try to locate it as close as possible to all areas where you commonly use wifi.
You should also make sure it is located off the ground (particularly if it is on the ground floor of a two-storey house), or conversely on the floor if it is located on the second storey of your house.
Also look at your router to see if it has antennae attached and make sure that it’s pointing directly upwards.
Another important factor to consider is the possibility of interference.
Many people make the mistake of putting their router close to a cordless phone, which can play havoc with the signal. Microwaves can also cause interference, although fewer people make the mistake of putting their router near the microwave.
If your wifi connection is still patchy after getting your router in what seems like an ideal position, then you may have to look at a technological solution – either a wifi extender or a mesh router.
A wifi extender simply picks up your wifi signal and passes it on to make sure your signal can go further than it usually would.
I live in a two-storey house and we have one of these placed in the upstairs bedroom to make sure the signal can reach all of the rooms upstairs. This works well.
A mesh network does much the same thing, but each mesh device connects to every other mesh device in the network instead of connecting back to the main router, which is what wifi extenders do. Consumer group CHOICE has created a simple infographic for which device will work best in which situation.
You can buy a good quality wifi extender for less than $100, while a wireless mesh system will cost around $240 for a single router with the potential to add more depending on the size of your property.
How is the wifi connection in your house? Do you have black spots? How have you fixed them? Why not share your thoughts in the comments section below?
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