▾Practically every household, as well as most companies, has recently used wireless Wi-Fi through routers to connect computers, laptops, tablets and other devices.
Sometimes there are troubles with connection speed on the network, some of them are coming from your provider of the Internet, but many of them you can find out and remove yourself. Before you start despairing and complaining, review the options that can have a major impact on your connection speed.
Losses due to bad connection quality
The connection between the router and the connected devices is one of the most common things that can negatively affect the level of the transmitted signal. These problems manifest themselves in both directions, ie during the downloading of data (download) and sending them (upload). These are usually insufficient coverage of the space by the wireless signal, the obstacles in the direction of transmission or interferences of the transmitted signal. The combination of several mentioned factors at the same time is no exception. The frequencies 2.4 GHz, sometimes 5 GHz, are most commonly used for regular wireless connections.
When the coverage is not enough
If you receive the signal without problems and at the appropriate speed near the router, and with more remote devices the quality and strength and speed of the received signal is significantly worse, there are several different options as the solutions:
- change the location of the router it is quite a simple and often very effective procedure, but it is always a bit of a trial and error method. You must take into account various obstacles that suppress or interfere the signal propagation (metal structures, walls, thick glass, etc.).The transmitted signal spreads directly, by the shortest way, it does not tend to go round the obstacles. Theoretically, it is the optimal place to place the router in the middle of the space where the network is used, but this is more of a theoretical consideration, it wants to be tried.
- signal interference it can also cause speed reduction or other complications and it is a common problem, especially in dense house buildings. This is most often the fault of another user's router operating in the same transmission band. The solution may be to set up a different transmission channel or use a router that can change channels automatically.
- adding another wireless transmitter it is a solution to consider especially if you have expanded the space in which you want to receive the signal (garage, porch, pergola, etc.). For this purpose, it is necessary to purchase another Wi-Fi router and place it where we need to cover additional space with a signal.If it is possible to make a cable connection, it is usually the most reliable, but such a solution does not always seem to be optimal. Then reach for the router or Wi-Fi Extender and set it to transfer the signal from one wireless network to another (that's the mentioned "bridge!"). The router receives the signal where it is still strong enough from the primary router and transfers it to another Wi-Fi network, which you can rename and enter a different SSID. In this way, you will actually be able to overlap two networks, so in some places the efficiency will even double (in such places you will have both networks available and you can choose). This solution is a bit more complicated, but you avoid pulling on often unaesthetically pleasing cables.
- Using the POL adapter (Power-on-line) it is another interesting option that you can use when you want to avoid stretching long cables. These are "socket adapters" that you simply plug into mains sockets. It is better to use a separate socket, but even the connection by means of a two way splitter works very reliably. The first (input) connector is used to connect an Ethernet cable (it is equipped with an RJ-45 connector), connect the other to the socket where you want to place another Wi-Fi router and connect it again with an Ethernet cable to the new router. Electrical cables take care of the signal routing between the sockets. This solution works perfectly and saves a lot of complications!
Warning: before starting the measurement, we measure the speed of the incoming signal and then the speed of the connection just behind the router. This is how to eliminate the problem of speed reduction caused directly by the router. (We'll get to this potential problem a little further). Measurements must always be made in such a way that at that time (measurement is very fast) there is no data transfer in either direction. You can use one of the popular tools available for free on the Internet, such as https://rychlost.cz/. You should be mainly interested in data on the speed of downloading data, but also sending data (upload), for online players, the response (ping) is undoubtedly very important, too. You do not have to copy the measured values laboriously, because if you perform repeated measurements using the same program, the results of all measurements will remain in memory and you will get a reliable averaged overview in the form of a graph or table. Repeat the measurement at different times of the day and on weekends and weekdays, because the speed may vary significantly.
When the router itself is not good
The router can also be a source of problems, you can find out if you lose it by above mentioned measuring the connection speed. The first step should be to thoroughly check the router settings. You can also try a simple but often effective solution - restart the router, the problem is often solved really immediately. With older routers, sometimes the device no longer meets the requirements and does not provide adequate performance. In such a case, there is only one reasonable solution, which is to purchase a new router. If multiple users are connected to the router, you also need to check the data throughput and available supported technologies.
How to measure the connection speed from a mobile device to a router?
Classic connection testers measure the speed between a terminal and a point on the Internet (a specific server). Sometimes, however, it is good to measure the speed between the terminal and the router on the local network. It can be good for that an android application available on Google Play called " Wifi Speed Test ". This application measures speed over UDP packets, which may not check the delivery status. For this reason, it may show significantly more under certain conditions that cannot be verified. But mostly the app shows exactly.
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