GET YOUR FASTEST EVER WI-FI IN 2021
Like most people, I’ve spent more time at home in 2020 than in any other year of my life. As a result, my Wi-Fi has been put put under huge strain for long periods. With the Computeractive offices closed since the first lockdown, I’ve been regularly downloading huge work files on my home network that would normally be transferred over the more powerful company network.
As a family, we’ve also been streaming far more video at home, and when the schools were closed the kids needed reliable Wi-Fi to keep up with their schoolwork remotely (my reliance on Google when answering their questions was worrying).
Although my Wi-Fi, delivered by a BT Smart Hub and 74Mbps Infinity broadband, generally works well, it occasionally lets me down in rooms furthest from my router, causing video to buffer and downloads to slow to a crawl.
My garage is the biggest problem – I don’t get any signal there. Not being able to watch YouTube guides has resulted in many DIY errors. I suspect many of you have similar problems with garden sheds, summer houses and attic rooms. In this feature, I will try to remedy my home network woes and provide ideas as to how you can do the same.
Does this mean spending lots of money? Well, it could, but as you’ll discover over the next few pages there’s a good chance that won’t be necessary. In fact, in many cases you can give your Wi-Fi a noticeable boost for free.
Before you do anything, you need to test how well your Wi-Fi is currently performing, and where it’s letting you down. This will allow you to measure what impact any setup tweaks are making on its speeds. I’ll explain how to test your actual (not promised) Wi-Fi speeds using a terrific free tool that keeps things simple – if you’re a fan of Command Prompt tools, I’m sure you’ll love it as much as I do.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
• Discover the best place to locate your Wi-Fi router
• Make sure your devices always connect to the fastest network
• Use your mains wiring to give any room a Wi-Fi signal boost
• Direct your Wi-Fi to devices that need it most
FIND YOUR TRUE WI-FI SPEED
If someone asked you how fast your Wi-Fi was, how would you measure it? If you’d start by running one of the many online speed tests (such as Google’s – search for speed test, then click Run Speed Test), you’d probably end up with a misleading result. Although useful, such tests only measure the speed of
