In these days of instant connectivity, social media, online entertainment and working from home or home business, a good and reliable link to the Internet is a necessity, for some it is on a par with other utility provisions such as power etc.
This is the first part of a two-part tip on improving wireless and Internet connectivity and covers Wireless connectivity tips.
It can be frustrating when you receive poor signal in parts of your house or property, especially if your children are complaining about their streaming videos stuttering or pausing, slow downloads or poor call quality. Or if you are running a business it is essential that you are able to connect to the World securely and with reliability,
There are a number of things that can affect your speed and connection ranging from the Internet supply company ISP, such as Spark, Orcon, INCONZ etc. or poor wireless connectivity.
If your connection to your wireless / WiFi router is strong then it is most likely a slow connection from your ISP. You can get an idea of your connection quality by looking at the WiFi icon in the bottom right hand side of the PC
If the icon is fully coloured, as this one is, it means that you have a strong connection to your Wireless router (WiFi). You can see that there are lots of fully dark curvy lines, this means that the signal is strong.
Here you can see that the curvy lines aren’t completely black; this means that your signal is poor, weak, to your wireless router. It could be that you are too far away from it or that there is something in the way blocking the signal.
1 - If possible try to position your wireless router in the middle of the building; this isn’t always possible unless you run some wires from the point that Chorus installs the outside connector.
2 - Try to raise it about 6 feet above floor level (just under 2 meters).
3 - Make sure that there are no walls or metal or chunky items between the router and where you need to use the Internet; things like fridges can block the signal, so can too many walls; microwave ovens can disrupt the signal as well.
4 - There are some configuration changes that can be done to help improve connection, but these are technical and require some knowledge and skill, so best to ask an expert.
5 - If your connection is strong but the speed is still slow then it could be that you have “uninvited guests” on your wireless. Over time people often share the credentials to attach to your wireless, or they can guess your credentials and jump on your network. Always change the password from the supplier’s default, as these are often common and used as a standard, so changing it will block unwanted guests from using your bandwidth. N.B. if someone does jump onto your Wireless network and starts using your Internet connection then anything that they view will be tracked as being viewed from your address; so if they are viewing illegal content it could be your door that gets banged on by the police, so change your passwords on the Wireless during installation.
Okay, so you’ve done all of that but still the signal / connection is slow and poor.
Maybe the router is too far from where you want to use it. The standard home routers provided by Spark etc are okay for most homes but are rather weak with poor range; I can’t get signal at the other end of my house nor in the gardens.
Some of our customers have bought expensive extender devices, which do work but only in specific circumstances, so always choose the best extender for your situation. If you are unsure then please contact us and we will come and take a look and see what you need.
Wireless extenders that use wireless signal to extend the network are susceptible to the same problems that are outlined above, so can often fail in their purpose if the area you are trying to cover had walls, doors or other items in the way. In this situation there are other options, such as an extender that uses the Earth line of your property’s electricity system as a backbone. This type of extender comes in 2 parts, one which you plug into the mains and into the router. This then sends a signal to the other device which is plugged into a wall socket near where you need the Internet to be used. That second device acts as a new router and covers that area with WiFi / Internet. The only caveat here is that both devices need to be on the same power circuit, i.e. through the same fuse box / circuit board for the property so that the Earth lines are connected and the 2 devices can talk.
We keep one of these spare in our office so that we could test your site before you buy one; so many people buy things and find that they aren’t suitable to their situation, so please talk to us first and save time, pain, money and peace of mind.
Here’s a diagram of how it all fits together:
Here you can see that the WiFi router, connected to the Internet, has Extender Device 1 plugged into it using a standard network (Ethernet / RJ45) connector and that Device 1 is plugged into the mains power supply socket right next to the router.
Device 1 carries the Internet signal and transfers it through the Earth power cables in your property (if on the same board) to Device 2, which is also plugged into the power socket, but in the area where you need Wifi / Internet. This Device 2 has a WiFi router built in and broadcasts the signal around the new local area, effectively pushing your same internet into areas that could not before been reached.
Next time we will talk briefly about ISPs and a few things to look out for if thinking of moving. That part 2 will also briefly touch on the difference between WiFi and Internet.
Comments