You’ve paid for a high-speed Internet connection and are entitled to a decent connection speed. However, the problem could be with your home network, so it’s not something your ISP can fix. However, if you have a low speed plan, there are still a few ways to increase your internet speed. Discover 8 solutions for slow WiFi in your home network
In this guide, we will show you how to increase Wi-Fi speed. Before we get down to business, check if the issue is device-specific.
If the Wi-Fi speed is slow on only one of your devices, the problem might be with your device and not the network. If the Wi-Fi speed is slow on all your devices, try the following solutions for slow Wi-Fi on your home network
8 solutions for slow WiFi on your home network
Did you try turning it off and on again?
Most modern routers do not require regular reboots. Regardless, if your Wi-Fi speed has slowed to the point of crawling, a reboot might give the router a chance to cool down and start over. That is why this is the first solution you should try to increase Wi-Fi speed on your home network.
Some routers come with a built-in reboot scheduler. Additionally, both Tomato and DD-WRT allow you to set automatic reboots. Schedule a reboot for the middle of the night so your Internet connectivity isn’t interrupted during the day.
Use QoS
Bandwidth-intensive activities can slow down your Wi-Fi speed. For example, have you tried to download the Windows 10 ISO or any other large file?
When the download is running, it leaves less bandwidth for other tasks, effectively slowing down your Wi-Fi. Often, it could be other users on the network that are running some bandwidth-intensive tasks. Check in with your siblings or roommate if they’re streaming Netflix or gaming.
If they are, you don’t have to be at their mercy to get decent Wi-Fi speeds. You have the option to enable Quality of Service (QoS) from your router’s firmware and prioritize network traffic.
If someone on your network downloads movies frequently, saving you little bandwidth, go to your router’s firmware and set up QoS. Most routers have QoS in advanced settings, but some may use a different name.
TP-Link, for example, calls it bandwidth monitoring, where can you add control rules . This is essentially QoS, but under a different name.
Scan programs in the background Network usage
If you don’t think other users are hogging some of your Wi-Fi bandwidth, see if any programs are running in the background on your PC. Many programs frequently check for updates or perform other network-oriented tasks.
Open the Task Manager and switch to the tab processes . check the column Net and look for processes that have been taking up an unexpected amount of bandwidth. Stop those processes and see if the Wi-Fi speed improves.
Change the position of the router
The position of the router plays an important role in the performance of your Wi-Fi network. When you buy a router, you probably install it where you find the closest power outlet to your desk. However, positioning your router requires some extra thought if you’ve been experiencing slow Wi-Fi speeds.
As a general rule, always place your router high up and in the center of your home. Wi-Fi signals travel in all directions, so it doesn’t make sense to keep your router in a corner. Worse yet is placing the router lower to the ground. Instead, place the router closer to the ceiling to minimize interference from household objects and extend the range of the router.
If your house is quite large, consider investing in an antenna or powerline adapters. Recently, however, it has become increasingly common for home users to set up mesh networks instead of powerline adapters or access points.
You can also use an old router as a repeater to extend Wi-Fi range. On a TP-Link router, you can change the settings of your router to work as a access point since Advanced > Operation mode .
Change the band of your router
If you’re like most users, you unboxed your router, installed it, and never looked back. This means that you probably didn’t realize that you have the option to change your router’s transmit frequency bands. Unless you have an older router, you have the option to choose between 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels.
Most home electronics use the 2.4 GHz spectrum, which can cause a lot of crowding. For example, your microwave oven operates at a frequency of 2.45 GHz. A 2.4 GHz channel on your router transmits between 2.412 GHz and 2.472 GHz, which means the microwave could drop your connection.
However, they are not just microwave ovens. Everything from a cordless phone to other Wi-Fi routers, and even Christmas lights can interfere with the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band.
This interference can cause your Wi-Fi speed to slow down. If your router has the 5GHz band, make the switch to see if it increases your Wi-Fi speed. If you have a 2.4GHz only router, try the next solution.
Switch to a different channel
Almost every house has a Wi-Fi network. This means whether you like it or not, your neighbors share your signal space. Crowded canals are particularly a problem in crowded neighborhoods with many routers around.
However, crowded channels are primarily a 2.4GHz phenomenon. If your router can only transmit or receive a 2.4GHz signal, this may be a problem because your router only has 14 channels for transmission.
Change the channel to 1, 6 or 11 if your router uses a 2.4GHz band. They are your best option as they do not overlap. If your router can transmit a 5GHz wireless signal, you have many more channels to choose from.
Channel selection is not something you need to spend a lot of time on if your router uses the 5GHz band. Any channel on a 5GHz band should work fine except DFS (Dynamic Frequency Selection).
Update router firmware
Many newer routers update automatically. If yours doesn’t, it might be worth going to the updates page and seeing if an update is due.
A firmware update probably won’t have a monumental impact on your Wi-Fi speed. However, if you haven’t run an update in a while, you may see a noticeable improvement in your Wi-Fi speed after the update. Furthermore, it also makes your router more secure if the manufacturer has implemented security updates.
You can even choose to flash a custom firmware like DD-WRT or Tomato. Go to the DD-WRT or Tomato website and find the model number of your router. Download the .bin file and look for a section called Firmware update or something similar. Browse the .bin file and update.
a new router
If none of these fixes could increase slow Wi-Fi speeds on your home network, now is a good time to bring home a new router. Many home users never care much about routers. They continue to use the one provided by their ISP for years.
ISPs focus on cost minimization rather than performance. This is why ISP-provided routers are generally basic. Bring home a modern router to not only increase your Wi-Fi speed, but also improve overall performance.
Did you fix your slow Wi-Fi?
Hopefully one of these solutions for slow WiFi in your home network has it helped you? If you have signed up for a high-speed Internet plan with your ISP, in most cases your Wi-Fi speed is slow due to your router.
While these fixes should work well enough, wired connections are more stable and faster. If you’re going to be on an extremely important video call, it’s smart to use a wired connection.
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