The Best Ways to Extend Your WiFi Range

Step 1

Find a Better Place for Your Router

Even the best WiFi router available won’t be able to provide satisfactory coverage if it’s positioned poorly. As you may know, the WiFi signal is affected by all kinds of interference, including walls, furniture, electronic appliances, and other wireless devices. While it may seem convenient to hide the router inside a cabinet, the strength of your signal will suffer considerably.

Simply finding a new location for your wireless router can have a dramatic impact on your WiFi signal for a variety of reasons. You should strive for a central location that is free from physical obstructions like walls and doors if possible. Don’t keep your router in a closet or a desk drawer if you hope to realize its true potential signals range.

Try to place it as high as possible, with a line of sight to all devices that will be connected to it. While this is not always totally feasible, getting as close as you can to this goal will help you extend the range of your WiFi router.

You can easily find a better place for your router to extend your WiFi range using a WiFi analyzer and heat mapping tool like NetSpot. With this useful software application, you can visualize the strength of your wireless signal on a map and easily see all areas of signal weakness.

Step 2

Update your router’s firmware

Keeping your device’s firmware current can help you obtain the best WiFi signal that the router can provide. Just like computers and smartphones, routers receive updates from their manufacturers, and it’s important that you install them as soon as possible to keep your router secure and in good working order.

Depending on the manufacturer there are different methods that need to be used to update your firmware. The good news is that most routers make the update process easy, and you should be able to accomplish it directly from the administrator interface. Some routers even have a companion app for Android and iOS mobile devices, allowing you to take care of firmware updates with a simple tap.

And some routers can be configured to automatically update the firmware. If your router is in that category, it is strongly recommended that you take advantage of the auto updates. Even if the update doesn’t solve your problems with insufficient WiFi range, you can at least be happy, knowing that your router is more secure.

Step 3

Use the 5 GHz Band

Dual frequency routers offer you the choice of 5.0GHz and 2.4GHz bands. You might find that switching to the 5.0GHz band improves your WiFi range as it will incur less interference from other electronic devices since the frequency is used less often.

Because of its higher frequency, the 5 GHz band is able to offer superior speeds and, in some situations, better signal strength. Its biggest downside is its shorter range and inferior ability to penetrate solid objects.

However, if you live in a densely populated area, surrounded by WiFi networks broadcasting on 2.4 GHz, the 5 GHz band is an easy choice.

To learn more about nearby WiFi networks and the bands they broadcast on, you can use NetSpot’s Inspector Mode, which quickly gathers a wealth of information about all WiFi networks within reach and presents it in the form of an interactive table.

Step 4

Change Your WiFi Channel

Just like walkie-talkies, all WiFi routers broadcast on a certain channel. In the 2.4 GHz band, there are 11 channels, but only channels 1, 6, and 11 are spaced far enough from one another to not overlap.

The remaining channels can be used, but they are more likely to experience interference resulting in slowdowns, particularly in heavy use, so it’s important to use the least congested non-overlapping channel available in the 2.4 GHz band.

Fortunately, far more channels are available in the 5 GHz (45 channels) and 6 GHz bands (seven 160 MHz, fourteen 80 MHz, twenty-nine 40 MHz, and fifty-nine 20 MHz channels). As a result, issues with their overlapping are much less common.

In any case, a WiFi analyzer such as NetSpot can survey your own network as well as other networks whose signals may overlap with yours and make it easy to determine which channel you should use.

Once you know which channel is the most suitable, you can sign in to your router’s administrator interface and configure it to use it. Your router will then restart to apply the new settings.

Step 5

Get a Better Antenna

If you have a router with a replaceable external antenna, you can easily improve its performance by getting a better one. The gain of WiFi antennas is indicated in dBi (antenna gain in dB above an isotropic radiator). Many budget routers come with a small antenna with just 2 dBi, and replacing such antenna with a high-gain alternative is guaranteed to provide a significant boost in WiFi range.

To reinforce a particular area of signal weakness, you can point a directional antenna toward it, but you need to keep in mind that other directions may suffer. That said, most router antennas tend to be omnidirectional.

Step 6

Using a WiFi extender

In a similar manner to a second router, a WiFi extender or booster also takes the original signal and repeats it to extend its reach. WiFi extenders are also available without any ingress protection for use indoors. Such WiFi extenders are usually considerably less expensive than their outdoor counterparts, and they’re just as easy to install.

They come in a variety of styles including extenders that simply plug into a nearby electrical wall outlet and can solve the problems of an inadequate WiFi range. Regardless of which type you select, make sure to use NetSpot to determine the optimal placement for your WiFi extender so that it extends your WiFi range as much as possible.

Step 7

Employing a mesh network

If your budget allows it, then we recommend you extend the WiFi in your house by replacing your existing router with a mesh system to create a so-called mesh network.

A mesh network is made up of two or more WiFi access points, typically called nodes, which together blanket a large area with seamless WiFi coverage. By setting up a mesh network in your house, you can gain the ability to roam with your devices from room to room uninterrupted by connection drops and slowdowns.

While often deployed on a large scale by enterprise customers, mesh systems are also readily available to home users, and their installation is so easy that anyone can do it. Here’s how to set up a mesh system in a nutshell:

1. Buy a mesh system that can cover your entire house.

2. Connect the main mesh node to your existing router or modem using an Ethernet cable.

3. Evenly place additional nodes around your and connect them to AC wall outlets.

4. Use a companion smartphone app or a web interface to set up the mesh system.

5. Use NetSpot to create a signal heat map and optimize the placement of individual nodes based on it.

That’s how easy it is to set up a mesh system!

Step 8

Upgrade Your Router

Upgrading your router can significantly enhance the performance and range of your Wi-Fi network, especially if your current router is several years old. Modern routers incorporate the latest technologies and standards, such as 802.11ac or Wi-Fi 6, which offer improved speeds, better range, and more efficient handling of multiple devices simultaneously.

Older routers may not efficiently manage the bandwidth demands of today’s high-definition streaming, online gaming, and smart home devices. They often operate on overcrowded frequencies, leading to interference and reduced performance. In contrast, newer routers can operate on multiple frequency bands (dual-band or tri-band), offering dedicated channels for different types of devices, reducing interference, and ensuring smoother connectivity.

Additionally, contemporary routers come with advanced features such as beamforming and MU-MIMO (Multi-User, Multiple Input, Multiple Output). Beamforming enables the router to focus signals directly towards individual devices, avoiding the scattergun approach of broadcasting signals indiscriminately in every direction, thereby improving signal strength and range. MU-MIMO allows the router to simultaneously interact with several devices at once, significantly boosting network efficiency and capacity.

The physical design of newer routers often includes more or high-gain antennas, which can further extend the Wi-Fi coverage area. Furthermore, the latest routers come with enhanced security protocols, providing better protection against unauthorized access and cyber threats.

Investing in a new router can be a straightforward and effective way to extend your Wi-Fi range, especially if you’re experiencing connectivity issues, slow speeds, or have a growing number of Wi-Fi-enabled devices in your home. It represents a critical step towards building a more reliable and faster home network capable of handling today’s digital demands.