Guide to Fixing WiFi Blindspots So You Can Still Netflix When You’re in the Toilet

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Xian Da
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Last Updated on 2020-02-06 , 9:49 pm

For all you well-to-do people out there with large houses, have you noticed your WiFi connection weakening in certain areas of your home? Or do you just have a crippling paranoia of your WiFi connection cutting off randomly?

Don’t worry, we’re here to help.

However, before you go around buying a router for every room in your home, or drilling holes all over your walls for LAN cables, you have to make sure it’s really not just your paranoia here.

Analysis and Diagnosis

Saying those words make me feel like a doctor. Ahem. Anyway, before you do anything, you have to test your WiFi connection with your devices.

Image: Tenor

There are multiple ways to do this, from using a smartphone app to a laptop software. Both have their advantages, from the ease of use and convenience of the smartphone app, to the detailed diagnosis of a PC software.

You’d want to download the WiFi Analyzer app from Google Play store on your Android phone, or Network Multimeter on Apple devices. Unfortunately, the Android app is known to be more reliable, and the Multimeter is known to swing wildly from one end to the other, so Android is recommended here.

For PC, you could get a more detailed paid software called inSSIDer, or free ones such as WiFi Inspector or NetStumbler.

Now that you have the app/software, simply walk around your home with the device, and the app will display the connection strength of your routers, and every other router nearby.

You could totally log the information down, and come up with an Excel sheet detailing the connection strength of every corner of every room, but we all know ain’t nobody got time fo’ dat.

Just note down the places with weaker connection strength, and you can proceed to the next step.

Fixing Weak Connection Strength

Of course, as with any other problem, if you have a lot of money to throw at it, it’ll probably go away. But if you’re short on the mullah, here are a few free ways you can try before you have to cough out the cash.

First, check the channel your WiFi connection is using. This can be done with the app you downloaded earlier. If there’s a clash, or a few clashes with your neighbours, you could force your router to use a different channel to strengthen the connection.

This can be done with your device settings.

However, channel conflicts are not very common. The most common issue with weak WiFi connections is the layout of your home.

This one could be solved quite easily as well. Simply move your router to a more centralized location that covers all the blindspots or weak spots you have identified earlier, and you should be good to go. Note that WiFi connections can be weakened by thick concrete, metal cabinets, or plumbing, so plan your router position accordingly.

You could also plan according to where you would normally use your devices, if you absolutely cannot guarantee full coverage of your home with your router.

There is another cheaper option before you have to start throwing money. Consider running Ethernet cables from your router to your PC for high internet speeds. You could secure the wire on ceilings, or make use of outlets in your rooms, should your home come with that pre-installed.

Otherwise, you’re gonna have to spend some money to speed up your WiFi connection. Buy more routers, or buy better routers. That’s basically it. If you already have the best, you could get a WiFi repeater, extender or bridge. This solution is the easiest of the lot, of course.

It sucks to have certain places in your home where your WiFi cannot reach, but it doesn’t suck as much as having a smaller home. Just follow the above, and your WiFi speeds should go up to expected levels.

Actually, we all know you’re reading this because you have bad connection in your toilet, so might as well just put a router in there so you can stream your K-drama when you take a dump.

Watch this for a complete summary of what REALLY happened to Qoo10, and why it's like a K-drama:

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Xian Da