When WiFi needs a boost!

March 30th, 2020 - Get new posts sent straight to your inbox, click here. Stuart

WiFi Reach

Depending on the modem/router you are currently using and the internal setup of your house, along with the position of your current router, your WiFi coverage within your house might be amazing, pretty ordinary, or (usually) somewhere in-between.

So if you’ve done all the usual troubleshooting on your NBN connection and realised “it’s not you, it’s me” maybe it’s time to revisit the placement of your router and the possibility that you may even require a WiFi booster!

Step 1: Check your WiFi speeds around the house

Use one device: phone, tablet, laptop etc., and visit speed.aussiebroadband.com.au to check your speeds on WiFi around your house. The first speed test should be run in the same room as your router, then slowly move further from the router, performing a speed test in each room to check the speeds around your house.

Step 2: Location, location, location

Is your current router in a central part of the house, away from electrical interference? I once had a customer on the phone that advised me that his router was placed on top of the microwave in the corner of the kitchen! I got him to move it from there and, even though it still wasn’t central to his house, his WiFi speeds doubled just from moving it away from the microwave!

So, make sure your router is well away from electrical items (where practicable) and place it as centrally as you can in your house to ensure an even WiFi spread.

Step 3: Toggle between 2.4GHz and 5GHz

If your current router has two networks, try each one while performing the speed tests as outlined in Step 1. For some it will be as simple as moving from 2.4GHz to 5GHz to get a better speed. Although coverage on 5GHz is not as great as 2.4GHz, it does have less interference and generally much faster speeds.

Step 4: Change the channel

Login to your router and try changing the channel you are connecting via. For information on how to do this click here.

Step 5: Give it a boost!

If your house is split level, has internal brick walls, or is just quite large, you may need to boost your WiFi signal to put it around your house. This is also true for those customers that just can’t position their router centrally to the whole house.

If you fall into any of these scenarios you might need to invest in a booster for your WiFi signal. At Aussie Broadband, we have the Google Nest WiFi product available to be purchased. It comes with a router and options of either one additional ‘point’ or two additional ‘points’. These points are placed around your house, where the WiFi is weakest to boost the signal given out by the main router. Full information about the Google Nest WiFi product is available on our website here.