There is nothing more practical than connecting via Wi-Fi, you do not need cables, and in a few seconds, you can connect to the network of your choice. However, this is not without its limitations and problems. Since the Wi-Fi network is wireless, it is much more susceptible to interference.
On the other hand, the Wi-Fi network is much more popular in homes and public places, where there are not too many adjustments in relation to bandwidth control, restriction of access to certain websites, among other points. Consequently, if you use Wi-Fi from home, it is quite easy to have signal problems. Fortunately, this guide will tell you what you must do to solve them. Best of all, you won’t need an additional investment.
Most important: where is the Wi-Fi router
Before citing possible solutions, it is necessary to review some points related to the Wi-Fi router. Maybe with these, you could already have the solution of the problem. One of the problems with Wi-Fi that occurs frequently is that the signal is “cut”, that is, it disconnects suddenly or in certain periods of time. The first thing we should see is if our router is in the correct location .
A bad practice that is customary to carry out is to place the router in an isolated place so that it is not touched or that it is protected against threats such as somewhat naughty children, or dust. However, this greatly affects the quality of the received signal, especially if we are in places far from the router.
It is important to place the router in an open but secure location. Ideally, it should not be close to metal objects or mirrors. Likewise, we must ensure that the place where we are also does not have interference that affects the reception of the signal from our computer. For example, let’s avoid being too far from the router, the ideal is to place it in a central place in our home, so that it is distributed evenly in all places. In the event that our Internet connection needs to cover a house with more than one floor or it is located on a very large plot of land, opt for Wi-Fi Mesh systems, simultaneous triple-band Wi-Fi repeaters, and even PLC with Wi-Fi. Fi to improve Wi-Fi signal.
In this article, we have a complete list of the best Wi-Fi repeaters . Do you have a limited budget? No problem, this listing stands out for having a very good value for money, so there is no doubt that you will find the most suitable for your home. You will come across brands like ASUS, NETGEAR and D-Link, AVM FRITZ! among others.
Check the signal quality of the Wi-Fi network
Whenever you have signal problems with your wireless network, a very good way to identify the potential problem is to have an application that gives you information regarding the level and quality of your network signal. If you use Android, we recommend using WiFi Analyzer , which is completely free and you can download it from here:
You can not only view your own network, but others. This is useful to be able to have useful data regarding your connectivity problem. One of the distinctions that this application has is that it is open source, so it is constantly improving. Something very important is that it does not require too many permissions or Internet access.
WiFi Analyzer is very easy to use. Once the installation of the application is finished, the first thing you will see is the list of the Wi-Fi networks available around you, including the one you are connected to. The Wi-Fi signal with the traffic light colors, allows to better identify the signal quality of each one.
- Green – optimal quality.
- Yellow – good quality, but not excellent.
- Red – low quality, that is, your device is not receiving a good signal.
Another feature that we highlight is the Channel Graph, where it is possible to compare the Wi-Fi networks that are close to us considering the signal strength and the channels that each one is occupying. In this way, with this easy-to-use application we could know the reason for our low signal reception and locate the router in an appropriate place. Or, consider purchasing a repeater.
In case you want to use a computer with Windows operating system, our recommendation is to use Acrylic WiFi, both in its free version and in its professional version. Acrylic is the best program to analyze the Wi-Fi networks around us, it will provide us with a large amount of information, graphs of the channels we are using, the received signal strength and much more.
We recommend you read our complete tutorial on Acrylic WiFi where you will find all the viewing and configuration options for this tool.
Update drivers
If the issue persists, or if you have directly realized that signal quality is not the problem, consider checking the status of the wireless network drivers. Remember that drivers are essential for virtually all of our computers to work as expected. Then, look in the “Device Manager” menu and expand the Network Adapters section. Then identify the wireless or wireless network adapter.
Right-click on the wireless controller and select the Update Driver option. You will see two options and to speed up the update, we choose the first option that corresponds to the automatic search.
If it doesn’t find any updates, you can try moving to a previous version that will probably allow it to return to normal operation. Right-click on the wireless controller again and select the last option: Properties . Go to the Controller tab and select the third option that we highlight in yellow. This will allow the wireless network controller to downgrade. After you have finished, you must restart the computer .
It is also recommended to visit the official website of the manufacturer of your network card, in our case Intel, to download the latest driver updates. For example, if we have a router with Wi-Fi 6 and an old card, if we do not have the latest drivers, we will have connectivity problems due to incompatibility problems.
If this does not work, within the Device Manager you can try adjusting the sensitivity of the network controller in order to better receive the signal. So, select your network adapter again, and click Properties and go to the Advanced Options tab. Take a look and locate the Roaming Aggressiveness option and select a higher Value option than you currently have.
Restart network connectivity
It is said that the secret to the voices of the people who work, or are enthusiastic about technology, is to restart in order to “solve the problem” at the root. However, this does not always fix the problems, but it is an option that we can try when everything else has not worked.
Therefore, look in the networks menu and it will appear as the first option «Show available networks»
Select one of the options at the end and it is “Network reset” . As in any situation where you reset any configuration parameter, or if you make any adjustments, what you should always do is restart the computer so that the changes can be applied without having added problems.
Check the status of network power consumption
Look in the Power Options menu, then go to Edit plan settings and then Change advanced power settings
There appear various power consumption setting options. So, go to ” Wireless Adapter Settings” and check the options for ” Power saving mode” . The case that we illustrate is that of a laptop, in this case you will have both the energy saving options with the battery alone, or if the computer is connected to the power supply. In the case of being with the laptop with its battery, we must choose the maximum performance option. Also, it guarantees that the alternating current option has the same configuration.
We know that saving energy is important, but when it comes to connectivity, it is important to allow our network adapters to work at their best for better signal quality and consequently connectivity. In many occasions, if we have the energy saving activated, it is possible that we do not receive a good Wi-Fi signal due to this, so we advise you to always leave it at maximum performance to avoid problems.