If you wish to extend the coverage of your WiFi signal at home or at work, then this is your guide, as we will try to bring together all the possibilities you have so that your WiFi signal reaches where it didn't before, to those corners, rooms or floors where we couldn't connect.
The mobility and freedom that the wireless networks It's very convenient, but it's not always where we need it. Therefore, we'll present some good alternatives for devices we can purchase to extend our signal wherever we want, without making a large investment and in a way that's easy for all users.
How to maximize your laptop's WiFi
Solution: My PC won't connect to the Internet
What to expect from this guide?
We have already written about how to choose a good neutral router, about PLCs and what they can do for us, and also about WiFi amplifiers or repeaters. Well, in this new guide, we're going to expand, and never better said, the coverage of those articles on this blog and refresh their content a bit.
- The best solution: Mesh Wifi Systems
- The cheapest solution: WiFi repeaters
Other guides:
- Best routers
- PLC adapter comparison
As in said articles We have already described the features, different technologies, etc., what you should look for in this type of device, what you'll find now is a different approach, more focused on the practical point of view and thinking about the circumstances of the end user, rather than on technical issues.
I need to improve the WiFi signal
This section We are going to divide it into two subparts, the first to guide you when positioning the router in the best area for good Wi-Fi signal coverage, as well as how to orient its antennas for optimal results. This way, you won't make the typical mistakes when purchasing one of these devices.
On the other hand, we will inform you about how to improve WiFi signal and buy the neutral routers with the best coverage on the market.
The most common mistakes when positioning the router and its antennas
Remember the position of the router It's also a strategic point for ensuring a good signal in the area. But many people place their router in unsuitable locations, resulting in poor signal quality in their home or office. To avoid making these mistakes, follow these recommendations:
Where to put the router?
Put it on a central area horizontally and vertically speaking. Study the area you want to cover. Once you know that, if it's a single floor and the distribution will be horizontal throughout the different rooms on that floor, place it roughly in the center of the house or office. If it's a multi-story building, meaning it will be distributed vertically, avoid placing it on the ground floor or upper floor. Instead, place it on the middle floor so the signal is distributed more evenly across the other floors.
Do not place the router in a corner either. corner means you will have two wall planes behind the router, which will absorb some of the Wi-Fi signal, especially on 5GHz routers. Therefore, we can reduce the signal quality in certain rooms or spaces we want to reach.
The obstacles are out. While fewer obstacles If the router is in the middle, it's even better. Obviously, we're not going to move or knock down walls to improve the signal, but we can position it in places where the space is clearer. Water is also an obstacle, so avoid placing it in places with swimming pools, fish tanks, tanks, etc., in the middle. Also, don't place it near appliances such as the refrigerator, microwave, cell phones, etc., which can affect the waves with interference. For example, Bluetooth particularly saturates 2.4 GHz signals.
Wood is a good element. Wooden walls or doors made of this material can be easily crossedFor example, if you have an office where you want to create different spaces, it's best to use wood or plasterboard to divide the spaces, avoiding stone, concrete, and other walls, which are less permeable to the signal. This also means that if you place the router in an area like a hallway or foyer where all the doors of a home or workplace open, the signal will penetrate very well through the doors, ensuring good coverage inside the rooms or offices.
Best WiFi hotspots
How to orient the antennas?
Summarizing, always verticalAntennas are supposed to be omnidirectional, meaning they transmit equally in all directions. But they're actually more like dipoles and transmit best horizontally, that is, around the antenna. That would look pretty good with certain coverage mapping and study equipment… But always place at least one or more of the antennas you have available vertically for best quality.
Do not tilt or place them horizontally.. This is generally a bad idea, and is only recommended for multi-story buildings, where tilting the antenna 45° could improve signal penetration upwards and downwards. For example, if you want good horizontal coverage on the floor where the router is located and also want it to reach the ground floor and upstairs, you could place one antenna vertically and the other at an angle.
That is, if you have several antennas put one vertical and one horizontal, so with all the ones you have… That could be beneficial even for certain devices whose antennas are also positioned in one way or another, ensuring that everyone is “happy” with the reception.
Updated firmware
Make sure you buy a router whose manufacturer cares about constantly update the firmware. Well-known brands usually do this. And once they release the updates, update them whenever you can.
If you have your router's firmware updated you can benefit from certain improvements, not only for security or performance, but also to avoid certain signal losses. Therefore, keep an eye on firmware updates on router manufacturers' official websites to stay up-to-date.
following these recommendations and the ones we will continue to give you until the end of this article, you will get the best benefits.
Acquire a neutral long-range router
There are some occasions when the neutral router The default Wi-Fi signal that comes with our Internet service providers' installations leaves much to be desired. In these cases, we may find that the Wi-Fi signal reaches almost all or all of the rooms in our workplace or home, but that coverage is poor in some rooms.
That is to say, it may be that in the furthest rooms or pointsIf we experience a significant drop in signal, the signal may be slower or more unstable. In these cases, it's not always necessary to purchase devices like PLCs or repeaters; we could simply invest in a better router.
That could not only improve coverage Not only does it not only improve the WiFi signal, but it could also offer other improvements in speed, connectivity, etc., that we don't enjoy with our current router. But be careful! It comes with risks, as you'll need to properly configure the router to work with your ISP and also make sure it's a good router.
Otherwise, you will have invested money in vain to have a router with the same features or worse than the one you already had, and your problems not only haven't been solved, but may even get worse. Therefore, to make a good choice, I refer you to our guide to neutral routers.
As you probably know, there are routers with 2, 3, 4, or 8 antennasAs you'll understand, the more antennas it has, the better. But the routers provided by internet providers usually only have two. However, if you decide to replace it with a slightly better, neutral router, you'll find models with more antennas to improve their performance.
However, if you do not have technical knowledge High signal strength, here's a list of some routers that can be good for improving our network's signal. I'll include a list of what are known as long-range routers, meaning those whose signal reaches considerably far and with good quality within the capabilities of the standard and band used.
By the way, I haven't said this before, but you can't just have a single router, you can use severalYou can even purchase one of these that we recommend as a central unit and place the one you had before in another part of the house to use as a signal amplifier.
I need the WiFi signal to reach another floor or room
The previous case was not your case, in your case the signal does not reach a certain floor of the building or is he just so weak? You don't want to risk investing in a router, and that might not be the right solution. Maybe you don't have any configuration knowledge and don't want to risk losing internet access until a technician comes to fix the problem...
Well, don't worry, in those cases there is another solution that is fully compatible with your current network and much cheaper than purchasing a router. It can even help you go beyond a simple router. WiFi signal amplification and connect some IPTV devices wirelessly in your room. I'm referring to a PLC.
For example, when we have a network service that includes TV channels, Devices are usually installed on the TV and connected to the router, but if you don't have one nearby, you'll need to run cables through the wall from where your router is located to where your TV is. To avoid this, a PLC can also be a good option.
Well, going back to the title of this section, in this case, we have two options for arrive with the signal Until now, it was impossible or complicated. One option can be used in any case, meaning it's more universal, as is the case with WiFi repeaters or signal boosters, while the other is somewhat more specific and limited, as is the case with PLCs.
For this reason, we are going to cover this section subdivide into two new sections.
This room shares electrical installation and is close
As you may already know, a PLC (Power Line Communications) It's a device that can carry the network signal through your home's electrical system. This means we can transmit data using the same copper wiring that powers our devices.
*Note: when we want to extend the signal to a floor or room that shares the same electrical installation, we can use PLCs, but we could also use the repeaters that we find in the following section.
The PLC may be the right instrument you are looking for if, for example, you want to take a network socket to a different point in the room than where you have the router, and thus connect a device such as a network printer that does not support wireless, a TV device, etc. But remember that you should not use them for more than 100 meters.
I'm not sure if it's the same electrical installation or the distance is >100 meters
If we are not sure whether Our electrical installation is the same or is it independent? for that room or floor to which we want to send our WiFi signal or even if we are not sure if our old electrical installation could support a PLC, in that case, do not risk it and buy a repeater, extender or WiFi signal amplifier (whatever you want to call it), since it will work well in any case.
In addition, PLCs are limited to a maximum of 100 meters, and are quite susceptible to certain electrical noise generated by electrical appliances such as compressors, or equipment that consumes a large amount of electrical energy, such as the oven, refrigerator, etc. Which could make our PLC not the best option.
Or imagine that you want bring the connection to another floor or home Adjacent units that don't share the same electrical installation. In that case, you can't simply connect one PLC on one floor/room of a home and the other on the other floor/floor, since there won't be a connection.
That's why they become interesting use of repeaters, which, since they operate via WiFi, if they are positioned in a place where the signal from the central router reaches them, you can extend the coverage beyond what we had before, transforming themselves into another source of signal.
And this gives us more possibilities, since if we want take it even further, we could use several of these repeaters so that one reaches another and thus connect them to different sockets in the building until the signal reaches where we want, as if it were a chain of WiFi signal sources.
By the way, one disadvantage of the repeater is that, unlike the PLC, does not usually have a power outlet Built-in so you can avoid wasting a power outlet just to amplify the signal and not being able to connect any devices there. That is, in the case of the repeater, we'll have to use a power strip to connect something to that outlet in addition to the repeater itself if necessary.