In all likelihood, your family uses your home internet almost all the time, if not constantly. Everyone in your household may rely on the internet for different purposes, but they’re all equally important. From gaming and streaming movies and television shows to working and doing homework, you need a strong, reliable internet connection to make those activities possible. If you have smart devices or a complete smart home, your internet performance is even more crucial.
Many people find that their internet service falls short of their needs. If you fall into that category, you don’t have to live with lagging, buffering, delays, outages, and other problems. There are certain measures you can take to improve your internet performance.
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1) Switch Internet Providers
One way to get better residential internet service is to switch providers. Different providers offer varying speeds and connection types. Either of those factors can detract from your internet performance. Finding a provider that offers high speeds and comparable upload and download speeds may solve your problems. At the same time, fiber internet is the best option available. If your current provider doesn’t offer it, finding one that does can make a major difference as well.
2) Move Your Router
Moving your router may be all you need to do to bolster your internet speed and coverage. The router plays a major role in how well your internet works, but where it’s located can have a negative impact on its performance. If it’s close to certain devices or appliances, like microwaves, baby monitors, or wireless cameras, those may interfere with its signal. Thick walls and metal objects can cause interference as well. Moving your router away from those obstacles and placing it in a central location in your home may be a fast, simple way to resolve your internet woes.
3) Use a VLAN
Another possible solution would be to use a virtual local area network, or VLAN. A VLAN will allow you to separate your network into multiple smaller networks and prioritize bandwidth according to different devices or types of internet traffic. For example, you could have one VLAN for gaming devices and another for your smart home devices. On the other hand, you could set up separate VLANs for work and personal devices. That, in turn, will reduce the number of devices competing for bandwidth and make your internet faster and more reliable.
4) Use Wired Connections When Possible
Additionally, you can switch to wired connections instead of wireless for certain devices. Those include laptops, smart televisions, and gaming consoles. Connecting those devices to your router via ethernet cables will reduce the load on your Wi-Fi network and supply more bandwidth to the devices that use the most. That could improve your internet speed and reduce interference.
5) Install a Signal Booster
If a weak signal or the signal not reaching every corner of your home is the problem, a booster might help. These devices basically pick up Wi-Fi signals, strengthen them, and broadcast them over a broader area. They won’t increase your actual internet speed, but they’ll give you a stronger signal and eliminate dead spots in your home.
Making Your Home Internet Work Better
We all need internet these days, but many people find that their home internet doesn’t work as well as they’d like. You don’t have to suffer through slow internet, weak signals, constant outages, and other problems in silence, though. The options mentioned here approach common issues from different angles, and one of them may be the solution you need to improve your internet’s performance.