Want to increase your wifi range without having to pinch your pocket? You’re in luck because we bring to you some of the best and free router hacks!
Gone are the days of connecting your laptop to the internet by using cables and wires. While only a few years ago the Ethernet cable was the only way to browse the world wide web, now it seems medieval and excruciatingly slow. Now is the time for Wifi and not being chained to one place only to use the internet. But does having a wifi router mean high-speed internet? Afraid not! In fact, you might get a better speed if you use an Ethernet cable than a Wifi router. However, using a Wifi router doesn’t mean that you should be forced to live in the stone age with low speed internet. Read on to find out how you can tweak your router to optimize your internet speed.
Upgrade to a mesh network: A very novel solution for all your internet speed problems, a mesh network is nothing but a network of multiple routers across your home to blanket your internet connection. One of these routers serves a base camp and the others are plugged in various spots across your home. A simple set-up process and you will be able to monitor everything that is happening on your network. Google, Luma, and Eero are some of the companies that have already started offering these solutions. So it may be worth your while to go check them out.
Stop your devices from bandwidth hogging: The term bandwidth hogging is nothing but deciphering which devices/applications consume maximum bandwidth. To control this, use QoS to prioritize applications that are in need of bandwidth over the ones that can do with a lower bandwidth. For instance, you could prioritize video calls to have higher bandwidth than downloading a movie.
Install the DD-WRT firmware: This smart little piece of firmware is known to boost the transmitting speed of your router in addition to a great many security features. Yay! The only drawback is that it is reported to cause potential harm to the router device. But since most routers can handle it, it may be a good idea to give it a try!
Create an extender: Use this same DD-WRT firmware to convert your old router into a range extender for your home. If you have another working router, you could connect the two routers by using an Ethernet cable and increase the range of your internet connection across your house.
Don’t forget to reboot: Most of us don’t even shut down our laptops regularly. We know it is a bad practice, and this applies to your router too. If you don’t remember to do it, set up the auto-reboot schedule for your router and it will reboot after specified intervals.
Try all these hacks on your wifi router and you will thank us. A bonus tip: regularly check the speed of your internet on mywifispeed. It will give you an idea of what your internet connection is up to.