We at Computer Tutoring focus on helping our lovely customers to get the most from their IT investment through training and support – which we absolutely love! With that in mind, we wanted to get right back to basics and send a little Wi-Fi help your way:
1. Check what you are paying for / what package do you have?
It might sound obvious, but we are inclined to skim over the details and just look at ‘amount due’ section on our bill. However, it’s well worth finding out exactly what your package includes. If your internet provider is not delivering what they promised it may be that you are entitled to a refund. Other benefits that come from reviewing your package are that you may well find that it comes with free cloud storage space which you could make use of!
But how do you know if your internet service provider is or is not delivering what they have promised?
2. Check your Internet Speed.
You can check your internet speed by directly plugging your laptop into your router. You will need the CAT5 cable that came with your laptop to do this.
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Download a speed test app on the device that you’ve plugged into the router (we used SpeedTest App). To see exactly what this looks this please see our latest video – Getting a Better Wi-Fi Signal Speed Test.
So how do you know what is a good speed? Run a Speed Test. You will now see your Download Speed and your Upload Speed.
Speeds vary! As an example Computer Tutorings Download Speed in London today is approx. 72 – 73 Mbps (megabits per second). Some places and will be higher and some lower. The higher the better!
Your Upload Speed will be slower – Ours today was 17 -18 Mbps.
Basically, the higher the numbers the better.
You will also see a Ping (milli seconds) figure. This can also be called the latency figure. You want a low Ping figure. If you have a high Ping (latency) number may mean that you will experience a lot of freezing when using video conferencing (Zoom and Teams etc) and when online gaming.
3. Test your Wi-Fi Speed.
This is the speed at which devices not directly connected to the router are running at (i.e your phone, tablet, ipad, laptop etc).
Download a speed test app on whatever device you want to test (your phone / tablet etc) and then run a speed test.
You may find It is a couple of Mbps lower than when you directly connected your laptop to the router, but that is quite normal.
Many software providers outline their minimum systems requirements online (Zoom Bandwidth Requirements). This is helpful if you want some reassurance that your Wi-Fi connection is strong enough.
4. Check which band you are using. 4 GHz V 5 GHz.
So, what does this mean? Simply put they are radio waves. The 2.4 Ghz band is very busy! As well as being used for WiFi it is also used by a myriad of devices including:
- Cordless phones
- Garage Door Openers
- Baby Monitors
- Microwaves
- Radio Control Devices
- and of course..Radios!
The 5Ghz is a newer technology and is a lot quieter.
So how do you check which channel you are using?
This is very simple. Fist of all find your Router IP Address. This will be a number on the back of your router or on a little card that may pop out of your router. Type your router ip address (number) directly into your web browser. You will be asked for your password. This is your Admin Password (not the Wi-Fi code) that is listed on your router. Low and behold your router information will appear.
You now have access to router settings and can make changes.
First of all check which band you are currently using (default is 2.4 GHz). Select ‘Wireless’. You should see the two bands (2.4 GHz & 5 GHz). To get access to the 5 GHz band switch on ‘Separate Bands’. You will now have access to the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz band.
Now when you scan for Wi-Fi connections with your device you will now see 2 appear! The first one will be your existing one (2.4 GHz), the other will be the new 5 GHz connection…it will look exactly the same as the first but with a 5 at the end. You can rename it if you wish.
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Now you can connect your devices to the far less crowded 5 GHz band.
When would a 2.4 GHz connection be Preferable?
If your devices are far from your router or your house has extremely thick walls it may be that you are better sticking to the 2.4 GHz, as these radio waves travel further. However, if you are in fairly close proximity to your router a 5GHz connection will be much stronger.
For more information on 2.4 GHz Vs 5 GHz please see our latest video ‘Getting a Better Wi-Fi Signal’.
5. Check what devices are connected to your Wi-Fi.
While in router settings select My Network - This will show you how many devices are using your router and how much internet they are using. If you have an important Zoom training session / meeting coming up, you can disable devices that are taking up too much Wi-Fi!
You can also scan the networks in your neighbourhood and see how busy the channels are.
One way to do this is using a free download – we have used NetSpot (we used the free edition). This will scan the networks in your neighbourhood and see how busy the channels are.
You will see your own network connections pop up. Your router will probably have a SMART capability. This means that it will automatically change to the less busy channels. If you do not have this option than you can manually select the least busy channel. For 2.4 GHz you can select either channel 1, 6 or 11. Select the channel with the fewest networks.
Lastly If your Wi-Fi doesn't seem to be working at all it is probably a problem with the internet provider - not you!
Getting a Better Wi-Fi Signal - Video