Optimizing your Wi-Fi Network as Fast As Possible
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2014-05-07
·
1,014 words · ~5 min read
0:00
now my relationship with wi-fi or wireless networking technology is rocky
0:04
at the best of times because it's slower than wired and often flaky as balls but
0:09
the alternative is plugging Ethernet
0:12
cables into phones so yeah since we're stuck with it i figured i'd give you
0:16
guys some quick tips on making the experience as painless as possible
0:20
though we'll start with the stuff that costs nothing number one position your
0:24
access point usually built into your router correctly the coverage area is
0:29
sphere shaped so center your access
0:32
point within your intended coverage area as best as you can avoid putting it
0:37
directly on the floor on a thick wall or next to a large object nearby dense
0:42
materials like stone metal and concrete will reduce your wireless signal
0:45
strength number two check for software and firmware updates for routers go to
0:51
the website of the brand on the box but for many adapters instead of going to
0:55
d-link's website you can actually find newer drivers on the wireless chipset
0:59
manufacturer's website directly examples of chipset makers include broadcom and
1:04
raylink number three choose the right channel for your access point to run on
1:09
using a free tool like wi-fi analyzer for Android gives you a visual
1:13
representation of the other wireless networks in your area on the 2.4
1:18
gigahertz band there are only three usable non-overlapping channels 1 6 and
1:23
11 and in a perfect world you would want to pick whichever of these is open
1:28
unfortunately in apartment buildings and even dense suburban areas this is
1:32
unlikely to happen and even with a tool like this there will be some trial and
1:36
error because things like cordless phones security cameras and baby
1:40
monitors are examples of products that might not even show up on a wi-fi
1:43
network map but can cause serious interference so play around with a
1:47
little bit to see how you get the best results number four and this is where we
1:51
start getting into tips that cost money is to grab a more sensitive antenna if
1:56
your access point has external antenna support they come in two main flavors
2:01
omnidirectional antennas will keep the spherical network shape but make it
2:04
bigger while directional ones can be great if you have a long thin coverage
2:09
area that you're trying to reach just make sure you aim it properly number
2:12
five is to get a repeater repeaters can be configured with the same ssid or
2:16
network name and password so you can roam between them pretty much without
2:20
noticing as long as you're not doing something like streaming a skype call
2:24
that's likely to get disconnected as you move over a boundary i don't recommend
2:28
repeaters that connect to both your device and your access point wirelessly
2:33
i haven't had great experiences with those so make sure you get one that
2:36
either connects through powerline or Ethernet finally if all of that stuff
2:41
didn't cut it it might be time for an upgrade an 802.11 ac access point can
2:46
deliver real-world throughput over megabit with a strong client and even a
2:52
dual band n1 gives you access to the much wider range of 5 gigahertz channel
2:57
that also generally suffer from less random interference both of these things
3:01
are very good things what's great too is that you don't need to upgrade all of
3:06
your stuff immediately legacy devices that can't be upgraded such as phones or
3:11
tablets can connect to the 2.4 gigahertz network on your new access point and
3:15
newer or upgraded devices can connect to the entirely separate five gigahertz
3:20
network to enjoy a totally different wi-fi experience i just moved my
3:24
notebook to ac wireless with a cheap Intel mini pci express card from amazon
3:29
real world bandwidth is about twice as good as my old card so i'm pleased as
3:33
punch with the snappier file transfer speeds and more reliable movie streaming
3:36
experience speaking of better streaming experience
3:39
hotspot shield hotspot shield vpn is easy to set up inexpensive and with
3:43
their elite service you can access all kinds of streaming services that
3:47
otherwise wouldn't be available to you us netflix will work anywhere in the
3:51
world which i guess is less of a big deal for me because canada has netflix
3:54
too but i was in a real bind when hulu reached out to me about doing a sponsor
3:59
spot on my other channel and i had never even used the service before since it's
4:02
not available to me fortunately for me my other sponsor hotspot shield this one
4:08
saved my bacon and i was able to use hulu to do my sponsored spot so i was
4:12
able to like try it out and actually like make sure it's great before i go talking about how great it is the point
4:16
here though is not necessarily access to hulu specifically but more privacy and
4:22
more freedom in general when you're browsing the web since a vpn on top of
4:26
hiding your region from the websites that you're visiting also makes it more
4:30
difficult for them to find your ip and any information about you that they can
4:34
track down with that so try hotspot shield today we recommend picking up an
4:38
elite trial rather than the ad supported free one it really is a much better
4:42
browsing experience and if you like it guys please use the link in the video
4:45
description with offer code Linus to save a few bucks on it happy streaming
4:49
thanks for watching guys i hope you enjoyed this episode as fast as possible
4:52
like and share it if you liked it dislike it if you disliked it leave a comment suggesting future episodes as
4:57
fast as possible that you'd love for us to do and i think that's pretty much it
5:01
as always thanks again for watching and don't forget to subscribe