In this day and age, you would be hard pressed to find many homes that don’t have the Internet. With our entire lives being online in some way, shape, or form, home unlimited Internet is becoming more of a necessity than a luxury these days.
But having residential Internet service can come with a few caveats. One of them includes dropping signals depending on where in your house you are. The good news is that there are more than a few ways to boost your signal so that you can have consistent access no matter where you may be.
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Remove Obstructions
The main reason why you may have trouble accessing your unlimited Internet is due to obstructions. The placement of your router – and the things that lay between it and you – can do a lot to inhibit signal strength.
The more building materials there are – brick, stone, metal studs, floors, walls, and so on – between you and your router, the weaker the signal can be. Make sure that you place your router at a centralized location in your home. This should provide a more consistent, even access.
If you can’t put it in a centralized spot in your home, then make sure that you don’t have as many obstructions between the router and the spots where you most consistently use an Internet connection. If that doesn’t work, it could simply be that you need to upgrade the speed of your connection.
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Get Secure
Another reason why your connection may seem weak or inconsistent is that it is being used by an unauthorized user. People can potentially steal bandwidth, which would slow down your connection, and you would never be the wiser.
Start by logging into your router settings and disabling the network sharing settings. Not only that, make sure that you have a password to protect your connection. Having a strong WPA or WPA2 password is of the utmost importance. The longer (and less obvious) that it can be, the better off you will be.
You can and should hide your network name as well. If you have guests, consider having a separate network for guest usage. A firewall is a must to defend against viruses and consider using a virtual private network (VPN) so that all of your private information is encrypted.
There are so many measures to take that can keep you and your connection safer.
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Auto-Updating Programs
No matter the computer you use, there are several apps and programs that will run in the background as you work. Most of them will have automatic updates turned on as well. While that might seem like a good thing, it can actually slow down your speed without you knowing.
Should your connection be moving slow, fire up the task manager and see what’s running. Pausing or stopping automatic updates could give you the boost of speed that you need and you can always allow those updates to download later on.
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Malware Check
Now that you know to check for speed-stealing updates, you might want to give your system a quick scan to check for viruses. Malware in particular can not only do damage to your computer, but it can also hog bandwidth and even send infectious messages through your various accounts.
If your computer connection is slower and programs tend to start on their own, then there is a good chance that you have malware. Turn the computer off and then on again, start in Safe Mode, delete the temporary files, and then run your virus scanner.
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Browser Optimization
Finally, you might want to consider an optimized browser. Chrome, for instance, doesn’t require JavaScript or Flash, which can eat memory and slow down your bandwidth. Firefox has extensions that block pop-ups and ads that can slow you down as well.
The right browsers can limit your overall Internet usage, allowing you to work faster. Even better, they regularly update their browsers to ensure they are as optimized as they can be. All so that you can get the most out of your Internet speed. If the browser you use feels like it lags, consider making the switch.
