This guide is meant to help faculty, staff and students troubleshoot their wireless (WiFi) connection. This guide will refer to wireless routers, WiFi access points, and all other WiFi emitters as WAPs (wireless access points).
Fostering a strong WiFi connection
Before changing any settings on your devices, there are a few good practices to follow with wireless connections:
- Your WAP can change location in your house! Place your WAP with intention:
- Keep your WAP in the open and not hidden by plants or furniture. The fewer the obstructions, the better the signal.
- Placing your wireless router higher in your room, where there are less obstructions, may improve performance.
- Your WAP does not need to be in the center of your house. Depending on your home's construction material, the WAP will have varying difficulty penetrating your walls.
- Remember:
- The 5Ghz network will give you better speeds (bandwidth) but cannot penetrate walls as well as the 2.4Ghz channel.
- The 2.4Ghz network will have better range and therefore better reliability than the 5Ghz channel but will have lower speeds (bandwidth).
- While working from home, you may find benefit in moving your WAP closer to your working space and sacrificing some connection strength in other parts of your house.
- While working closer to your wireless router will give you better performance and reliability, try to stay at least a few feet away.
- Your WAP can change location in your house! Place your WAP with intention:
Troubleshooting Device WiFi settings
Windows
- Click on the WiFi icon that sits in the right end of the Taskbar
- Find your network in the list and make sure you are connected.
When is it time to replace/upgrade hardware?
While WAPs can degrade over time, you are more likely to be hindered by outdated technology/protocols than the aged internal components. WiFi uses precise timing in order to send/receive signals to your devices, avoid collisions, and even triangulate your device's location (with newer WiFi 6 protocols) for more efficient transmission. It is possible that the timing component, usually a crystal oscillator, can degrade over time due to an aging power adapter or a very RF (radio frequency) noisy environment. Nevertheless, it is likely outdated technology/protocols that are slowing down your connection and not the physical health of your WAP.