Wi-Fi set-up and service can be a tricky thing, regardless of advertisements for do-it- yourself easy set-up’s. There are sometimes other considerations that need to be made, including location and advanced technical aspects that are necessary to achieve results.
One minute you could be enjoying a strong Wi-Fi signal and then move to another room and have your signal bars drop. It’s important to not only understand the equipment requirements to handle your facility, whether in your home or business, but the elements that could adversely affect performance if overlooked. There are several factors to consider that influence the performance of your network. Here are 5 factors to consider:
1. Your distance: Wi-Fi Routers and Access Points do not have the same transmitting power as a 4G/5G Cell Tower. Lower end routers can struggle to cover even a smaller apartment or single office, for example, let alone an entire home or facility. It’s important that this be analyzed before investing in equipment, something that may be a challenge for the average Joe to do. This is likely where an IT professional comes in to assess your needs.
2. Obstructions: Wi-Fi can be affected by obstacles, walls, stone, metal, interference, among other things, all of which should be factored in besides the equipment that is managing your Wi-Fi network. Signals can sometimes be altered when trying to penetrate such objects, so it’s important to use the proper frequencies between 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz and be strategic about placement as well as trying not to have other similar equipment up against or restricting the Wi-Fi Router or Access Point.
3. Router Requirements: Not all Wi-Fi equipment is made or perform the same. You can’t reasonably expect a low-end Wi-Fi Router or Access Point to produce high-end performance. The analogy it’s better to have more than not enough comes in to play with this. Many times, folks go for value over performance when making investments in such equipment to find that they are under powered later. Making the proper investment in the equipment you need is essential.
4. Internet Capacity: Sometimes it’s not your Wi-Fi Router or Access Point that is the difficulty with your performance, but the actual speed of your internet connection. It’s important to understand how much upload/download speed you need to carry your household or business. There is a science to this for IT professionals. The simplest way for a consumer to determine their needs is by how many devices they plan to use with their Wi-Fi. The type of internet service you have also can come in to play. ISP’s can sometimes help determine this but if you want to get detailed hiring a professional to assess your needs is suggested.
5. Bandwidth Usage: While you think that you have a high-speed internet connection and can handle anything you throw at it, you may have bandwidth hogging going on in your network. Streaming and gaming for example are on the top of the list of things that will deplete your performance in no time. So being conscious of who and what is using your internet service is important. There is also advanced configuration work that could be achieved, but not recommended, to be implemented by the average consumer. This is where you bring in an IT professional to work with you to customize your system to increase its performance.
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