What is Wi-Fi?
Before we can make something better we need to understand what it is. Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. The service provided by Wi-Fi is a set of wireless network protocols used for medium distance local area networking. OK, there is a lot to unpack in that statement. The set of wireless network protocols used by Wi-Fi are based on IEEE 802.1 standards. Wi-Fi is considered medium distance since it works up to about 100 meters. Bluetooth is short distance and works up to 30 meters. Cellular is long distance and works over kilometers. Local area networking is a system of communications that links devices within a building or campus and it allows devices to talk to each other. Bluetooth also allows local area networking, but cellular does not since it doesn’t allow devices to connect to each other. So, Wi-Fi is a system that allows devices to communicate to each other over the air up to 100 meters away. Wi-Fi is not your internet connection or your mobile phone connection, but you may be using the Wi-Fi service that comes on the router supplied by your internet provider and that might be why your Wi-Fi coverage is not good, but I will get to that.
One thing to understand about Wi-Fi is that your speed in the best conditions will be limited by 2 factors. The first is that the bandwidth of your Wi-Fi is shared. Think of it as a pipe. If someone flushes a toilet while you are taking a shower, well, you get the idea. The same thing applies to Wi-Fi. If someone in the house is streaming a video and someone else wants to make a video call you are sharing the same pipe. That means buffering. The second factor is distance. Your signal will decrease as you move away from the access point. The farther you are from it the slower your connection. Now you are competing with all the other devices connected to the access point and yourself as you move around the house.
Wi-Fi Terms
- Channel – a radio frequency band labled by a number
- Frequency Band – the radio frequency range used
- Gateway – a device that connects to the internet
- Interference – a condition where multiple devices are operating at or near the same radio frequency
- MIMO – Multi In Multi Out, a technology that allows an AP to connect over multiple channels at the same time and to handle more devices.
- Repeater – a device that picks up a Wi-Fi signal and re-broadcasts it to enable devices farther from the AP to have better performance
- Router – a device that routes traffic
- Wireless Access Point (or AP) – a broadcast point for Wi-Fi that allows for two way communication
Common Problems
The most common problems are –
- Poor AP placement
- Channel interference
- AP too weak or not enough APs to cover the area
Poor AP placement
If you are using the AP on the router that you got from your Internet Service Provider (ISP) then you probably have it connected to your cable or telephone line somewhere convient for the connection and not in a place optimized for Wi-Fi. The biggest problem with the routers that come from the ISP is they are generally not very good for Wi-Fi. Also, by using the router for your Wi-Fi the placement is limited to where you can get a connection for the internet. That, after all, is the purpose of the router: to connect to the internet. Its purpose is not to provide Wi-Fi, that is secondary.
Channel interference
Wi-Fi is broadly used. If you live in a neighborhood or apartment building then you probably have neighbors close by who are using Wi-Fi. Inside your own house you will have various devices competing for the Wi-Fi channels. Printers have Wi-Fi, TVs, audio systems and headphones can all use Wi-Fi. Their use of a channel can slow you down or make your connection unreliable.
Weak Access Point
The access point built into the router from your ISP is usually not very good. It is fine for a small apartment, but it won’t cover a large house. It is generally slower and weaker than third party access points. Also, if you have a large house then you may need multiple access points to ensure uninterupted coverage.
How to Fix It
Step 1 – Optimize Router Placement
To address poor access point placement you will need to either move your existing router or access point or buy another one that can be connectecd to the first. Assuming you can move it try to find a central point in your house. Think in three dimensions and make sure it is central for all your floors.
Step 2 – Get Rid of Interference
Channel interference is the easiest. Ubiquiti has an app called WiFiMan. You can use that to see what channels are being used in your house. Click on the wireless icon and you get a map of all the devices that are broadcasting in your area and the channels they are using. You should recognize the SSID or name of your Wi-Fi and see if anything else is on the same channel. If there is interference then log onto your access point (which may be your router) as administrator and change the channel to one that is empty.
Step 3 – Add APs
If your access point is still too weak after you have moved it centrally and found an empty channel then you need more access points. You can buy stand-alone access points that can be hard-wired into your router or can act as repeaters. Hard-wiring is best as it will not reduce your speed. Repeaters generally cut the speed in half in order to achieve their goal of repeating. They cut the speed in half since they need to use their bandwidth for communicating to your device and for communicating to the main AP. Additional AP repeaters run about $100. To avoid using the the bandwidth for repeating the signal some APs can use the electrical wiring in your house to avoid using a back channel. They are called powerline devices. You can use multiple powerline APs. You will be sharing the electrical wiring between the APs, but they tend to have pretty high speed on the wire. Sometimes they are a bit complicated to set up. But, there is another option and that is a mesh system
Step 4 – Install a Mesh System
A mesh system is a system designed to work together to create an enveloping Wi-Fi environment. It consistes of a main router and satellite APs that can be hard-wired or use a back channel to connect. The back channel is a special Wi-Fi channel that is just used by the satellites and the main router to communicate amongst themselves. The net of this is the back channel doesn’t slow down the Wi-Fi for the devices in your house. Mesh systems are also all MIMO. That lets more devices talk to them without slowing down. They are designed for Wi-Fi and only Wi-Fi, it is not a secondary function like on your ISP router.
Mesh systems are actually easier to install and manage than disparate routers and repeaters. You will need to buy into a system. You will need to disable the Wi-Fi on the router from your ISP and connect a new router to it. The router from your ISP will be a gateway only now. The new router will become the main AP for the mesh system and the router for your internet traffic. Anything that was connected directly to the old router should be connected to the new router instead. After you get the new router installed and all the other wires connected to it you can install satellite APs. Ideally you should hard-wire them, but if you can’t then make sure you find a brand that uses a back channel. Nest WiFi is easy to set up, fast and uses a dedicated back channel. A little bit higher performance and perhaps a bit harder to set up are the Asus Zen and Netgear Orbi systems. They also have back channels to ensure Wi-Fi speed. Some of the powerline systems are also able to support mesh.
If you are technically oriented and want to get the best overall system I think that is Ubiquiti Unifi. It is not as easy to set up, but the flexibility and throughput it offers will keep even the largest houses covered. I use Unifi for my home and am very happy with it.
By putting in a mesh system you address all the problems with Wi-Fi. You will always be closer to an AP because there are more of them. You won’t have to share the bandwidth as much because other people in the house will likely be on another AP in the mesh. The consequence is your Wi-Fi performance will dramatically improve.
Conclusion
So, there are some free things you can do like moving your router and finding a better channel, but to really improve your Wi-Fi you will need to invest in some hardware. Generally Wi-Fi mesh systems come as a package with one router and 2 APs for around $350. It isn’t too expensive, but it is a lot more than free. You will see the difference, so you will need to decide if it is worth it. It was for me.