The WiFi signal is affected by electromagnetic interference, obstructions, and even other WiFi networks, just to name a few factors.
If you’ve been researching WiFi signal strength booster techniques on the Internet, you’ve probably found a whole bunch of tips involving homemade antennas and various contraptions ranging from ingenious to plain weird.
The truth is that the best WiFi booster techniques are also the most basic. If you want to increase the strength of your WiFi network and extend it to cover your entire home, you should figure out where’s the best place to install your router.
Sometimes, a one-meter difference in router placement is the difference between strong and mediocre signal.
Some WiFi booster apps such as NetSpot make it possible to create a detailed heat map showing the strength of your WiFi coverage. Just like a weather map shows areas of exceptionally hot or cold temperatures, so does a signal heat map show the areas where your WiFi router doesn’t reach.
A signal heat map is a great starting point on your way towards a stronger WiFi as it allows you to determine the effectiveness of various WiFi booster techniques. With the help of NetSpot, you can quickly and easily determine which router placement works the best and adjust accordingly.
Likewise, NetSpot and many other WiFi booster apps allow you to boost WiFi signal by exposing overused WiFi channels, which are like the lines on the highway. When all cars drive in a single line, you can expect traffic jams to occur and everyone to move slowly. But as soon as you switch to a different line, you can increase your travel speed because there are no cars in your way blocking you, and the same goes for WiFi channels.
The good news is that the best WiFi booster apps available are neither expensive nor difficult to use, as demonstrated by our top pick: NetSpot.
NetSpot is our favorite WiFi booster app because it has successfully combined professional features with simplicity and usability. If you’re a casual computer user who just wants to optimize the performance of a single WiFi network, NetSpot has you covered with not one but two WiFi analysis modes: one for quick scans and the other one for in-depth surveys.
If you’re a professional IT administrator who wants to use NetSpot to optimize enterprise networks, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn just how much can such an easy to use tool as NetSpot do for you.
WiFi Analyzer is a popular Android WiFi booster app that you can use to discover WiFi networks in your area to pick the least cluttered channel for your own network. The app is compatible with Android 6 and newer, and it can be downloaded from Play Store for free. While not offering many features, WiFi Analyzer has made it to the top of our list because of how convenient it is to have a solid booster app on a smartphone.
With WiFi Analyzer installed on your smartphone, you can walk from room to room to discover where your WiFi signal is the strongest and where it is the weakest.
Just like WiFi Manager, WiFi Analyzer is a simple utility for quick discovery of nearby WiFi networks. It can be downloaded from Microsoft Store and works on all versions of the Windows 10 operating system. What WiFi Analyzer lacks in terms of functionality is compensated by its well-designed user interface.
We recommend WiFi Analyzer for quickly discovering which WiFi channels in your area are overused and which are cluttered the least.
Wireshark is a free and open source packet analyzer used by network administrators and other IT professionals for network troubleshooting and analysis. It supports a number of communication protocols besides WiFi, and it runs on virtually all modern operating systems. Wireshark is a complex tool designed to solve complex issues.
If you’re a regular home user, you may find it too difficult to use even with the help of various online tutorials. What’s more, to use Wireshark to its maximum potential, you need to have a compatible WiFi card that supports all Wireshark’s network analysis modes.
Acrylic is a free Wi-Fi network scanner for Windows capable of scanning 802.11/a/b/g/n/ac networks on 2.4 and 5Ghz wireless frequencies.
The tool lists wireless networks with all details such as encryption, channel, and MAC address, conveniently drawing signal and strength level graphs to provide you with an easy-to-understand graphical overview of the wireless activity around you.
The very first and simplest thing you can do is play with your WiFi router placement a bit. Ideally you want it in the very center of your space, slightly elevated is better than on the floor. Make sure there are no thick walls preventing the wireless signal from traveling where needed, and place your router away from kitchen appliances and other devices emitting electromagnetic waves.
A dedicated WiFi analysis app like NetSpot can help you create a visual heatmap of your WiFi coverage, which will clearly show where the signal needs a boost. A heatmap like that is a great start of a stronger WiFi as it gives you the opportunity to evaluate the efficiency of different WiFi boosting techniques.
By playing with different router placements and measuring WiFi signal with NetSpot, you'll be able to tell which one works best for your network. A WiFi booster app can also show you which WiFi channels are overloaded and help you avoid them.
Good news is, you should be able to easily find a great WiFi booster at an affordable price. Here are some to choose from:
If you already have a new router or are not ready to get the latest version just yet, finding an optimal placement for your existing device might do the trick. With a WiFi booster like NetSpot you can analyze your coverage and see how you can improve it.
Yes, there are many WiFi booster apps that can help you improve your WiFi signal and achieve flawless coverage throughout your home.
One such WiFi booster app is called NetSpot, and we’ve selected it as the best WiFi booster app available today because it successfully combines professional features with simplicity and usability, allowing anyone to quickly obtain highly accurate readings and use them to improve signal strength, eliminate issues with signal interference, and more.
There are several ways how you can increase your WiFi signal strength without purchasing a new router:
Whatever you do to increase your WiFi signal strength, make sure to use a WiFi booster app to determine if the changes you made had the desired result.
Yes, WiFi boosters do work, but they work differently than what many people think. Instead of magically improving WiFi signal strength, WiFi booster apps only provide the information you need to determine the optimal settings for your router. For example, they help reveal crowded channels, signal interference, and more. The most advanced internet booster apps can even create detailed maps of signal coverage, making it easy to find a more suitable place for your router.