Top 10 Ways to Boost
Your WiFi

1. Select a Good Place for Your Router

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Not all places are equally suitable for your router. To start with, you want to avoid placing your router close to metal objects and appliances that emit electromagnetic waves. Ideally, you also want to keep a safe distance from electric wires. To cover an area with an even WiFi signal, you should place your WiFi router roughly in the center. You can slightly boost your wireless signal by elevating the router above the floor level.

2. Keep Your Router Updated

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If you follow the news, you’ve heard about the growing number of large-scale malware attacks that are costing businesses and individuals alike billions every year. Many of these attacks wouldn’t be possible if all routers were kept updated. Once a malware infects a router, it can steal bandwidth and spread itself across the network to other devices. But even without a presence of a dangerous malware, routers with old firmware perform worse than routers that are properly updated.

3. Get a Stronger Antenna

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Most WiFi routers come with small, weak antennas. It’s not that manufacturers want to save every cent they can, but powerful WiFi antennas tend to be hideously large. Compared to the antenna that came with your router, which probably is just a few inches tall and has around 4 dB gain, a 10-dB antenna can be anywhere between 10 to 15 inches tall. But if you don’t mind the size, a new, powerful WiFi antenna is a great way how you can boost WiFi at home or office without buying a new router. All WiFi antennas use the same RP-SMA connector, so you can just head to Amazon and order any home WiFi antenna with great ratings.

4. Cut Off WiFi Leeches

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An encrypted, password-protected WiFi is a must in this day and age. With more people than ever relying on WiFi than ever, the hunger for open, fast WiFi networks is real. Don’t think that your neighbors won’t use your WiFi network just because they have their own — they will, and they might not even know about it. You should encrypt your WiFi and protect it with a strong password that can’t be easily guessed. If you have lots of guests, create a separate guest network and either significantly limit its range or protect it with a different password and change the password often.

5. Buy a WiFi Repeater/Booster/Extender

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Even though they are referred to by many names, WiFi boosters, repeaters, and extenders are basically the same thing. Simply put, they take a WiFi signal, amplify it, and transmit it again. A good repeater costs around $100, and it can be installed in a few minutes by anyone. The installation process usually involves only the press of the WPS button. Some are meant to work with a dedicated WiFi booster app that makes it easier to fine-tune certain WiFi settings to achieve the best performance possible.