On the other hand, if you just want to get a stronger signal to a particular area that has a dead spot it's a serviceable solution. It's just not powerful enough to repeat your entire Wi-Fi connection over half a home in a satisfactory way. If you want to avoid relocating your router to a better spot in the house and attempt to fix coverage issues by putting a budget-grade Wi-Fi extender like the TP-Link AC750 in the middle of your house, you're likely going to have a bad experience. For the most part, they're a poor substitute for just using a better stand-alone router or mesh system. Overall, Wi-Fi extenders are largely a bandaid on Wi-Fi problems. Then you can rule it out by finding the best channel for your router to use. In the end, it's still worth investigating if you suspect band/channel congestion is the source of your problem. In such cases, it's worth turning off the feature and manually setting the channel. Related: How to Find the Best Wi-Fi Channel for Your Router on Any Operating SystemĪlthough it's worth noting in rare cases, especially with a high density of Wi-Fi routers in a small area like an apartment complex, the auto-change feature can cause more problems than it solves as it can be too aggressive in switching channels to optimize the connection. The vast majority of the time this is sufficient to avoid problems.

The channels in the 5GHz band don't overlap-so while you may find a situation where you need to manually adjust them, it's not as common.įurther, most routers will automatically adjust the channel for you if congestion is detected. When all routers were 2.4 GHz the range and the channel 'width' and resulting overlap often required you to adjust which channel your router used just to get a stable connection (Channels 1, 6, and 11 are the only non-overlapping ones). Historically, fiddling with your channel allocation was a bigger deal than it is now. No amount of tips and tricks can magically make a ten-year-old router not, well, a ten-year-old router. But if your router is long in the tooth then you're only going to get so much improvement out of small adjustments and changes. If your router is relatively new (or even fresh out of the box!) and you're not getting the signal strength and Wi-Fi experience you expect, then all these tips will be very useful.

Related: You Don't Need Gigabit Internet, You Need a Better Router But we're leading by throwing out the idea of upgrading your router first and foremost because in our decades of experience with wireless tech in both consumer and corporate settings it has consistently proven to be a silver bullet. Consider Upgrading Your Routerīy all means, work through all the tips in this list to squeeze the most you can out of the gear you have. Here's how to improve your Wi-Fi experience. Wi-Fi is the backbone of the home internet experience and if you're not getting a strong signal between your router and your phone, smart TV, or other devices, then you're not having a good time.

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