In a three-story dwelling, experiment with different locations on the second floor. In a two-story dwelling, that could be on top of a high bookcase on the first floor, or maybe near the floor of the second story. Try to place the device in the middle of all possible spaces where you want people to have access. The greater the distance and the more walls in between the router and end user, the weaker the signal. “If you place it in the wrong part of your house,” he said, “you will be overwatering parts of your lawn and other parts will go dry.”
And like a sprinkler, the router should be in a good spot. Let’s start with the router.Ī router converts your incoming data stream into radio waves and beams them throughout the home, like a sprinkler distributing water from a hose, Dandekar said. If the speed is well below what the service provider advertises, the issue could be anywhere along the chain: provider, cables, router, or even the device itself. Or it can be done further “downstream” on a phone or tablet, meaning that you are measuring the rate of data transfer through the cable and the WiFi signal. To check your current speed, use an app or web site that measures it in real time, such as This can be done from a desktop that is directly wired to the Internet, in which case you are measuring the speed straight out of the cable. For regular streaming, less than 100 milliseconds should be fine.) (Also look for low numbers in something called latency: a measure of lag time in handling the signal.
With four devices running “high-demand” programs at once, a download speed of at least 25 Mbps is recommended by the Federal Communications Commission. How much capacity you need depends on how many household members are online at any one time, and what they are doing.
Some service plans are asymmetrical, with higher speeds for download than upload, which is fine for most applications.īut in the videoconferencing era, with users receiving and transmitting video at the same time, a good upload speed becomes more important, Dandekar said. It includes two numbers: download speed (the rate at which data can enter your house) and upload speed (how fast you can transmit). Internet speed is typically measured in Mbps - megabits per second. All the more reason to make the most of what you’ve got. And many do not have high-end broadband connections. Let us pause to acknowledge that this is a problem of privilege.
(Short version: beware of metal filing cabinets.)
He explained how to tell if you’re really getting the speeds that Verizon or Comcast promises, why that wavy little WiFi icon may not mean what it seems, and above all, where to place that nifty little box with the blinking lights: the router.
Yes, you can upgrade your service plan or your equipment, but that can be pricey.įirst try these low- or no-cost tips, which we assembled with the help of wireless communications expert Kapil Dandekar, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Drexel University. In the interest of household harmony, we present the Inquirer’s official low-stress, plain-English guide to getting the most out of your Internet connection.
As the COVID era drags on, can there possibly be enough bandwidth for all? And Junior is gunning down bad guys on one screen while streaming his biology class on another.