Trying to increase your router speed? Try these 10 easy ways!

By Ankit

| Published: Saturday, June 18, 2016, 12:14 [IST]

Everyone is familiar with the Wi-Fi router that has its special place in your home and provides every family member with that much-needed internet pleasure. Whether you want to watch your favorite YouTube video or comment on your friend's FB photo, the router is one guy you can depend upon.

Make FREE calls from Hangouts with these 4 simple steps! Make FREE calls from Hangouts with these 4 simple steps!

If you don't do much with your Wi-Fi router, chances are that you might miss out on some additional features. Here is a 10-pointer guide to help you increase the speed of your WiFi router.

#1

Most latest router models are self-sufficient and don't need to be rebooted that often, but you have definitely come across situations where rebooting the router makes it work just fine. Also, the first thing that your ISP's support will tell you is to reboot the router.

#2

Most cost-effective and consumer router models have god-awful antennas, and these can be easily tampered with. To improve your router speed and connectivity, try to replace them with better options in the market. A lot of powered and amplified antennas start at around Rs. 500 and range all the way up to Rs. 10,000.

#3

Newer routers using the 802.11ac protocol tend to offer much better efficiency compared to older options. Routers using the 802.11g protocol may be deemed useless for running faster operations. To fix the problem, you'll log in to your router and change the 802.11 mode to only allow for newer protocols.

#4

There are basically two settings for channel width - 20 MHz and 40 MHz. The 40 MHz width is used on newer router models that require a much widened area of network to realize their full potential. This adjustment won't change how fast you can browse the web, but will increase the speed of streaming or transferring files between machines.

#5

Like any other technological product, a router also requires regular upgradation of build, firmware and other such software on the device. Keeping it up to date will ensure that your router is compatible with most of the Internet connections present for your use.

#6

A router's speed and coverage is a lot dependent on the location where it resides in the home or office. With a locality having several different routers, your unit will struggle to get the required connectivity to function. So, try changing location and get the best speed with trial and error.

#7

Most of the new routers now come with two options for connectivity - 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. The latter is much better than the 2.4 GHz as it offers less interference, more stability and faster connection speeds. Overall, the 5 GHz bands are currently the best options for Wi-Fi routers. There is a slight issue though; all your connected devices need to support the 5 GHz band otherwise it may cause compatibility issues.

#8

Channels are used by routers to transmit data across different networks. Sometimes, in crowded localities, such channels tend to have conflicts and may cause disturbances. In such a case, it is better to manually select channels for the best configuration. Apps like WiFi Analyser and WifiInfoView are good options for doing this.

#9

Suppose you use video streaming websites mostly in your routine Wi-Fi usage; Quality Of Service (QoS) is a feature that helps you give special priority bandwidth to those applications, which use up your internet data bytes. This helps in preventing the router to take up the load.

#10

If there is just a single feature you use on your Wi-Fi router, it has to be of securing it completely. Encryption, a technique of securing the data between networks, is a great way to protect your connection and preventing people from using your precious data bytes.