DesignWebKit

How to Make WiFi Signal Stronger

Zoey Peregrine

You can use many ways to measure Wi-Fi signal strength but then you need to know how to make wifi signal stronger. One of the most appropriate methods to measure the signal in dBm. It stands for decibel milliwatts, and it is the most effective unit of WiFi signal strength. 

Explaining Wi-Fi Signal Strength

There are some categories of signal strength. Signal strength and expected quality:

  1. -30 dBm: It is the maximum strength of the signal. At that point, you are much closer to an access point.
  2. -50: This point can be considered as an excellent level.
  3. -60 dBm: Good, reliable signal strength.
  4. -67 dBm: Reliable signal strength.
  5. -70 dBm: Not a good signal strength 
  6. -80 dBm: Unreliable signal strength, will not suffice for most services. 
  7. -90 dBm: At this point, the chances of connecting are very low. 

How to Measure Wi-Fi Signal Strength

There are a lot of apps that you can use to scan the WiFi signal strength. But the most effective application is the WiFi scanner application. It can be used to measure the strength of the signals at a very specific location and time. You can also get RSSI that stands for received signal strength indicator. 

Here is another facility preference for some devices. If you are using a computer that is running on Mac operating system X, you can get this indicator. It doesn’t matter that either you installed the application or not. 

Here are some steps to find it out:

  1. Press and hold the ALT key and at the same time, click on the WiFi icon on your status menu.
  2. One list with the names of available networks will appear on the screen, you will have to find out the network you want to connect to, and the information of the connection will appear plus RSSI will also be included in the connection information. 

Another useful tool is the Wi-Fi heat mapping tool. We can also use it instead of using a Wi-Fi scanner.

With the help of the heat mapping tool, we can easily focus on the surroundings where wireless coverage is available. 

The performance of the wireless network connection depends on various things. The main part of the dependency of the connection is radio signal strength. The radio signal strength determines the data rate in each direction between the two devices, a wireless access point, and a connected device. 

How to Test WiFi Signals?

You can test the strength of WiFi signals by various methods like visiting different websites like speedcheck.org that can help you test your wifi speed. If you check these signal strength on a daily basis, you will get a better idea about the wireless performance and its improvements. But one thing you should remember that, you don’t need to install different tools or applications because it shows a lot of confliction and confusion.

Use a Built-in Operating System Utility

The most efficient method is a built-in utility. Built-in utility present in the Microsoft Windows. Their work is to control the wireless network connection. 

For example, in the latest versions of Windows, the new settings are available, the clock is shown on the taskbar, and on that place network icon present. This is the short method to reach to the network option speedily. There you can see the wireless network you’re connected to. 

There may be five bars that show strong signal strength, and one shows the weak signals. The reason is that there is a possibility that the device may be far away from the wireless device. All settings are available in the control panel.

The other most straightforward way to measure the wireless signals is to download the WiFi heat map tool. It will help you to analyze and compare the signal strength of your device. 

WiFi Locators Are Another Option 

Wi-Fi locator as it dented by its name. It will help you to detect the signals in the local area. Basically, this device is used to scan the radio frequencies and that frequencies are coming from the local area plus it will also help you to detect the signal strength of nearby wireless access point. These devices are in the form of hardware and are fit on a keychain. 

How to Make WiFi Signal Stronger: Planning

Planning is the very best thing when you think of how to make WiFi signal stronger. Every successful result requires proper and perfect planning. It also needs a set of goals. Requirements and variables: background noise, amount of clients on the network, data rate, and using applications are the best factors to gain the desired signal strength.

Understanding WiFi Signal Strength

It is not easy to understand the WiFi signal strength. The reason for this difficulty is trickiness. The most appropriate way to express it is with milliwatts. But in the end, it converts into tons of decimal places due to WiFi’s super-low transmit power. This low power makes the signal very difficult to read. 

For example, -40 dBm is 0.0001 mW, and the zero’s get more intense the more signal strength drops. The most common measurement is the received signal strength indicator. There are a lot of methods to handle this indicator, so most vendors handle it in a different way. The reason is that it’s not standardized.

As the RSSI was easy to handle, it converted into another unit dBm. The dBm is more consistent and easy to read for humans. The first thing about dBm is that it always works in a negative value. It’s crucial to know that, instead of being logarithmic, it doesn’t scale linearly. So it means that the changes in signal strength aren’t smooth and gradual. 

How to Make WiFi Signal Stronger:
Ideal WiFi Signal Strength

There are two types of throughput. Lower throughput – like sending emails, browsing the web, or scanning barcodes, for these, 70 dBm is the best signal strength. Higher throughput – applications like voice over IP or streaming video, -67  dBm is better. 

Tracking of WiFi Signal Strength:

How to Make WiFi Signal Stronger

Select the Right Place for Your Router

One thing you should keep in your mind when you are looking for ways on how to make wifi signal stronger is that not all places are good for the router. You should place your router far away from the metal objects or the appliances type things. There are a lot of electromagnetic waves release from the appliances. You should keep a little bit large distance from electric wires plus to take full access up to signals. The router should be kept right at the center. 

How to Make WiFi Signal Stronger: Keep Your Router Updated

There are a lot of viruses that can attack the routers. Most of the time, due to these malware attacks, important data can be lost. The major loss of this attack is in the form of stolen information, like bandwidth, throughput. The best way to avoid and to keep safe your router is to update your router. 

Get a Stronger Antenna

The antenna is an important thing. The antenna should be very tall, so it can easily gain access up to 10-dB. Because, if you compare your antenna that comes with your router, you realize that it’s just a few inches tall. In other words, you should buy a large antenna. A short antenna gains only 4dB, so your antenna should be 10 to 15 inches tall. 

How to Make WiFi Signal Stronger: Cut Off WiFi Leeches

In this modern and technology life, the encrypted and protected password of Wi-Fi is the most important things. Mostly, people can easily recognize the password, that includes personal information. So the password should not be like that everyone can easily guess it. It should be strong. If there is a lot of meetings in your home, you should create a guest network with a limited range.

Buy a WiFi Repeater/Booster/Extender

These things actually one of the ways of how to make wifi signal stronger. Extender, boosters, repeaters are all the same things. Another great news is that it is very easy to use. For this you have to put it, they will gain Wi-Fi signals, then amplify these signals, and they will transmit it. The installation process will start by pressing the WPS button. 

Switch to a Different WiFi Channel

As you know that there are many lanes on a highway, just like that there are multiple channels through which broadcasting of router can be done. The routine of most countries to use the router is that they keep six channels (1, 6, 11, and 14). So mostly, users keep their router on the default channel. It’s 1 or 6. Due to this, it doesn’t work speedily, because there are too many packets are trying to drive at a time. So the traffic jam has happened. There is a solution to this problem: simply find out which channel is least and then switch it. These things can be done with Wi-Fi survey tool – NetSpot. 

Control Bandwidth-Hungry Applications and Clients 

The one bandwidth-hungry application is enough for downloading and uploading. In this, everyone else can use it on the same Wi-Fi network. If we talk about modern routers, they support services like QoS (quality of service), which allow users to make preference specific applications over others. 

Use the Latest WiFi Technologies

Numerous technologies are introducing day by day.  The new arrival in the technology field is IEEE 802.11 ac. This technology offers enhanced downloads and upload speed, as well as the range, it is also improved as compared to older WiFi technologies such as IEEE 802.11b, g, and others. If you want to take advantage of these latest technologies, make sure that both devices, your router, and Wi-Fi are going to support mobile devices like smartphones and laptops, etc. 

Switch to 5GHz

The wireless frequency is 5 GHz that provide data rate at a very speedy level. The distance while providing the fast data rate is very shorter and is typically much less busy than the 2.4 GHz wireless frequency. If your router supports it, consider switching to it for an instant short-range speed boost. 

How to Make WiFi Signal Stronger: Don’t Forget to Reboot

Here is the advice from IT, “if it doesn’t work, try switching it on and off”. It also works when you want to get how to make wifi signal stronger. On the other hand, if your WiFi is not working well or doesn’t connect easily, the best solution is that you should turn it off for 10s then again on it. The important thing is that you should reboot your Wi-Fi router. The simple reboot can improve WiFi speed of your router. The benefit of this rebooting is that it can clear all the unnecessary data and make the memory clear.