Getting online in today’s world has become necessary as bathing, and having a weak Wi-Fi signal strength is certainly not acceptable. But this is what most people living in densely-populated areas experience.
When the Wi-Fi signal strength in your home or office becomes weak, you start experiencing wireless dead zones. Your browsing slows to a crawl, and you may not be able to stream videos seamlessly.
If your wireless connection seems to be slow, then you need to measure Wi-Fi signal strength. This will let you know where dead zones in your home or office are so that you can make the necessary adjustments. NetSpot is the tool you need for measuring Wi-Fi signal strength.
But before delving into how NetSpot works and how it can help you resolve your weak wireless connection, what do you know about a Wi-Fi signal strength?
What is a Wi-Fi Signal Strength?
Wi-Fi signal strength has become as necessary as fresh air these days as all kinds of devices, including wearables, home appliances, and even security cameras, utilize it. Without a strong wireless signal, it will be impossible for wireless devices to connect reliably to the internet to transmit data.
A strong Wi-Fi signal from a router makes it possible for those devices to work. You can even move from one room to another while downloading videos from YouTube or social media platforms without losing your wireless connection. This implies that a strong Wi-Fi signal significantly improves user experience.
These are just some of the profound benefits of having a strong wireless signal. Therefore, optimizing Wi-Fi signal strength is something you should pursue with everything you’ve got.
What Affects Wireless Reception?
Several factors affect Wi-Fi, and due to its highly unreliable nature, you need to be aware of what may influence its performance. Here are some of the factors that affect wireless reception:
Obstruction
Wi-Fi signals can be blocked partially or wholly absorbed by numerous objects or obstacles such as thick concrete walls, furniture, ductwork, and even people.
Wi-Fi signal blockers have a disadvantageous effect on 5 GHz wireless networks. This is because higher frequency wireless signals find it more challenging to penetrate solid objects than lower frequency signals.
Physical Distance
Wi-Fi routers do not come with the same transmitting power as cell towers for safety as well as technical reasons. And many Wi-Fi routers may struggle to cover even a small flat or apart despite having a strong wireless signal.
This is why you need a Wi-Fi analyzer application like NetSpot to help you determine the extent or reach of your wireless router.
Router Capacity
All wireless routers are not equipped with the same power. Low-end routers provide unreliable Wi-Fi access to the internet, especially if more than a dozen employees, fax machines, wireless security cameras, wireless printers, etc.
This means that the capacity of a router can significantly affect its ability to transmit signals favorably.
Interference
Do you know that Wi-Fi signals occupy the same radio frequency band of cellphones electromagnetic spectrum actual radios, walkie-talkies, microwave ovens, baby monitors? If your router is close to any of these, they could interfere with your Wi-Fi signals.
Wi-Fi networks also interfere with each other, and this is a challenge that most people living in apartment buildings or densely populated areas experience from time to time.
How to Measure Your Wi-Fi Signal Strength?
Before you head over to the next section, it is essential to know precisely how to measure Wi-Fi signal strength. Don’t fret: it is far easier to measure wireless signals these days, especially using a unique and innovative tool called NetSpot.
NetSpot is an easy-to-use product that comes with Wi-Fi analytics and survey application features that you can use for measuring Wi-Fi signal strength. It is compatible with macOS and Windows computers and can be used by anyone as long as you are a little tech-savvy.
NetSpot supports every wireless network broadcasted on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands. Although many other Wi-Fi survey and analytics applications exist, NetSpot leads them all with its powerful, user-friendly features and pocket-friendly price.
NetSpot is presently the best native wireless site survey software for Windows and Mac. It provides at least 2 modes for Wi-Fi analysis:
The ‘Discover’ mode instantly obtains every detail about surrounding wireless networks and presents Wi-Fi data as a distinct interactive table. The ‘Survey’ mode is designed to generate interactive heatmaps that showcase highly detailed information on every surveyed Wi-Fi network at each point of the map.
How to Improve Wi-Fi Signal Strength?
The simplest or most painless way to significantly improve your Wi-Fi signal is by purchasing a high-end wireless router. Most of these high-end routers come with multiple antennas as well as a wide variety of signal-boosting features. These help to transmit a strong Wi-Fi signal across long distances and even thick obstacles.
But then, even the best and most expensive wireless routers today have several limitations. And you may not be able to deal with them.
However, using NetSpot’s Survey Mode, you can easily create a Wi-Fi signal heatmap in order to see precisely where your wireless signal is the weakest and where it is the strongest.
You can use this information to change your wireless router’s placement or position such that it covers as much space – and evenly – as possible. You may need to place the router far away from thick, concrete walls, furniture, and other obstacles. Putting it on a high shelf will be the best vantage position.
You may also consider switching over to an unclutter wireless channel. To see which wireless channels are mostly used and the least used ones, make use of the NetSpot’s Wi-Fi channel analyzer. You need to find which of these wireless channels are overlapping and which ones are not.
Conclusion
A wireless router can broadcast on multiple channels with only a few non-overlapping ones available on the 2.4 GHz band. The latter has only 3 channels, while the 5 GHz band comes with 24 non-overlapping channels. And since most Wi-Fi router owners leave their devices at factory or default settings, these channels tend to become overloaded. Use the NetSpot software to find the least occupied channel in your area and then switch your router to it.