It’s a typical night at your house: You’re watching Netflix in the bedroom upstairs, your wife is finishing work on her laptop on the main floor, and the kids are on their gaming console in the basement. You’ve got the right HTC internet service that includes ample bandwidth that can accommodate everyone’s devices at once, so all should be working fine. But when you hear “DAAAD?” coming from the basement, you know something is up.
The trouble may be that your WiFi signal isn’t reaching your basement effectively. You have enough bandwidth, but your router has everything to do with how fast each device can function. If you’re having trouble getting a strong signal anywhere in your home, follow these tips.
Tip #1: Move Your Router
Your internet router should be in a central area of the home, where it has the easiest time reaching all corners and floors. Your router will be able to give the strongest signal:
- Away from other electronics. Don’t place it near the TV, microwave, computer or landline phone as these can all affect the strength of the connection, and avoid placing it near other wireless devices like wireless phones or baby monitors that can interfere with the signal.
- Away from concrete walls. WiFi can’t travel through solid objects, so if your walls aren’t made of wood or sheetrock, you should find a different spot.
- Away from windows. If it’s right next to a window, half of your signal is likely to travel outside.
- Higher off the ground, especially if you have upstairs devices that need to be reached.
Tip #2: Add an Extender or Repeater
Routers are only able to broadcast up to a certain distance, so if you need to reach devices in the far corners of your large basement or want to play music in your backyard, your WiFi signal may become weakened before it reaches where it needs to go. A wireless range extender or repeater can boost your signal by picking up the existing WiFi signal and rebroadcasting it. You’ll need to use the same placement rules for an extender as for a router so there’s no interference in receiving the signal.
Tip #3: Reposition Your Antenna
Getting a stronger signal may be as simple as pointing your router’s antenna in the right direction. The antenna should always point towards your devices, so check to see if it got bumped.
Tip #4: Ask HTC About Replacing or Updating Your Router
If your router is several years old and you’ve since added new devices, it may be time to update or replace it. Our friendly and knowledgeable HTC customer service representatives can look into your account history and discuss whether this may be an option.
Customer Service Is Our Priority!
At HTC, we want everyone in your home to be happy. Give us a call to find out how to increase your WiFi signal strength so you can all watch, work, stream, game and download to your heart’s content. We look forward to helping you!
