If you’ve set up your home Wi-Fi and it’s working fine, that’s great news. Now, the real fun starts. To get the most out of your router, you need to learn how to log in to a router and adjust your network settings. Your home Wi-Fi can do a lot more than just provide connectivity for your laptops and mobile devices with the right tweaks, it can also offer greater speed, coverage, and security.
If you have been using a different internet connection prior to setting up your home Wi-Fi, or if you have recently moved into a new place with an existing Wi-Fi, reading this article would be useful for you. The information here will help you understand what those cryptic numbers and letters after “Wi-Fi” actually mean and how they affect your connection speed. It will also cover the basics of logging in to a router and some simple network settings that can improve your home Wi-Fi experience considerably.
What Is a Wireless Router and How Does it Work?
A router is a small box that stands at the heart of your internet connection. A router’s job is to connect you to the internet by taking the data sent to it by computers, smartphones, and tablets within your network and sending it to the internet (and vice versa). In order to accomplish this, a router needs to have special software installed on it that creates a special frequency called a “network”.
The name of the network is what devices use to log in to the router and communicate with each other. The login credentials for your router are typically a user name and password. When you turn on a router, it automatically generates and broadcasts a network frequency. Any device that is connected to the internet is part of a network, and each network has its own frequency. Normally, each network frequency is different and would not be able to communicate with each other.
Change Your Wi-Fi Name and Password
These days, most routers allow you to change the name of the network, known as the SSID (Service Set Identifier). This is the name that shows up when computers and mobile devices are looking for Wi-Fi networks nearby. The password, on the other hand, is used to protect your network from outside intruders. It’s standard procedure to change the default name and password on your router, especially if you’ve just moved into a new place or are setting up your home Wi-Fi for the first time.
If you are trying to connect your computer or mobile device to a Wi-Fi network. It will show the network’s name and signal strength. If the name is different from the one you’re looking for, make sure to check the signal strength – you may have found a different network by mistake. In order to connect to the network, you will have to put in the correct name and password.
Change Your Network’s Broadcast Settings
Broadcast settings dictate how aggressively your router advertises itself as a Wi-Fi network. When you first set up your router, you would have chosen one of these broadcast settings:
Change your Network’s Frequency (Channel)
Normally, the wireless network on your router broadcasts at a certain frequency, or channel. The channel number is usually selected automatically. But you can manually change it to any one of the 11 channels available on the 2.4GHz band. The reason for changing the channel is that multiple routers may end up broadcasting on the same channel by default. You can avoid signal interference by manually selecting a different channel for your home Wi-Fi.
How to Increase the Wi-Fi Signal Strength?
If you’re experiencing low signal strength from your router, you can increase your router’s signal strength by placing the router in a well-ventilated area near the center of your house. Another way to increase your router’s signal strength is by increasing your router’s transmit power. This is a setting that allows you to increase the strength of your router’s signal. The advantage of this setting is that it can be applied to all devices connected to the network. In order to increase your router’s transmit power, you need to log in to your router’s admin console. Most internet service providers (ISPs) provide you with login credentials when you sign up for the internet plan. Alternatively, you can use the credentials provided by the router manufacturer.
Change your Wi-Fi Channel
As mentioned earlier, multiple routers may end up broadcasting on the same channel by default. This can cause interference between two or more routers, resulting in poor performance for both. You can avoid this problem by manually selecting a different channel for your home Wi-Fi.
Conclusion
Home Wi-Fi routers are an essential part of modern connected life and logging in to a router and its settings is a basic skill that every tech-savvy user should know. While it may be tempting to leave the router to do its job and focus on more important tasks. It’s important to keep an eye on your router’s network settings.
It’s better to spend 10 minutes each week tweaking. Your router then has to deal with hours of slow internet and dropped connections every month. If you’re using a wired connection, you can use a network analyzer to see how much data flows over your network. If you’re on Wi-Fi, you can use a site like Wi-Fi Inspector to see information about nearby networks and any issues with your own network.