Everyone needs faster,
stronger Wi-Fi. You rely on your broadband connection for more than
ever before. These days we don't just surf the web from a single PC in one place - we stream music, radio and movies
around mutiple connected devices, around the home and in the garden. In this
article we explain why you may need to upgrade your Wi-Fi equipment. We
also show you how to boost your Wi-fi signal using your existing kit, and
simple ways to make your broadband faster, more stable, go further, and be more
secure. See also: Best 802.11ac routers.
(Based on an
original article by Mike Bedford.)
Boost Wi-fi
signal: understand Wi-Fi standards
Your wireless
broadband will work only as fast as the slowest part of the chain - the signal
you receive down the line depends on the quality of the line and the service
you pay for. Beyond upgrading or moving house the things you can control are
your router and your laptop, PC or tablet. (See also: Are you getting a fair deal from your
ISP?)
If you’re buying a
new laptop, make sure it supports 802.11n or even 802.11ac wireless. the
802.11n standard has various options, with headline speeds up to 600Mbps. The
newly arrived 802.11ac boasts headline figures up to 1.3Gbps. But few routers
are able to take advantage of this at this stage, but you might find your
ISP-provided router supports 802.11ac if you got it recently: the BT Home Hub 5
(pictured above) supports the standard and also works with VSDL broadband, the
type used for BT Infinity. Enthusiasts should get a router that supports the
latest standard, but for now 802.11n is a good start.
Wireless
networking equipment adheres to various standards, which are created by the
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) to ensure
interoperability between kit from different manufacturers.
Excluding the
obsolete ones, the standards that relate to Wi-Fi are 802.11g, 802.11n and
802.11ac. The latter is brand-new and, although you can buy ‘ac’ equipment,
it's unlikely that your whole setup will be able to take advantage of its
speeds. Each standard specifies the headline speed, measured in megabits per
second (Mbps). The headline figures aren’t representative of what you’ll see in
practice, but they do allow comparisons to be made.
Remember that if
you decide to upgrade your equipment, both the wireless router and your
computer must adhere to the same standard. For example, if your laptop supports
only 802.11g, upgrading to an 802.11n router won’t boost performance, although
it might increase the range. In this scenario, you’d also need an 802.11n USB
adaptor for your laptop.
802.11g has a
headline speed of 54Mbps. This standard has largely been phased out in favour
of 802.11n, but you may still be using 802.11g if your computer is more than a
couple of years old. That's why we suggest upgrading to an 802.11n laptop if
your Wi-Fi is being broadcast from an 802.11n router (which it almost certainly
is). Check both router and computers - both sides of the bargain will work only
at the speed of the slowest link in the chain.
Boost Wi-Fi signal: Remove
obstructions, improve range
The real-world speed you’ll get from equipment adhering to a
particular Wi-Fi standard is about half the headline figure at best. What’s
more, it reduces with distance, and with the number of walls and floors between
the router and PC. For example, while 802.11g offers 54Mbps, you’ll achieve
only 25- to 30Mbps when your PC is next to the router, and much less the
further away it is placed. At the limit of the equipment’s range, just before
the connection is lost, the actual speed may well be less than 1Mbps.
Placing your
router in a spot that is close to the phone connection is important, as
distance from the exchange means a loss of signal. But the further you are from
the router itsel the worse will be the signal you receive.
It’s not uncommon to find that your Wi-Fi network doesn’t
reach every corner of the house, especially if some of the internal walls are
brick or block construction, as opposed to plasterboard. Extending the range
can be carried out in several ways, some of which won’t cost you a penny.
First, coverage will be improved if you are able to position
your wireless router as close to the centre of the building as possible.
Remember that it doesn’t have to be positioned by the telephone company’s
master socket; you could also plug a router into any extension socket. (Note,
though that you might end up with slower broadband speeds if you do this.)
If the router was previously hardwired to a desktop PC (or
other gadgets) without Wi-Fi capabilities, and the wireless router’s new home
is somewhere else, bear in mind that you will need to get a wireless adaptor or
powerline network adaptors to reconnect to the web those devices.
Another option is
to increase the range of your wireless router. Some models have removable
antennae, in which case you could buy high-gain antennae to replace the
standard versions.
Alternatively, you can try mounting your router higher up,
rather than have it languishing on the floor or behind the sofa. If all else
fails, you might have to buy a wireless range extender and position it to cover
a different part of the house from the wireless router. These units operate by
retransmitting the signal.
Of course,
distance and obstructions such as walls and floors aren’t the only things that
will reduce wireless speeds. Another likely culprit is interference from nearby
wireless equipment that uses the same channel.
Boost Wi-Fi
signal: radio bands
Two radio bands are used for wireless internet: 2.4- and
5GHz. 802.11g equipment will operate only on 2.4GHz, while 802.11ac supports
only 5GHz; 802.11n permits operation in both bands, and many equipment
manufacturers let you choose which frequency to use. Before you make a choice
over 2.4- and 5GHz, it pays to understand the pros and cons of each.
The 2.4GHz band has just 13 channels, nine of which are
overlapping, while 5GHz has many more. You stand a much greater chance of
avoiding interference from other users in the 5GHz band. This, in turn, will
make your connection more stable and faster. This is particularly important if
you want to use channel bonding to achieve the highest speed 802.11n offers.
As the name suggests, channel bonding uses two 20MHz channels
to create a 40MHz channel, theoretically doubling the speed. The problem is
that using 40MHz channels reduces the number of non-overlapping channels to
just two. In turn, this means that interference with your neighbours’ Wi-Fi
equipment is much more likely, leading to poor transfer speeds and the
possibility of the connection dropping out altogether. For this reason all
802.11n routers ship with channel bonding disabled by default. Unless you live
in a remote area, using 40MHz bands on 2.4GHz is not recommended.
The extra number of channels in the 5GHz band means that
using 40MHz channels is much more of a practical proposition, but some experts
are suggesting that before too long the 5GHz band will be as congested as
2.4GHz. 802.11ac, meanwhile, also allows 80- and 160MHz channels.
Rarely does something offer a win-win solution, though, and
5GHz is no exception. A 5GHz signal’s range is generally less than that of a
2.4GHz signal, and this is particularly noticeable if it has to pass through
floors and walls – concrete is an especially tricky obstacle.
Some manufacturers of
802.11n equipment allow the use of both bands simultaneously, carrying part of
the data stream across 2.4GHz and part across 5GHz. This increases the speed
beyond that which is available using either band alone
No comments:
Post a Comment