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Get Your Internet and WiFi Ready for All of Your New Gifts

Whether you are the one buying the gadget gifts or receiving them, you want to make sure that your WiFi is ready for them. There’s no bigger buzzkill than not being able to try out your new devices because your WiFi network is too crowded and slow and cannot support them.

Here’s how to prepare now so that when gift-giving rolls around, you are ready:

Start with WiFi Speed

Why does checking your WiFi speed even matter? Well, first of all, a slow internet connection is annoying. Too many devices trying to connect to one network can greatly slow down your internet speed and connection. So, when it comes to trying out your new devices, you will need faster WiFi to make sure that you can stream and load content or better yet, simply connect to the internet at all.

You can make sure that your WiFi speeds are fast by doing the following:

Whichever you choose will give you a better idea of what your WiFi speed is like, but more advanced tools can tell you if your WiFi speed is good or not.

Of course, you want a good WiFi speed, but the truth is that WiFi speed doesn’t matter much if you don’t have a strong WiFi signal in the first place. That is why you want to also check your WiFi signal strength.

Don’t forget WiFi Signal Strength

Internet speed won’t matter much if you cannot get Internet connection. Just like WiFi speed, there is a good WiFi signal strength, too. WiFi signal strength matters because without a strong one, your internet connection is unreliable. A weak signal leads to slow speeds, dropouts or no internet connection at all. This is a big problem for all of your new (and current) devices.

However, if your internet is slow, that doesn’t always mean that your WiFi signal is weak, it could be a number of other issues. So, you should check your router and your WiFi network first, and here’s how:

Checking your router

First, check your router and make sure that that is not the actual problem. Simply rebooting your router can often fix connection issues. If the router is too far from your devices or blocked by thick walls, your connection can also suffer. If your router is the issue, you can upgrade to a new one and this should fix internet connectivity issues. However, if a reboot doesn’t seem to make any difference at all, then look into your WiFi network.

Checking your WiFi

Your WiFi could be the issue in general. You can check this by taking a device and connecting it to the internet using an Ethernet cable. If the Ethernet cable connection is successful, then the problem is probably due to a weak WiFi signal.

Checking your WiFi signal strength

Okay, so you checked your router and your WiFi to make sure they are running smoothly, now it’s time to check your WiFi signal. Just like WiFi speed, you can do this an easy way or a more advanced way. You will get results whether you pay for tools or not. But the paid tools always give you better insights and exact numbers. Here’s how to do it:

The easy way:

  1. Walk through your space taking turns with each device that you want to connect to your WiFi.
  2. Pay attention to the WiFi indicator symbol on your device and where the bars increase or decrease.
  3. Note how far you are from your router when the bars change.
  4. This will give you a good idea about where the signal is weak in your space, and how far you can be from your router with your devices.

If the distance from your router is a short range, then it’s a good idea to look into Wi-Fi extenders to extend your router’s Wi-Fi signal to every corner of your home. This way, no matter where you are in your space, your devices will connect easily and perform well.

The advanced way:

The “easy way” requires you to walk around your space, but the more advanced way to measure your WiFi signal requires you to just let the tool do the job for you. Helpful tools measure your signal and give you the numbers in an easy-to-understand dashboard or report.

If you are measuring your WiFi signal strength on a phone, tablet or Windows computer, you will likely need to use a WiFi analyzer tool.

If you are using a Mac device, you can check on the device itself. To check on a Mac, hold down the option key and click on the WiFi symbol indicator at the top of your screen. You will see grayed out text that shows the dBm measure in the RSSI entry field.

(Un)Wrapping up

When you and your family unwrap your new gadgets, make sure that your home network is ready to support them.  Do this by prepping your WiFi speed and WiFi signal now, so that you don’t pay for it later.

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