How to Get a Stronger WiFi Signal

Your wireless home network is only as good as you make it. That means, you have to invest a little time and effort into making sure that everything is secured, optimized for top performance, and fast.

One of the most important things to keep on top of is your WiFi signal. You want to make sure that your WiFi signal is strong. A weak signal doesn’t only affect your internet speeds. It determines if you will be able to get a WiFi connection at all.

If your WiFi signal is suffering, here is what you should do:

Check your WiFi first

If your WiFi connection is spotty or slow, your router might need a reboot. Check this first. If your WiFi signal is still weak after you reboot your router, then you need to check your WiFi signal and measure it to see how strong it is (or isn’t).

Checking your WiFi signal strength

There are a couple ways to check your WiFi signal. We wrote another article that goes more in-depth on how to check your WiFi signal. But for a quick overview, this is what you should know:

• There is an “easy” way that requires you to walk around and pay attention to the WiFi indicator on your device. As you watch the indicator, you will get an idea about where the signal is weak or drops in your home. You will also get an idea about how far you can be from your router with your devices.
• Then there is a more “advanced” way where you use Wi-Fi analyzer apps or platforms.
• A weak signal has a short range. And one solution for a short range is with using Wi-Fi extenders.
• WiFi extenders help extend your router’s WiFi signal to every corner of your home. However, if you don’t have a strong signal, then these devices will only spread a weak signal throughout your home.

So, if you have checked your WiFi signal and you have identified that there are dead spots in your home, it’s time to measure the signal strength to actually know the numbers.

Measuring your WiFi signal strength

Measuring your WiFi signal is not hard, but if you don’t know how to interpret the results, it can seem difficult.

WiFi signal strength is measured in decibel milliwatts (dBm) and are represented as negative numbers on a scale from -30 dBm to -90 dBm. You want to make sure that your strength is closest to the -30 dBm as possible. A measurement of -30 dBm is considered perfect, and you won’t likely reach this.

Get your WiFi signal to a good strength

While you probably won’t even see your signal strength at -30 dBm (because obstacles and interferences are inevitable), there are still reliable results that you can achieve. A good WiFi signal strength is around -60 dBm or at a minimum, -67 dBm. These measurements show a good, reliable strength. At these measurements, you can access online services that require a reliable WiFi connection.

While it is normal for your signal to fluctuate, making sure that your signal isn’t consistently dropping is important. But this can be overwhelming to constantly keep track of. By managing your home network, you can make sure that your signal is always at its peak.

Manage you whole WiFi Network

Wouldn’t you love it if you didn’t have to be the one keeping track your WiFi signal (and whole network’s) performance? The good news is that you can hand this task over to a WiFi network management tool! (And you totally should.)

Why? Because when your whole WiFi network is managed and under control, everything performs at its best. Which means a strong WiFi signal. Which means a reliable connection.