Sep 1, 2021
Things that could affect your Wi-Fi connection
WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) is a popular wireless network technology. Wi-Fi operates in two different bands, which are 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Both bands offer different advantages. WiFi 2.4 GHz will provide better coverage but carry lower data speeds. The approximate range for 2.4 GHz WiFi is 100–200 ft while the 5 GHz can only reach 80 ft. However, the 5 GHz offers higher data speeds, data rates for WiFi 5 GHz can reach 430 Mbps while the data rates for 2.4 GHz is 54 Mbps.
Another interesting fact about Wi-Fi is the fact that WI-Fi is half-duplex. Half-duplex can only communicate in one direction at a time. That means only one client device is on a single transmitting radio at a time. Other devices have to contend for access to the radio. Although all of that happens in microseconds but nevertheless the time available for clients to talk on the channel is important. The more clients, the Wi-Fi devices become busier and it will take more time for devices to process all information from all clients connected to them.
But, it should be noted that the number of clients is not the only reason why your connection is slow. There are many other things that could also affect your Wi-Fi connection.
1. Distance
I am sure that everyone already knows about this. If you are being too far from the router or access point then of course your connection will be slow. The first thing you can do to improve your connection is by moving closer to the router or move your router close to you.
2. Physical Interference
Although at first, I said that WiFi 2.4 GHz has a range up to 200 ft or 5 GHz has range up to 80 ft but it happens in the line of sight environment, an environment when there is nothing in between. Many materials can be an obstacle for the signal to propagate, hence making the signal obtained by clients even worse. Glass, brick, and concrete are the type of materials that could interfere with signal transmission, and those three are typical materials that are often seen in buildings. Every kind of material can cause signal strength to decrease.
Here are some list of material and the signal loss that they cause :
The best way to minimize the physical interference is to place the router or access point in a place that is not covered by those materials. You can also make sure that your devices and router or Access Point have a direct line of sight. Another way to minimize the physical interference is by using a cable to connect to the internet
3. Signal Interference
Not only from physical but another source of Interference come from the signal transmitted by other channels on the same channel (or close to it). Since the wireless running on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands which both are license-free, that means that any devices can also operate in the same channels. Interference is not only from the neighbor's Access Points but its also coming from many resources such as Bluetooth, Walkie Talkie, Microwave Oven, etc
Wireless networks used air as a signal propagation medium and are prone to be affected by various kinds of interference. Wi-Fi devices are vulnerable to even small interference created by others devices operating on the same frequency bands. The bigger the possibility of collision band to happen and the bigger the potential of data corruption or frame loss because one device’s transmission interferes with another. Retransmission resulted in slower speeds.
So, what is the best thing to reduce interference?
There are many things that could remove interference. It can be started by turning off devices that could be a source of interference. In addition, if you work on a high-density type of site, it would be better to reduce the transmit power of the Access Points, why? In a high-density area where Access Points are placed closed to each other. Each access point is able to hear each other. Lowering the transmit power will make the coverage of each AP smaller, therefore it could reduce the possibility of Access Point being able to hear each other.
4. Technical Settings
Now that you have checked everything outside your devices, you also need to make sure that the setting on your devices is correct. If settings are in accordance with the user manual or any other change that you already expect and know, then you also need to check the firmware updates or the age of the hardware used. Devices that are old are unable to provide good performance to user, so does old firmware. Upgrading the firmware or changing your hardware might improve your network performance.
Internet is part of our lives, especially right now when the pandemic hits. We know how important and how significant the Internet is. We expect connectivity everywhere.
There are many other things that could affect your network performance. Sometimes the problem might come from your Wi-Fi devices, sometimes it might come from your devices (phone, laptop), or sometimes it might come from your ISP (Internet Service Provider)
