A good router can make a big difference to the speed of your Internet connection, but if you’re not ready now to replace your old router with a newer one to improve your internet speed, you can improve your existing device settings for a higher speed.
Here’s how to improve your router’s speed to get a higher internet speed:
1- Turn off old wireless protocols:
One of the first things you can consider is to turn off your old wireless protocols. Newer 802.11ac routers – or Wi-Fi 5 – provide capabilities far beyond the current ISP offerings.
Although the router may be fast, it is possible that many of your Internet-connected devices use older protocols – such as 802.11g – which slows down the entire network as soon as any device that uses these protocols is connected, so it is best to remove any device that uses protocols b or g from the network.
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Here’s the order of the protocols, from fastest to slowest:
- 802.11ac
- 802.11n
- 802.11g
- 802.11b
2- Changing the channel bandwidth:
If the router is slow, changing the channel width of the network channel you use will help increase the speed, and the higher the channel capacity, the older devices – which work on older protocols – will suffer from interference.
Routers support two types of radio waves:
- 20 MHz Waves: in which data is transmitted in the 2.4 GHz band which is an ideal bandwidth in the most populated areas but its drawbacks are slow in data transmission.
- 40 MHz waves: It transmits data in the 5 GHz band and is much faster in transferring data compared to the first type.
The channel bandwidth governs the breadth (lane) available for data transmission. However, larger channels are more likely to interfere significantly with other devices, and generally interference is not considered a problem in the 5GHz band compared to the 2.4GHz band.
There are some great tools that help in deciding whether to change the Wi-Fi channel, including the inSSIDer tool that scans the list of networks, and selects the channel that none of the other networks use.
3- Installing the new firmware:
Many routers maintain basic settings to save the user the hassle of constantly adjusting settings, and while this is good for most users, there are a lot of tools available that help you to speed up your router.
There are many open source Firmwares (firmware) options for some of the most popular routers to make them work faster, by increasing Wi-Fi signal range, improving the user interface, integrating with VPN service, buffering support, NAS class storage servers support, and providing feature Detailed analysis of data itinerary and much more.
DD-WRT, OpenWRT, and Tomato are the most common third-party firmware.
4- Change the network name and password:
Many people still use the network name and default password on their router. Many routers come with a default SSID name that can carry the brand or model name, and if hackers know the type of router you have, it becomes easier for them to hack, so the SSID name must be changed immediately, and it must include letters and numbers.
Using a strong Wi-Fi password is equally important, although you may adjust all the settings, update the firmware, and change the channel, but all of this will not be useful if someone is using the Wi-Fi network Your own because it is not secured.
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