Optimising Your Home Wireless Network
stop it cutting out and make it run faster in 5 easy steps
My story
I got sick and tired of both my home network running slow and me having to reset the router (unplugging it etc.) because of cut-outs. I always blamed my Internet Service Provider (ISP) - thinking that I must switch over to someone else sometime soon. Although my ISP boasts about providing internet speeds of 20 Mbps, I know that this is rarely achieved. However, I looked at how they perform on average (via and both of whom said that they were pretty good in comparison to others. That made me question what else it could be. I did some research on the net and found that ISPs are not the only factor to be considered in this equation. There are a number of other things which YOU CAN RECTIFY yourself FROM YOUR OWN CHAIR at home and WITH EASE. And here it is - all in a nutshell. I’ve tried to keep most of the geeky stuff out.
A little but important word of warning
Always make sure that your router is secured with a password. If you don’t, that means someone else can connect to your router and use your internet for free. Not bothered? Well how about this – they can also lock onto your router, reconfigure and secure it so that only they could use it!
Also, if you’re computer tells you about a network that isn’t secured and that you can probably connect to, use the internet without a password – DON’T! Why? There are two reasons. The first is that it is simply unethical. Actually, in the UK we have privacy laws and if you do this, you are in breach of the Computer Misuse Act and can be heavily punished for this. The other reason is that some networks are ‘honey traps’ – the owners have made them ‘unsecure’ as to lure you in so that they can then log into your computer without you knowing. Whilst you’re grinning at the thought of using their internet for free, they’re grinning at the thought of getting access to some files on your computer which may have important bank details etc.
Anyway, enough of that. It had to be said, but let’s move on.
A incey wincey bit of geek talk
There are two main standards for wireless networking called 802.11b and 802.11g (I will call them ‘b’ and ‘g’ for short). There’s also an ‘a’ but let’s not go there.
‘g’ is basically the modern and better version of ‘b’. ‘g’ is loads faster than ‘b’ – ‘b’ delivers 11Mbps (mega bits per second) and ‘g’ yields a whopping 54 Mbps. ‘g’ is also backward compatible – that means it can run devices which are labelled as ‘b’ as well as its own.
STEP 1 – Change your wireless network to run ‘g’ only, not ‘b’ and not ‘b and g’.
Don’t worry too much about ‘b’ and ‘g’. Just remember ‘g’ is loads faster and is backward compatible. That means, you should log into your router (through Internet Explorer – refer to your router’s manual) and go to the section which says ‘wireless settings’ and change it to use ‘g only’. There’s no point in selecting ‘b and g’ because g is backward compatible anyway. The ‘b and g’ setting can slow your network down!
Let’s talk a bit about channels
The most important bit I want to talk to you about is ‘channels’. The Wi-Fi radio spectrum is divided into channels. In the UK, we get 13 channels but did you know that in the US, there are only 11 and even worse, in Spain, there are only 2! For once, rip off Britain serves us well!
(P.S. - some electronic devices in the home, like cordless phones and baby monitors, also work in the same radio frequency as Wi-Fi and hence can interfere with your signal).
The channels are numbered from 1 to 13. In real life, what happens is that people just leave the router on the default channel it came with. Therefore, you could have 5 or more people using the same channel – using the same channel means that those people have to share it and that means there’s a good chance their networks could start interfering with each other – from reduced bandwidth to perhaps not working at all.
If there were only 13 people in your very local neighbourhood with wireless networks, things would be sweet if each one was allocated their own channel. Actually, it’s not quite as simple as that either because the channels overlap to some degree. A good analogy is that of a swimming pool: you could divide a swimming pool into 13 lanes, but you would still find that a swimmer in lane 1 can cause ripples in lane 4 and 5 (although they get less strong and weaker the further you move away). And the same goes with wireless ‘lanes’: channel 1 can interfere with channel 2 but also with other neighbouring channels (even channel 5 – although a much weaker effect). The diagram below shows the channel overlap. Just look at it – it might look messy but the more you look at it, the more simple it becomes.
You can see from this diagram that channels 1, 6 and 11 are the only ones that don’t overlap. Many wireless devices actually come preset to work on channel 6 or 11 for this reason – hence, often best not to go for those!
Step 2 – change the channel your wireless router is on
But what you want to do first is to see what wireless networks are running in your area and more importantly, what channels they are mapped to. Then, all you have to do is pick the one which isn’t heavily subscribed to and hey presto, you’re done.
The best way to find out which wireless networks are in your area is to download and run a nifty little programme called inSSIDer (note the two S’s) – which is available here and dead easy to use - . You simply run the program and it automatically does everything for you. Click the channels tab at the top and it will order all the networks according to channel location – making it easier for you to figure out the quieter areas of the WiFi spectrum. It works with all versions of Windows including Windows 7.
This is what inSSIDer looks like but the only thing you need to pay attention to is the SSID (which is the name of the network) and the Channel (which lane they are in).
If you map out the subscribed channels using the diagram we’ve seen below, you can see that channels 11-13 remain relatively free and are the ones I should opt for. (P.S. The heavy blue lines represent a wireless network in that channel from the inSSIDer report).
There must be a spacing of at least 5 channels (or more) between each WiFi network in order to avoid interferences.
Here’s a blank one for you to map out your own network:
You change the channel by logging into your router (usually via Internet Explorer – details in your router’s manual – which is often online too) and look under wireless settings.
There, select the appropriate number next to the ‘channel’ heading. By the way, if the channel setting makes things worse, just select another why – suck it and see. So, in this case, I would select channel 11 and if that was crap, I’d go for channel 12 and then 13 – and then perhaps one of 7, 8, 9 or 10. I hope you can see what I mean – just mess about with it – the point is, you need to try it. If necessary, go through every channel one by one – there’s only 13 of them! Once you’ve connected, hover your mouse over the wifi icon in the right bottom corner of your screen and see how many strength bars you get.
PS Another use for inSSIDer
If you are using a laptop, you can also use the program to see where your signal strength is best. Move around with the laptop and see which location in your house has the best signal strength (by looking at the amplitude graph).
Step 3 – use another program called TCPOptimizer.
Other problem with your wireless broadband might be that your wireless card on your PC might not be optimized for high speeds. This is actually something I have experienced personally. I have 24Mbit Be Broadband which is fast but I was experiencing speeds around 5Mbit through the wireless (whereas wire is steady 12Mbit). What I realized that Windows didn't configured the wireless card for higher speeds.
To test and fix this I have used program TCPOptimizer. It may look complicated but you just need to
-Run the program.
-Move the speed slider to your desired speed
-Change the radio button to optimal speed
-Press Apply.
After the restart I have gained full wired speed of 12Mbit. Maybe it will help you as well.
Download it here:
Step 4 – update the firmware for your router
Router manufacturers regularly make free improvements to their routers. Sometimes, these improvements increase performance. To get the latest firmware updates for your router, visit your router manufacturer's website.Find your product and see if there is a ‘firmware update’ – this is a software program that will retune your adapter to make it work better in today’s environment.
-Typically, you would download and save the file onto your computer somewhere.
-Then log into the router (through Internet Explorer, for example)
-Then click on ‘Router Upgrade’ or something similar.
-Now browse to the downloaded program.
-Click ok.
-Do not touch anything whilst the upgrade is in progress. LET IT COMPLETE otherwise you’ll screw your router up.
Step 5 – Complete any outstanding Windows updates
Similarly, network adapter vendors occasionally update the software that Windows uses to communicate with your network adapter, known as the driver. These updates typically improve performance and reliability. To get the driver updates, do the following:
Windows 7 and Windows Vista
•Click Start menu, click All Programs, and then click Windows Update.
•In the left pane, click Check for updates, and then wait while Windows Vista looks for the latest updates for your computer.
•Install any updates relating to your wireless network adapter.
Windows XP
•Visit Microsoft Update, click Custom, and then wait while Windows XP looks for the latest updates for your computer.
•Install any updates relating to your wireless adapter.
End of document, Ramesh Mehay, 2010