Visualizing Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi

There have been some studies on the performance of Wi-Fi, and on average it was found strip about 30% of the bandwidth, so a 5 Mbps connection with a cable turns into a 3.5 Mbps connection on Wi-Fi in the average setup. The more devices that you connect with Wi-Fi to the same router, the slower the Wi-Fi will be. Wi-Fi will also add latency and jitter to the connection, which is most noticeable when it crumples an online gaming session. A cabled connection to the router should run at full speeds, and unlike Wi-Fi, it should hold up as more devices connect to it.

How much Wi-Fi is slowing you down?

If you are wondering if slower speeds are due to the internet or your network, the time of day can help to narrow this down. The internet is busiest, and therefore slowest, in the later evenings, around 8:00 PM to midnight, so if it’s only slower there, it’s probably mostly the changing speed of the internet, and if it’s slower at all times of day, then it’s more likely to be your network. A quick speed test over Wi-Fi, and then another over a cabled connection should show the Wi-Fi loss. There is an additional step after connecting the cable to your computer before trying the speed test, which is to disable the Wi-Fi on the computer so that you can be sure that the connection is over the cable. If you have a cable and Wi-Fi connecting, it will often still use the Wi-Fi to connect. The speed test on our site will provide the most accuracy for this (see an explanation about this in the ‘The Internet’ section below): MCSnet Speed Test Page

Smart TVs can struggle with Wi-Fi because they are near metal and electronics that can hamper the signal. On top of this, video streams like YouTube and Netflix are bandwidth hungry and sensitive to speed fluctuations, so give your new TV some love connect you cable. Take the time to run that cable once and you’re set for a long time. Printers are prone to error and failure and likely to peeve many a computer technician, but wireless (Wi-Fi) printers add more trouble on top of this.

All right, Wi-Fi is slow, but I have this tablet/phone that needs it, can I improve it?

Yes, there are three areas to look at for improving Wi-Fi performance: signal/interference, networking standard, and number of devices sharing airtime.

Signal and Interference

The signal is the bars that fill up to show you the strength of the Wi-Fi connection.

The signal should be stronger if you are next to the router, and weaker as you are farther away. There are more placement tricks though: the signal is often weakest above the router, strongest on the same level as it is, and weaker when below it. You want to have your router positioned on or above the floor of your house where you use most of your devices. External antennas can be orientated to help the signal in different areas. For best all-around signal, if there are two antennas they should be placed on 45 degree angles, like the old rabbit ear V. The signal is strongest perpendicular to the antenna angle, so orientating the antennas horizontally instead of up and down (vertically) can help the vertical connectivity on another floor, where Wi-Fi tends to struggle most. Wi-Fi broadcasted from the basement is not only going to struggle from the router being below and weakening the signal, but it’s also trying to shoot through the metal in the plumbing, HVAC, and electrical in a typical basement ceiling to get to the main floor.

Router Placement Checklist
• In central location
• Off of the floor
• Away from sources of interference and microwaves

External Antennas. If your router has screw on antennas, make sure they are screwed in tightly to get a full connection. If you have trouble getting the signal to a specific spot in your house, you may be able to help it with a stronger antenna or a directional antenna. These antennas are made for the 2.4 GHz range, so they will not work for a 5 GHz 802.11ac pure connection (802.11ac is the latest Wi-Fi standard; more on the 802.11 standards below).