It’s the bank holiday weekend, and that means homes will be full of friends and family enjoying the extended break. Whilst that’s good for the social life, it may also mean your Wi-Fi is about to get a serious battering as everyone asks for the password and starts streaming movies, music and more.
With that in mind now is a very good time to make some simple changes as it could help speed things up and stop any annoying stuttering.
To help get the best connection, Virgin Media recently updated its advice on keeping the all-important router running smoothly when lots of gagets are hooked up to router and it’s not something any of us should ignore.
“Finding the right place to sit is important. Your Hub agrees,” Virgin said in its latest update.
For those not already aware, the position of your Wi-Fi device can make a big difference to those downloads.
“There are a lot of big wins hiding in that one small move, no matter how many devices you have connected. Here’s what you need to do,” Virgin added.
According to the Internet Service Provider (ISP), a good place to start is making sure the Hub (router) is in a prime location. Although these boxes aren’t the prettiest, tucking them behind the sofa or dumping them in a cupboard won’t help your connection.
Virgin says the best place is as central in the home as possible. This will make sure the signal beams out to more areas of your home.
Next, Virgin reckons it’s a good idea to give the router as much space as possible so the Wi-Fi has the best chance of spreading itself out to more rooms.
Then there’s the issue of having it on the floor as this won’t do the signal any favour either.
“Keep it off the floor and use a bookshelf, cabinet top or wall mount for better coverage,” Virgin confirmed
“Think open, elevated, and central – kinda like a WiFi throne.”
You also really don’t want that flashing black box to be anywhere near other electrical devices especially microwave ovens as these can wreak havoc with the Wi-Fi.
So those are the top tips for your router, but there are some other things to try, including setting big downloads to happen when you are in bed to avoid taking up all-important bandwidth.
“Schedule big downloads like a mammoth game update or a system backup for late at night. If you can’t schedule them, just set it going before you go to bed or at a time when you don’t need to be online.”
It’s also a good idea to check what devices are connected to your router and remove any that look suspicious.
Finally, you should try to switch off your router at least once a month in a bid to clear any issues. To perform a reset, simply hit the power button, wait a minute and then with things back on.
A full reboot can take up to 5 minutes, so make sure nobody needs the web before taking the plunge.
“The firmware in your Hub monitors the security for your network, so it’s good to reboot your router once a month to make sure it’s running with all the security patches and updates it needs.”