One of the most often asked questions we receive here at Tech Guide is “how can I make my Wi-Fi better”? The NBN has released some research from more than 12,000 customers that revealed the five worst wi-fi mistakes that’s slowing you down.
Fast wi-fi has now become an important part of our daily lives and when we don’t have it there are disastrous consequences especially if you’re working or studying from home.
But remarkably the research shows that despite the importance of fast home Wi-Fi, millions of Australians are not setting themselves up for success.
In the research the NBN has come up with the most common network mistakes made by customers so you can learn to avoid them and achieve the fastest possible speeds at your place.
Here are the five worst Wi-Fi mistakes that could be affecting your download speeds:
- Your gear needs to be able to match your speeds
A third of Australians, 30 per cent, didn’t realise that to achieve the speeds they wanted, they need the equipment to match.
And two-thirds (66 per cent) recognise this as being very or extremely important.
If you have increased your plan’s speed. You need to ensure that the gear you have in your home can help you attain that faster speed, whether that is an updated modem or mesh router.
Check to see what’s included with your NBN provider when signing up to a new plan.
Unfortunately if you don’t act, you can miss out on the benefits.
According to the research 40 per cent of those who made changes to their internet equipment said their wi-fi performance improved
- Set up your gear properly.
Almost all, that’s 92 per cent of NBN customers, had at least one part of their home set up that could be improved to facilitate faster speeds.
Only a third, 34 per cent, had a good or great set up that met three or more of the four key criteria.
The most common issues were a router not in a central position (59 per cent), equipment that’s more than two years old (55 per cent), gear not in a room with the highest level of internet usage (47 per cent) and the area not being free of obstruction (19 per cent).
According to the NBN research, three in five (60 per cent) made no changes to their home setup in the past two years.
Of two in five (40 per cent) who have made a change only 9 per cent changed the location of their wi-fi router in the home and only 8 per cent brought in a professional to add internet ports around the home.
- Expecting old gear to achieve faster speeds
The saying “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” can sometimes apply to old equipment.
Only one in five NBN customers (20 per cent) have upgraded to a newer Wi-Fi router.
Older Wi-Fi standards simply cannot achieve higher speeds.
The Wi-Fi 4 standard, which many customers are still using, can only achieve a maximum download speed of 100Mbps.
This means if a customer has had their speed increased to 500Mbps, they will not be able to enjoy that added speed without a new modem router.
Among those who did upgrade to a newer router, 30 per cent said it made their speeds much better with a further 37 per cent, saying it made it a little better
- Opting for a wi-fi range extender instead of a wi-fi mesh network
A range extender and a mesh network are two completely different things.
Three in twenty, 13 per cent of NBN customers added a wi-fi extender to their existing network but only 9 per cent installed a wi-fi mesh network despite the clear advantages offered by mesh networks.
A range extender will only improve your wi-fi in a small area while a mesh network creates a solid unified network that covers your entire property and is strengthened by passing the signal through satellites placed around your home.
A third (33 per cent) of NBN customers who installed mesh networks said it made their speeds much better and a little better for 37 per cent.
- Waiting too long to make improvements
The longer you wait, the longer you wait.
According to the NBN research more than half (53 per cent) of those who did something to improve their setup so when performance dropped to a poor level.
Those who decided to do something were motivated by wi-fi black spots (38 per cent), dropouts (25 per cent) and not achieving the desired speeds (16 per cent).
The research showed 29 per cent decided to upgrade their experience before it got any worse.
Others took advantage of moving home (9 per cent), when there was a change in household circumstances (6 per cent) or at the suggestion of their internet service provider (10 per cent).
