Containment: ten tips to optimize your Wi-Fi network

In this very special period of confinement, our connection to the Internet takes on a whole new dimension and becomes more than ever a door open to the world. Games, films, music, contacts with our loved ones, everything goes through this umbilical cord, which is often … wireless.
This technological “dependence” is also sometimes the occasion to note that all is not optimal in our local network. So here are these ten tips for getting the best coverage for your router so that everyone in the house can enjoy it.
Be careful, stay at home as much as possible, and, if the Internet is an infinite space and full of a thousand wonders, consume it in moderation in spite of everything so as not to overload the infrastructures.

First publication, 01/27/2018

Real estate broadcasts say it all the time, when you move into a new house or a new apartment, you have to have the “crush”, of course, but above all “to plan”. Preferably, not too violently and not against the wall.

To project oneself means more or less that one imagines oneself in this new space, that one sees there his furniture, his cat, his goldfish, his television set, in short, his life. However, we often forget to think about our digital life. The one that slips a smartphone into your pocket, begins at your home as soon as an ISP has installed a box and flourishes as soon as Wi-Fi bathes your home.

However, if you think about the location of Grandma’s dresser, the latest TV, the spoon cabinet and the “always made bed”, you don’t think about your wireless network upstream. And that’s a big mistake, because having good speeds and good coverage at home is a bit like having electricity in every room, more and more vital.

First of all, you have to keep in mind that the Wi-Fi network is not just a box or a router that you put in a corner, or worse in a closet. Wi-Fi uses waves to connect your devices to the Internet and these waves can meet physical obstacles, interference (other waves) and sometimes bounce in surprising ways to end up not covering that chair you love so much. sit down to surf.

So there are a few things to keep in mind in order to consider the best options for your network.

• What is my home made of?
  Unless you live in a shed in the middle of the woods, your home is designed to withstand the breath of the big bad wolf. Depending on the materials used to structure your home, the waves of Wi-Fi will spread more or less easily.
  For example, reinforced concrete is not well received, while partitions made of thin brick or plaster tiles should not be too much of a problem. To get the best speed, start by knowing what is hiding in your walls.
  If they are thick or the surface to be covered large, prefer routers compatible with the standard 802.11ac and triple band, preferably. Triple band means that the router broadcasts three “networks”. One in 2.4 GHz, less powerful but with a better range, to which the oldest devices will connect especially. Two in 5 GHz for the latest peripherals and the best speeds.
  In “mesh” solutions (with several routers linked together to form one network), one of these two 5 GHz networks can be dedicated to communication between the routers, which guarantees that the other connections open to your devices. benefit from the best possible speed.
  A dual-band / dual-band router is more than sufficient if the walls are thin enough, the area to be covered is quite small, or you only have a few devices to connect.

• How old is the building?
  A priori anecdotal, this question may nevertheless be important. Knowing when the building was built or in any case refurbished will allow you to know if the electrical installation is new and is therefore more likely to offer honest results if you decide to use PLC, or powerline. in line.
  Be careful, however, the CPL systematically leads to a loss of speed, requires that the adapter be plugged into the outlet directly to avoid connection problems with multiple sockets and rarely offers good performance when you add a Wi-Fi router. Solutions that integrate Powerline and Wi-Fi are generally too compact for the antennas used for the wireless network to be efficient enough.
  If these solutions can be satisfactory to establish a basic connection, it is very rare to have a really powerful network by this means.
• Are there a lot of Wi-Fi networks nearby?
  Unfortunately, you do not have complete control over this element. But the proper functioning of Wi-Fi networks depends on the good distribution and robustness of the waves. The proliferation of nearby networks increases the risk of interference and disruption. This is obviously especially the case if you live in an apartment.
  Against this problem, there is not much you can do even if we possibly offer a solution below.
• How is your accommodation arranged?
  Another important point, especially if you are looking to establish total coverage of your home, you will have to take into account the way in which the different rooms are arranged.
  A square is easier to cover with one or two routers, while a row of rooms complicates matters. As much because the area is spread out in length as because the load-bearing walls (thick) are likely to be more numerous.
  If your house / apartment is built in length, you may need to turn to routers that work in mesh, if you want to have network everywhere, or to a Wi-Fi bridge to cover an area too far from the area. box cover.

• Where is your box placed?
  Even the most recent homes which must meet (near or far) the NF C 15-100 standard, which provides for the presence of a dedicated cabinet and the deployment of an RJ45 network, are not always well thought out for allow the optimal daily positioning of the entry point of the Internet connection at home, your ISP box.
  However, being able to place it in the center of your home (or in the place most suited to your needs) could greatly facilitate your quest for a ubiquitous Wi-Fi network, or in any case powerful.
  In other words, it may be worth bothering a little the technician who will come to install your box at your home. Better yet, if you are having your home built or redone, try to think of your Ethernet / Wi-Fi network at the same time as your electrical network, heating, etc.

Now that you have taken into account the environment in which you will be deploying Wi-Fi, it is time to move on to the wireless network itself. If you are looking for the best possible speeds, here are a few tips to follow.

• Should you recycle an old router?
  When you want to extend your wireless network, there is a great temptation to recycle old routers and place them in addition to more efficient and more recent routers. In some cases, this may be sufficient, but keep in mind that your network will never be faster than its weakest link. So don’t expect miracles if you reuse an old Wi-Fi hotspot. And place it rather at the end of the chain so that it does not “penalize” the other links too much.

• How to best position your routers?
  When we install Wi-Fi routers, we are often forced to do so depending on the position of the ISP box, the sockets, the furniture on which we will be able to place them – be careful, never put an active router in a cupboard, the waves will have more difficulty in spreading.
  Anyway, to find the best locations for routers, it is possible to resort to applications. Some manufacturers offer it with their device, but it is also possible to download it from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. These apps will tell you the signal strength, possible disturbances, making it fairly easy to know where to place your routers depending on the layout of your rooms and furniture to get the best possible coverage from your sofa. Examples are Wi-Fi Analyzer or Netgear Wi-Fi Analytics.
  If you are resistant to applications, you can follow these few tips:
  1 / avoid putting your router on the ground. It will be more effective placed halfway up.
  2 / try to place the router as much as possible in the center of the room / area to be covered, even if it must be along a wall.
  3 / if you use several “mesh” routers, a repeater or a Wi-Fi bridge, make sure that the line of sight between the different devices is as clear as possible.
• How to favor certain uses?
  Most current Wi-Fi routers offer so-called Quality of Service (QoS) options which allow more bandwidth to be given or in any case to be guaranteed for certain uses (video streaming, games, etc.). Better still, some models offer to favor one or more devices connected to the network.
  It may therefore be relevant to make sure your Shield 4K or Apple TV 4K has priority access if you don’t want your streamed movies to pixelate or freeze.
• Do you have to play with the router’s channels?
  Your Wi-Fi routers transmit their signal over communication channels. Often a channel is chosen by default. Problem, it is also the case for all the routers of your neighbors. It can therefore happen that all the Wi-Fi networks in the area and yours use the same channel, which creates interference and affects the speeds ultimately offered.
  It may therefore be relevant to choose another channel and then observe whether you notice an improvement in the performance of your Wi-Fi. This can have very positive effects but is also a little restrictive.
  However, most modern routers have a feature that automates the choice of channel. The latter may change depending on neighboring networks. So your router adjusts its efficiency as well as possible.
• Is updating useful for anything?
  Manufacturers regularly publish updates, which correct security vulnerabilities or possible bugs. But these new firmwares also have another interest. They improve certain performances and sometimes even add new functions (parental control, new connection mode, etc.).
  It is therefore recommended to automate the update of your routers if the option is available or to ensure that they are applied manually. You will thus be able to see expected and useful functions appear.