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Wi-Fi and Broadband Tips

Why the signal is bad in that one room, and what actually fixes it.

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The rule that covers most of them

Move the router before you spend anything. Central, high, out in the open, and away from anything metal or wet.

Nearly every home Wi-Fi complaint is about where the router is, not about the speed you pay for. Upgrading the package does nothing if the signal cannot get to the room, and that is the commonest and most expensive mistake people make.

What it covers

SignalContractsSecurityTroubleshooting

Every tip in wi-fi

5013
Why the Wi-Fi is bad in one room

Distance and what is in between. Move the router to a central, high, open position first, because it costs nothing and fixes the problem more often than any gadget.

Signal
5014
Whether you need the broadband speed you pay for

Probably not. Streaming 4K takes around 25Mbps per stream, and almost everything else takes far less. What matters more is how many devices are active at once.

Contracts
5015
How to speed up a slow connection without paying more

Use the 5GHz band for nearby devices, plug in anything that does not move, restart the router properly, and check for a neighbour on the same channel.

Signal
5016
How to secure your home network

Change the router's admin password, keep WPA2 or WPA3 encryption on, update the firmware, and put smart home gadgets on a guest network.

Security
5017
What to do when the internet goes down

Check whether it is your line or the provider, restart the router, and check the master socket. Most faults are one of those three and none of them need an engineer.

Troubleshooting

Tipking is general household information, not professional advice. Test anything on a hidden patch first. Full disclaimer.