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Your WiFi speed impacts your daily productivity and entertainment experience because our daily life activities are dependent on having a fast and reliable WiFi connection in one way or another. Multiple factors influence your WiFi network’s performance, and it isn’t dependent on your ISP only. Several internal and external factors determine the performance and speed of your WiFi network. So in this post, we will briefly explore the key factors on which your WiFi speed depends.

Internet Plan and ISP

The most obvious factor upon which your WiFi speed depends is your internet plan and internet service provider. When you sign up with an internet service provider, you get a specific internet plan based on bandwidth and data limit. The higher your plan’s bandwidth is, the more data it can transfer per second, resulting in faster WiFi speeds.

 

For instance, if you are subscribed to an internet plan offering 50 Mbps and expect to stream 4K videos on multiple devices, then you will likely experience buffering and lag. On the other hand, if you have a 100 Mbps plan, then you won’t face buffering or lag while streaming.

WiFi Router

Your WiFi router plays a crucial role in determining the speed of your WiFi network. No matter how fast your internet plan is, if your WiFi router is not good enough, then it will act as a bottleneck for the network. For good WiFi speeds, the routers should not only have support for the latest WiFi standards like WiFi 6 or 6E, but they should also have high-end hardware for faster data processing and broader coverage. An obsolete WiFi router can bottleneck and downgrade the entire network’s performance.

Network Configuration

Sometimes, it is not about the hardware of the network but how your network is configured that determines the performance and speed of the WiFi network. Your WiFi router needs to be configured properly through 192.168.1.1 for ideal network performance. For this, channel selection, network encryption, and IP & DNS settings need to be configured properly.

 

Manually selecting a less congested channel, using modern encryption like WPA3 for better speed and enhanced protection, using a faster DNS provider, and configuring the IP settings of devices can enhance the speeds and performance of the network.

Distance from the Router

Distance from the WiFi routers matters a lot because as the distance from the WiFi router increases, the WiFi signals start to weaken, and your internet connection becomes slower. Not only should there be minimal distance between your devices and the WiFi router, but there should also be no physical objects or obstacles in the way that can cause signal degradation.

 

Ideally, placing your WiFi router in a central elevated location with minimal obstructions and no metal objects nearby results in the best WiFi speeds for the network.

Network Congestion and Number of Connected Devices

Every device connected to the network shares the total bandwidth and contributes to network congestion. The greater the number of devices connected simultaneously, the more congested the network will be, and less speed will be available for each device. Every device, including smartphones, laptops, smart TVs, IoT devices, and even printers, can slow down your network if too many of them are connected at the same time.

 

Instead of complaining about the WiFi speeds right away, try limiting the number of devices connected to the network and avoiding high-bandwidth activities such as streaming, video conferencing, and large downloads, which consume more data.

Unsecured Network and Unauthorized Access

A poorly secured or unsecured network usually has slow WiFi speeds because it allows others to piggyback on the network. If the network is unprotected, anyone can connect to the network, consume bandwidth, hog the network, and slow things down. In the worst case, they can compromise your data. Therefore, protecting the network and securing it via the 192.168.0.1 admin panel with a strong password, WPA3 encryption, and regular firmware updates can protect the network from unwanted connections and increase the speed.

Time of Day and ISP Load

Time of the day and ISP load also matter a lot when it comes to Wi-Fi speeds because during peak hours, when more people are online, the infrastructure can get overloaded and lead to slower speeds. Similarly, if your bandwidth is shared with others in your neighbourhood, then heavy usage can impact your speeds. Therefore, keep in mind that your internet speeds may vary depending on when you use it.