When looking to buy a new home, a top-tip is to envisage where the Christmas tree will go. If you can clearly see where you’d place it then you’re said to be onto a winner with the home.

However, the placement of the Christmas tree may soon be replaced by visualising where you’ll place your Wi-Fi router to ensure you get the best signal, particularly after it was estimated by Ofcom that as many as 6 million homes and businesses are running Wi-Fi at a slow speed.

Research conducted by Ofcom, to coincide with the launch of their new Wi-Fi checker app, has found whilst roughly a quarter of UK homes have broadband connections of more than 30MB per second, in rural areas less than two-fifths of homes have access to higher-speed connection. [source: http://news.sky.com/story/1597567/slow-wi-fi-christmas-lights-could-be-to-blame]

Although the research found roughly a quarter of homes in the UK can get superfast broadband, it also found various electronic devices can slow down the speed of Wi-Fi in your home.

Such devices which can hinder the strength of your Wi-Fi include:

• Baby monitors
• Microwaves
• Christmas lights
• Electronic lamps
• Fridges
• Cordless phones
• Stereo speakers

Such devices, due to emitting radio waves, can interfere with the Wi-Fi signals – which travel through the air in straight lines – causing the signal to slow down. Thankfully, there are steps which can be taken to help you keep your Wi-Fi signal as strong as possible.

Electronic devices, such as those listed above, aren’t the only reason for your Wi-Fi signal being hindered. The location of your Wi-Fi router, the number of devices connected to the Wi-Fi and tangled wires can also contribute to slower Wi-Fi.

4 Tips to Keep Your Wi-Fi up-to Speed:

Various devices in your home may slow the performance of your Wi-Fi down, but there are steps which you can take to help keep your Wi-Fi up-to-speed, and these steps include:

• Placing your router at least 3 metres away from any other electrical devices

• Keeping your router centrally within your home. It should also be placed on a table or shelf, rather than on the floor.

• Using an Ethernet cable to connect directly to your router. Such a cable should give you a faster and more reliable connection to the internet.

• Password protecting your Wi-Fi. Unprotected Wi-Fi is there for all to use, unfortunately the more devices connected to it (and using it) the slower the connection will be. Help make sure only those you want to use your Wi-Fi are able to, by password protecting it.

Keeping your Wi-Fi up to speed, by keeping it away from other electrical devices and placing it centrally in your house and free from other obstructions, will help you access the internet with ease – meaning you can continue to enjoy the eSpares blog uninterrupted.

Tags: Appliances, Christmas Lights, Fridges, Microwaves, Wi-Fi