The most common Wi-Fi problems and how to fix them

Working from home may sound a like luxury but without a stable and reliable broadband connection, it may turn into a nightmare. If your WiFi doesn't work as expected, it can hamper your work greatly. You will face troubles like low-quality video calls, prolonged download times and other communication issues. So, to create a robust wireless network at home, you need to know the common WiFi issues and their ideal solutions.

Let's take look at them -

1. WiFi connection failure

You have switched on your router and keyed in the SSID and password correctly in your smartphone or laptop. Then, you have also changed the settings to automatically connect to this network. But you still fail to establish the connection.

1. Cause: Wi-Fi range issues or interference can lead to troubles in connectivity. Sometimes it is simply due to some minor technical glitches.
2. Solution: If your WiFi connection failed, choose the “forget network” option in your device. Discover the Wi-Fi again and re-enter the credentials and try connecting.

2. Internet stops working suddenly

Your Wi-Fi signal seems to be working fine, but when you try to connect to the network you notice that the internet connection has stopped working.

1. Cause: Internet issues in the router could cause such troubles. This might be indicated by the Internet LED on the router turning off or turning red, depending on the device you own. Your router might be assigned a dynamic IP address. If the network is overloaded or the router efficiency drops due to some reason, it might miss the communication of new IP address, which can lead to internet failures.
2. Solution: Restarting the router will allow it to look for its newly assigned IP address. If the problem occurred due to a crowded network, taking this step should solve it.

3. WiFi drop out issue

When you are playing a competitive online game, losing the internet connection for even a second can be really frustrating. In such a case, check whether the latency is high in your network. Many speed test apps display the latency in milliseconds. If the latency value of the connection is more than 30ms, then you might experience occasional drops in the Wi-Fi signal.

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1. Cause: Network congestion could be one of the major causes of timeouts in connection and latency issues.
2. Solution: Download a Wi-Fi analyzer app on your smartphone and identify the ideal channels for your connection. Most routers choose the channel for connection automatically. But if you are located in a crowded residential area where there are plenty of wireless networks in proximity, you might also benefit from manually choosing the channel. After choosing the channel width and the channel number, run a speed test again and check for any improvement.

4. Performance issues on some devices

It so happens that some of the computers connected in the network work without trouble, but streaming becomes close to impossible in other devices. If you have ruled out other problems like network congestion, you can check the Wi-Fi mode settings for a better picture.

1. Cause: By default, routers come with a mixed 802.11 mode setting. If you had changed this to 802.11n only, it could lead to performance issues on some devices.
2. Solution: Choose the mixed-mode setting so that devices with different generations of Wi-Fi adapters can continue to enjoy a resilient connection to the router.

With these easy WiFi troubleshooting tips, you can work from home comfortably, and enjoy your favorite movies and games without any hassle. When your Wi-Fi connection is stable, you can experience the maximum benefits of your broadband plan.