To get the optimal WiFi configuration, you have to first go beyond any single product, and understand how WiFi works. Then you will understand why your WiFi sucks and can still drop your connection, even with expensive, powerful WiFi routers.
We did the research on the optimal WiFi solution so you don’t have to.
Silence Is Golden
Imagine each WiFi device in your vicinity as a person talking out loud in a crowded room. The more the devices there are, the more people talking simultaneously. Talking louder only makes things worse. If the people are polite, they will take turns talking. By design, WiFi forces devices to take turns communicating. Remember that not only are your devices and WiFi router competing to communicate, so are your neighbors’ dozen or so WiFi routers — the ones you see when you try to configure WiFi on your device — and all of the devices connecting to those WiFi routers.
Use Less WiFi
The old trick of picking an unused WiFi channel is just a fantasy since everyone and their grandmother uses WiFi now, especially if you live in a densely populated area like an apartment building. So the first step in achieving the optimal WiFi solution is to use less WiFi! If a device has the option to be plugged in with a network cable, plug it in instead (and make sure the device’s WiFi radio is turned off). Each device that switches to a wired connection means one less device having to take turns broadcasting a WiFi signal.
Instinctually, you think you want a more powerful WiFi signal, but you really want a weaker signal.
Use Less Range
The second step is to use less WiFi range! Instinctually, you think you want a more powerful WiFi signal, but you really want a weaker signal. Yes, talking louder means more people can hear you, but with WiFi, a stronger signal also means more devices that have to take turns causing congestion. Whenever possible, use the 5Ghz WiFi radio band instead of 2.4GHz. Using 5GHz will generally give you a faster connection, and less range will mean less competing devices within that range. Imagine that crowded room of people whispering in small groups instead of trying to shout over each other. Also, someone using the microwave in the kitchen won’t kill your 5GHz connection.
You may be wondering, how do you provide WiFi coverage for a larger house using 5GHz? We’ll get to that in a bit…
Internet service providers are continually increasing connection speeds, and we are lucky to have a gigabit internet connection at our house. Unfortunately, gigabit speeds can overwhelm consumer-grade all-in-one WiFi routers, as we found out soon after our gigabit line was connected.
We had a relatively new, high-rated WiFi router, and it would still crash daily. Because it was an all-in-one unit, when the WiFi crashed, the entire router crashed, taking down all of the wired internet connections with it. No one in the whole house would have internet until someone manually rebooted the WiFi router, and after the reboot process started, everyone still had to wait for the slow reboot process to complete.
Use a Separate Access Point
So the third step to the optimal WiFi setup is to not use any WiFi built in your router. Instead, use a separate WiFi access point. Make sure you connect the access point with a network cable into your router. (Remember, your router’s WiFi should be disabled.) Otherwise, you will lose half of the WiFi bandwidth for router-to-access-point communications, and you will add yet another WiFi device. With an access point dedicated to serving WiFi, your router will do less work, be more reliable, and not have to be rebooted to get WiFi working. Still wondering about covering a larger house using 5GHz? Use two or more access points and plug them into your router or a wired network switch.
New “Mesh” WiFi Routers
Yes, the new mesh WiFi routers can improve your WiFi by essentially providing multiple access points. However, each system has its own drawbacks, with the most significant common drawback being price, as well as being an all-in-one router+WiFi design. It’s amazing that these consumer grade WiFi systems are so expensive, when you can get better, higher performance, enterprise grade access points for less money.
What To Buy
So which WiFi access point should you use in this optimal WiFi setup? Read about our recommendation in the next post.