With the average person spending close to 7 hours online each day, and most businesses relying on a dependable wifi connection, losing wifi connection can stop us in our tracks.
You can lose internet connection for a variety of reasons from power outages, to router obstructions. Whether you’re about to send an email, take a call, or process a transaction, we know how stressful it can be. If you’ve given it the good ol’ “switch it off and on again” and you still can’t connect, here’s some common issues and how you can fix a spotty wifi connection & slow internet speed.
- Weak wifi signal? You might be too far from your router
If you get a great signal in one area of your house or business but unreliable connection in other areas, you might be too far from your router or something might be obstructing the signal. There’s a few simple ways to fix this including making sure your router is in the best place and free of obstructions. What is the best place for your router? Make sure it’s centrally located, elevated off the floor and away from any obstructions such as big items of furniture or electronics that could interfere with the signal. If this doesn’t work, check out some long-range routers or wifi extenders.
- Bad weather & power cuts
Does weather affect wifi signal strength? To an extent, yes but there isn’t a straight answer on how to prevent losing wifi in bad weather. That’s because bad weather and loss of internet connection is more correlation rather than causation. Strong winds and storms have been known to affect power lines and cause local distribution and transmission failures - especially this week in Aberdeen!
Whether it’s torrential rain, or a tree on a power line, the best way to ensure you still have access to the internet is using a mobile broadband device as a backup. Similar to connecting your personal hotspot via your mobile data for a temporary wifi connection, you are able to connect to a specific device such as a portable modem or dongle. These devices are great for a plethora of reasons, not just during local power outages! We’ve supplied 5G routers to multiple businesses in Aberdeen and the UK to allow them to stay connected when traveling, and to ensure high speed internet to enable remote access.
- Your current internet plan is too slow
Ever asked yourself “why is my wifi so slow today”? Chances are you’re trying to access more bandwidth than your plan allows, meaning you will experience a slow internet speed which can sometimes look as though you have no connection at all. This happens most commonly when there are multiple users trying to access the internet via your connection - think public wifi in restaurants and cafes. Not only can this be irritating for customers, but this can cause serious issues if your tills, phones and other systems all run off the same bandwidth.
How do you know how much bandwidth (mbps) you need? We can calculate your current and ideal bandwidth and test your broadband connection speed for free here.
