How Wi-Fi signal can affect your streaming experience

There is nothing more annoying than the constant stopping and starting of a show or movie. We have all seen it before, a screen that reads "loading" or perhaps the iconic spinning loading wheel. Buffering happens for a slew of reasons; weak Wi-Fi signal can be the root of this modern-day nightmare. So how does one make sure that they have a good signal throughout their home, so they do not run into any of these issues?

First, you will need to understand why you may not be getting a signal or as good of signal to a particular location in your house. Your wireless router sends a signal out throughout the home, this is your Wi-Fi. This signal allows you to connect devices via Wi-Fi so that you do not have to have hard wires running to all your devices to be able to access the internet. You can think of this signal the way you would a speaker. The further away you get from the speaker, the softer the sound is, and the closer you get to that speaker, the stronger the sound will be. The same is true for Wi-Fi signals, the further away the device you are wanting to connect is from your wireless router, the weaker the signal will be. Other things to consider of are things like metal, concrete, thick walls, and even mirrors can cause interference, weakening the signal even more.     

Two things that you can do to help get your house fully covered by Wi-Fi.

Router location- Place your router in a centralized area of your home. If you have a multi-level home, try keeping it on the middle floor so you have a better chance of covering both the up and down stairs. Additionally, if you are able to change where you stream from and can move closer to the router it will also help solve these issues.

Mesh Extenders- Mesh units connect to your existing router and can help boost signal in areas of the home that are not getting good coverage. Using the speaker example again, these mesh units’ sort of work like a speaker group around your house, which make an increased signal depending on wherever they’re placed.

If your home is on the larger side, or there’s a lot of walls and floors between your entertainment devices and your router, Mesh systems may be your best bet. With a mesh network, your main router will broadcast to a series of smaller “nodes” throughout your home. Instead of struggling to pair with the main router, a device like a Roku will have a much easier time connecting to one of your new network’s satellite nodes. Mid Century currently does offer our own Wi-Fi extenders for a monthly fee of $2.25 each/mo. If you are experiencing Wi-Fi troubles or dead spots in your home, reach out to our team here at Mid Century and we will be glad to assist you in getting the best Wi-Fi Customer service and questions about extenders can be answered at 309-778-8611.