How To Increase Wi-Fi Signal Strength On Your Laptop

Thanks to the laptops which come with inbuilt WiFi adaptor which lets us to connect Wi-Fi networks without adding any special hardware like PCs. Every laptop have this feature inbuilt. If your laptop is not showing you the option to connect available Wi-Fi hotspots, check for the obvious steps. If you find WiFi option missing, then you might not have installed WiFi driver to your laptop. Install it from your laptop’s CD now.

Laptop’s Wi-Fi is stronger than smartphone’s WiFi radio. So, you will get better Wi-Fi signal and speed on Laptop. However, if the Wi-Fi network is really very weak and even your laptop is not able to use the WiFi network efficiently, I recommend you to go near to the WiFi network. If you’re at the best place, and still not getting good results then implement these provided tricks. These tricks will surely boost your WiFi Signal on Laptop.

1. Upgrade Your WiFi Router

Recent laptops are using 802.11g or 802.11n Wi-Fi circuitry to efficiently utilize WiFi networks. If your router is an 802.11b device, upgrade it so that it can match the speed of your laptop.

2. Repeat Wi-Fi Signal

To add more strength to your Wi-Fi signal, use repeater (also called wireless amplifier or range expander. It picks up Wi-Fi signals from routers and then retransmits it. Place your Wi-Fi repeater somewhere near the edge of existing signal to make best use of the device. It will then rebroadcast the signal, covering other areas for the connection.

3. Replace Standard Router Antenna with Omnidirectional one

The advantage of Omni antenna is to provide a signal in all direction. The directional signal allows you to target the location where you want to the signal.

4. Install External Wi-Fi Adaptor

Laptops adapters are good but external WiFi adapters are great. If your laptop is old and so you’re not getting better WiFi signal, consider disabling built-in Wi-Fi circuit and antenna and installing an external Wi-Fi adaptor. External Wi-Fi Adapters have large antenna and they uses up-to-date technologies which can drastically improve WiFi signal for your laptop.

5. Change Your Wireless Channel

Wi-Fi routers broadcast Wi-Fi signals on several channels. If the channel (by which your laptop is currently connected) is providing a lot of interference, change the channel through router or access point’s configuration settings.

6. Reposition Wi-Fi router

If possible, try to place your router at the center location, prefer a place where thick walls or obstructing furniture can’t congest your signal. Also avoid placing your router or access point near to any metal surface, electronics that use signals (like Microwave, remote control doors, etc.). They interfere with signal broadcaster.

7.  Put Transmission Power Highest

Many network adapters support connection by adjusting transmission power. The setting can be adjusted through adapter’s drive interface/program. Put the transmission power maximum (100%) so that you can get strongest possible WiFi signal. However, if your laptop is on power saving mode, it will automatically shift the settings back.

8. Disable Network Hogs

Use task manager of any other program to check which apps are running in background and using network. Disable unused applications out of it so that your network speed and laptop’s performance, both can be boost.

9. Keep on checking for firmware updates

Both Wi-Fi router and adapter have firmware that they use to establish connection and offer WiFi. Check if an update is available for your Wi-Fi router or adapter. If it’s available, download it and update your drivers because new updates usually fix problems and provide fixes and solve many connectivity solution. Many times it boost signals also. You can check our article on “How to keep all your windows software update automatically” if you want to stay away from this headache.

10. Use DD-WRT

DD-WRT is an open-source software for routers which is known to ramp up router performance and extend the feature set beyond what typically comes with most routers. It is powerful but not recommended solution because firstly, not all routers support it (however, the number of routers that are supported keeps growing). Also, it can invalidate your router’s warranty and many manufacturers will not help you troubleshoot router issues once you have DD-WRT on them.