It is easy to forget how indispensable your Wi-Fi is until you start facing issues with it. Even tiny disruptions in the home or office internet speed can affect your daily work, entertainment, and other tasks involving web browsers, emails, streaming platforms, chats, smart home devices, and other tools. If you often face such issues or are looking for easy solutions, here are some common Wi-Fi problems and how to resolve them:
Low bandwidth
Bandwidth issues indicate that several people are using the internet through applications on their phones, laptops, or TVs, causing the Wi-Fi to be spread thin across these devices. To deal with this issue, you can disconnect devices that are not actively being used (for example, smart TVs). Additionally, you can connect certain devices directly to the router using a Cat 5 ethernet cable to free up some of the wireless bandwidth.
No internet
If none of the connected devices can access the internet, you should reset the wi-fi router. You can do this by unplugging your router from the power supply, waiting for two minutes, and plugging it back in. Additionally, you can check if all the cables connected to the router are properly attached. If the router still indicates “no network,” you must contact your internet service provider’s customer service to resolve the issue.
Interference
This is among the most common issues people face. Interference usually occurs in crowded neighborhoods when multiple people or households set their respective Wi-Fi connections up, and the default wireless frequency channels become crowded. To address this, you can reboot your router. Most modern routers can select less crowded frequencies after a reboot. Alternatively, you can ask your service provider to log in to the router admin panel and manually select a less crowded frequency. You can look up “Wi-Fi services near my area” to find technicians.
Unauthorized internet usage
When unauthorized outsiders use your Wi-Fi, its speed can reduce drastically. To resolve this, you can change the security settings of your Wi-Fi (especially if you have set up an open network that uses easily-hackable WEP security). You can ask your service provider to use configurations such as WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2) with AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) to prevent unauthorized access.
Additionally, if you face frequent issues with your internet provider, you can look for a different company by looking up “Wi-Fi near my area” on a search engine.
