Keeping your Wi-Fi running smooth

This post I will be discussing how to keep your wireless Internet or Wi-Fi to run smoothly. These tips and tricks will help maintain the best speeds and connectivity. The below terms are simple definitions of the words that I may or may not use in this post.

Terms:
Modem: Tech used for communications to your Internet service provider (ISP).
Wi-Fi: Wireless communications between devices.
Wireless Router: Equipment that is the "middle man" between your wireless device and the Internet.
Router IP: The routers specific IP (Internet Protocol) address used to access its setup or settings page.
Access Point: Much like the Wireless router, however this device is used to extend the coverage of the Wi-Fi within a certain area.

Why would I need to know how to access my Wireless router? You will need to access the page in order to setup, change or maintain your wireless router for optimum usage.
So where can I access my wi-fi's settings? They are located within your wireless router. Nowadays, they are very easy to log in to. For example, the newer Belkin routers offer a simple way although everything depends on what brand and model of wireless router you have. Here are some examples of Router IP address':

• 192.168.1.1
• 192.168.1.10
• 192.168.2.1
• http://myrouter

Lets take a look at the picture figure 1. Here you can see in the address bar the IP address. The main setup or settings page is displayed. This is where you will be able to locate the settings to improve connectivity on a basic level. Again, a lot of settings will vary on your make/model of the Wireless router.

As we move on, you should look into utilities in Figure 2. In this image, you can see the items of interest are circled and one is kind of starred. Let us look more in depth at the first circled section called "Restart router". Wireless routers or even modem/router combos all tend to have issues with connectivity and speed on a daily basis. In order to have check and balance, restarting your router often is seems to be necessary. The second circled section is called "Self Healing". This is much like restarting your router, however this is automated and can be setup to be done anytime and any day of the week. Since our family is heavy on the wireless, I opted to have my wireless router restart every morning at 4:30 a.m. Since the day I setup that automation, there is close to no problems. Now we can examine the starred section. Firmware upgrades are necessary in order to keep your wireless router up-to-date with current issues that have been reported from consumers to the company that makes your wireless router.

In Figure 3, we can see another way to optimize your Wireless router. Again, some make/model of Wireless routers do not have this ability or is named something different. Intellistream tests your Internet speeds and sets itself up accordingly to your current needs. For our family it is streaming and gaming and less on voice.

To give you an idea on what our family is working with, below are the specifications and usage at any given time:

• Service Electric Cable TV - 10mb download (House phone and Internet)
• Service Electric Cable TV provided modem - SURFboard SB6141
• Wireless Router - Belkin N450 NB Wireless-N Router

Usage:

• Xbox Live game with two Wii's each playing a hulu show and a netflix show.
• We also use our cell phones on the wi-fi when we are home as well.
• Kids use tablets like the Kindle Fire HD.

The result is pretty awesome surprisingly. I though for sure we would of had to upgrade to a better Wireless router to accommodate the heavy use on the wi-fi, but I was actually wrong.

This is all I have time for now, until my next post. Make sure to scroll down for the pictures.

Live long & Prosper,

 

Byron

 

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

My Speedtest from AT&T Site