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Get the Best Internet Experience

Make your Home Wi-Fi Friendly

First and foremost, evaluate the location of your router. Ideally, it should be centrally located in your home and should not be hidden behind speakers or other electronics that can cause interference. Also, when practical and possible, place large furniture along the exterior walls of your home to prevent it from blocking signals. Finally, limit the use of mirrors as they ultimately decrease your Wi-Fi signal strength. 

Improve Wireless Range

Wi-Fi gets weaker as it travels long distances and through walls and floors. This can lead to buffering and general slowness when using devices that are far away from the router. If you experience signal issues in specific areas of your home, it's time to consider additional or upgraded Wi-Fi equipment. We have several options available. Please give us a call at 800.492.5989, and we will help you determine the best solution for you.

Use a Hardwired Connection for Certain Activities and Speed

For video streaming on a TV, real-time gaming, and other bandwidth-heavy activities, we recommend connecting the router via an Ethernet connection whenever possible and practical. Additionally, if you have subscribed to our Gig or Multigig packages and want to get the maximum possible speed on a specific device, you will need an Ethernet cable and possibly an Ethernet adaptor. Adaptors should be rated for gigabit (if you have the Gig package) or 10 gigabit (if you have Multigig) speeds.

Most devices are capable of only achieving 50Mbps on the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band and 100-200Mbps on the 5 GHz Wi-Fi band. 

Choose the Right Internet Speed

Have you recently added new Wi-Fi devices to your home? Now might be a good time to evaluate your current internet package to ensure your speed still meets your needs. Visit broadbandnow.com to take a short quiz to help you determine the best speed for you. 

Other Things That Can Slow Your Internet Speed

Fiber internet is the fastest internet connection available, and MEC's fiber to the home (FTTH) ensures you do not have to compete with your neighbors for bandwidth. A few factors can still limit your internet speed:

  • Older devices may not have the hardware necessary to take full advantage of modern Wi-Fi network speeds.
  • Devices that aren't updated with the latest firmware may experience slowdowns as a result.
  • If you are connected to a Virtual Private Network (VPN), your internet speed may be limited by the VPN server's capabilities.
  • A website you're trying to visit may run slowly because too many people are trying to access it at the same time.

Additional Tips

If you have the 844 GigaCenter, we recommend that you manually connect any compatible device to the 5.0 GHz band to maximize your speed and improve your overall internet experience. Check out the below video to learn more about achieving the best Wi-Fi on the 844. 

If you have a GigaSpire router, the router will automatically direct traffic to the best Wi-Fi band based on your location and activity. If you still have Wi-Fi issues after trying the tips on this page, please give us a call at 800.492.5989. 

Wi-Fi and the GigaCenter Router