The Art and Science of Wi-Fi Range and Speed

When it comes to Wi-Fi range and speed, there are several factors at play that can affect how well your router performs in different areas of your home. As we demand faster speeds for high-definition streaming, gaming, and file transfers, simply slowing down our Wi-Fi to make it go farther is not a viable solution. Instead, we need to explore other strategies to improve our Wi-Fi connectivity.

One trick that actually works fairly well is to focus the Wi-Fi signal in one direction. A typical home router has omnidirectional antennas that transmit the signal evenly in all directions, creating a big doughnut shape. However, if your router is at one end of your house and your couch is at the other, it's not the best setup. Instead, you can use something called a patch antenna, which looks like a big flat panel and sends the signal out in one direction. They're more common in commercial settings or at trade shows, but there's nothing stopping you from sticking one on the side of your house to blanket your backyard with a strong Wi-Fi signal.

Another trick that's built into some Wi-Fi standards is the use of a long guard interval. This means that between short parts of the transmission called symbols are short time intervals before the next symbol is sent. These guard intervals are there to cut down on interference between symbols, so if they're short you get more data, but if they're long you get less interference and therefore longer range at the expense of some speed. Wi-Fi 6 is introducing extra long guard intervals for outdoor use, where ranges often need to be longer.

In addition to these technical tricks, cutting down on interference in other ways can also make a difference. You can do this by using narrower channels, such as 40 megahertz instead of 80 on the 5 gigahertz band. Additionally, making sure that you don't have unnecessary transmissions flying around your house, like from baby monitors or Bluetooth devices that you're not actually using, can also help. This one can make more of a difference than you might think, as it's a huge part of how wired Ethernet has gotten faster over time.

However, other than the tips we've mentioned in this video, I wouldn't expect too much new tech in the near future that can extend Wi-Fi range without adding more antennas. Speed and range are always going to be balancing acts, so you have to pick do you want the Baconator or do you want to lose weight and feel good? You only get to pick one.

Another concern is data breaches causing your credit card info to fall into the wrong hands. This is a serious issue that can happen to anyone, and it's essential to take steps to protect yourself. That's where services like Privacy.com come in. They offer a free, easy-to-use service that hides your credit card number in a virtual card that's locked to whatever merchant you're shopping at. Even if that merchant gets hacked, the bad guys can't take your card number and then go use it somewhere else.

If they try, you'll even get a push notification so that you are always in the loop and you can cancel that card immediately. Cards are super easy to set up - all you create an account, linked your virtual cards to your checking account or a debit card at a limit, and that's it. You're all set. They also offer a browser extension that auto-fills information for you when you're making a purchase, which adds a convenience factor.

Privacy.com is PCI DSS compliant, uses military-grade encryption to secure your information, and offers two-factor authentication. Because they make their money from merchants, there's no cost to you - it's free. So try it out today and see the difference for yourself. Go to privacy.com/tech-quickie to get started.

If you have any suggestions for a future video on fast Wi-Fi or just want to let us know that we're doing something right, leave a comment below. And don't forget to subscribe - it's worth it, I promise.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enat some point we've all tried to stream a fine episode of tech quickie and run up against a Wi-Fi range limit so have you ever wondered why can't we just boost it to maximum power and extend the range to answer we reached out to our good friend and Wi-Fi expert Joel Crane and we'd like to thank him for his contributions two of the most obvious ways that we can increase range present other technical problems you see at slow speeds the modulation scheme the small adjustments in the waveform that actually carry the data is much simpler and easier for equipment to understand but as speeds get faster and faster the modulation schemes are more complicated and more prone to errors and interference so the farther away from the access point you get the slower you have to go in fact if your access point is sending out a signal and not getting any kind of reply from another gadget acknowledging that it received the signal the AP will keep slowing the speed down and down and down until it gets a response and this is a big part of the reason that speeds get slow if you walk farther away from your router now as we demand faster speeds for hi-def streaming gaming and file transfers simply slowing down our Wi-Fi to make it go farther isn't a viable solution so back to more power then right well not quite the Wi-Fi standard doesn't have a super high transmit power to begin with in order to comply with telecommunications laws in different countries for example in the United States you can't go higher than 200 milliwatts and most routers are configured by default to transmit at this maximum so you can't turn it up any further legally however that doesn't mean that getting better Wi-Fi range is a fool's errand one trick that actually does work fairly well is to focus the Wi-Fi signal in one direction you see a typical home router has omnidirectional antennas where the signal is transmitted evenly in all directions and kind like a big doughnut shape but if your router is at one end of your house and your couch is at the other that's not the best setup instead you can get something called a patch antenna which looks like a big flat panel and sends the signal out in one direction they're more common in commercial settings or at trade shows but there is nothing stopping you for example from sticking one on the side of your house and blanketing your backyard in a strong Wi-Fi signal another trick that's built into some Wi-Fi standards is the use of a long guard interval here's what this means between short parts of the transmission called symbols are short time intervals before the next symbol is sent these guard intervals are there to cut down on the interference between symbols so if they're short you get more data but if they're long you get less interference and therefore longer range at the expense of some speed Wi-Fi 6 by the way is introducing extra long guard intervals for outdoor use where ranges often need to be longer of course another winning strategy is to cut down on interference in other ways you can do this by using narrower channels so by using 40 megahertz instead of 80 on the 5 gigahertz band as well as making sure that you don't have unnecessary transmissions flying around your house like from baby monitors or Bluetooth devices that you aren't actually using and this one can make more of a difference than you might think in fact a huge part of how wired Ethernet has gotten faster has simply been by cutting down on noise inside the cable however other than the tips we've mentioned in this video I wouldn't expect too much new tech in the near future that can extend Wi-Fi range without adding more antennas in something like a mesh network speed and range are always going to be balancing acts so you got a pick do you want the Baconator or do you want to lose weight and feel good you only get to pick one are you concerned about a data breach causing your credit card info to fall into the wrong hands here Brandon take this no that's the wrong hands then check out today's sponsor privacy context Ikey they have a free easy-to-use service that hides your credit card number the way it works is by creating a virtual card number that is locked to whatever merchant you're shopping at so even if that merchant gets hacked the bad guys can't take your card number and then go use it somewhere else as they please and if they try you'll even get a push notification so that you are always in the loop and you can cancel that card immediately cards are super easy to set up you just create an account linked your virtual cards to your checking account or a debit card at a limit and that's it you're all set we've also got a browser extension that auto fills information for you when you're making a purchase so there's a convenience factor as well privacy comm is PCI DSS compliant uses military-grade encryption to secure your information and they offer two-factor authentication and because they make their money from merchants there is no cost to you it's free so try it out today and you will get five dollars in your account privacy com forward slash tech quickie that's privacy com forward slash tech quickie so thanks for watching guys like dislike check out our other videos I'll leave a comment if you have a suggestion for a future fast as possible and don't forget to subscribe it's worth it I promiseat some point we've all tried to stream a fine episode of tech quickie and run up against a Wi-Fi range limit so have you ever wondered why can't we just boost it to maximum power and extend the range to answer we reached out to our good friend and Wi-Fi expert Joel Crane and we'd like to thank him for his contributions two of the most obvious ways that we can increase range present other technical problems you see at slow speeds the modulation scheme the small adjustments in the waveform that actually carry the data is much simpler and easier for equipment to understand but as speeds get faster and faster the modulation schemes are more complicated and more prone to errors and interference so the farther away from the access point you get the slower you have to go in fact if your access point is sending out a signal and not getting any kind of reply from another gadget acknowledging that it received the signal the AP will keep slowing the speed down and down and down until it gets a response and this is a big part of the reason that speeds get slow if you walk farther away from your router now as we demand faster speeds for hi-def streaming gaming and file transfers simply slowing down our Wi-Fi to make it go farther isn't a viable solution so back to more power then right well not quite the Wi-Fi standard doesn't have a super high transmit power to begin with in order to comply with telecommunications laws in different countries for example in the United States you can't go higher than 200 milliwatts and most routers are configured by default to transmit at this maximum so you can't turn it up any further legally however that doesn't mean that getting better Wi-Fi range is a fool's errand one trick that actually does work fairly well is to focus the Wi-Fi signal in one direction you see a typical home router has omnidirectional antennas where the signal is transmitted evenly in all directions and kind like a big doughnut shape but if your router is at one end of your house and your couch is at the other that's not the best setup instead you can get something called a patch antenna which looks like a big flat panel and sends the signal out in one direction they're more common in commercial settings or at trade shows but there is nothing stopping you for example from sticking one on the side of your house and blanketing your backyard in a strong Wi-Fi signal another trick that's built into some Wi-Fi standards is the use of a long guard interval here's what this means between short parts of the transmission called symbols are short time intervals before the next symbol is sent these guard intervals are there to cut down on the interference between symbols so if they're short you get more data but if they're long you get less interference and therefore longer range at the expense of some speed Wi-Fi 6 by the way is introducing extra long guard intervals for outdoor use where ranges often need to be longer of course another winning strategy is to cut down on interference in other ways you can do this by using narrower channels so by using 40 megahertz instead of 80 on the 5 gigahertz band as well as making sure that you don't have unnecessary transmissions flying around your house like from baby monitors or Bluetooth devices that you aren't actually using and this one can make more of a difference than you might think in fact a huge part of how wired Ethernet has gotten faster has simply been by cutting down on noise inside the cable however other than the tips we've mentioned in this video I wouldn't expect too much new tech in the near future that can extend Wi-Fi range without adding more antennas in something like a mesh network speed and range are always going to be balancing acts so you got a pick do you want the Baconator or do you want to lose weight and feel good you only get to pick one are you concerned about a data breach causing your credit card info to fall into the wrong hands here Brandon take this no that's the wrong hands then check out today's sponsor privacy context Ikey they have a free easy-to-use service that hides your credit card number the way it works is by creating a virtual card number that is locked to whatever merchant you're shopping at so even if that merchant gets hacked the bad guys can't take your card number and then go use it somewhere else as they please and if they try you'll even get a push notification so that you are always in the loop and you can cancel that card immediately cards are super easy to set up you just create an account linked your virtual cards to your checking account or a debit card at a limit and that's it you're all set we've also got a browser extension that auto fills information for you when you're making a purchase so there's a convenience factor as well privacy comm is PCI DSS compliant uses military-grade encryption to secure your information and they offer two-factor authentication and because they make their money from merchants there is no cost to you it's free so try it out today and you will get five dollars in your account privacy com forward slash tech quickie that's privacy com forward slash tech quickie so thanks for watching guys like dislike check out our other videos I'll leave a comment if you have a suggestion for a future fast as possible and don't forget to subscribe it's worth it I promise\n"