How to Improve Wireless Internet
Wireless networks can be impaired by many physical and networking issues, some of which are easily resolved. Wireless networking relies on radio waves, so the same things which can obstruct over-the-air television or radio reception can also cause difficulties with wireless. Some troubleshooting steps require you to have administrative or physical access to the wireless router you are using, but other techniques can be implemented on your laptop computer or handheld device.
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Instructions
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Change your physical location in relation to the router. The closer, the better; wireless signal strength drops off with distance. When using a public hotspot, it can be difficult to tell where the router is. Walk around the space you are in, watching your wireless signal meter; you should find some spots where the signal is stronger than elsewhere.
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Avoid microwave ovens. Microwaves operate at the same frequently as wireless networks, and many older ovens leak microwaves. These are not powerful enough to cause a health hazard for humans (or to be perceptible at all), but they are far more energetic than wireless networking broadcasts. If you are near a leaky microwave, there is nothing you can do except move; when in operation, wireless networking will come to a sudden stop.
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Improve your antennas. All wireless devices rely on antennas to pick up wireless signals and send data back to the router. These are frequently located in the screen housing of the laptop; sometimes changing the angle of the screen can improve wireless signal. You can purchase external antennas for your laptop, but these can be very expensive. You can also try a trick that will work only occasionally: attach any wire to your laptop and allow it to dangle. The wire may act as an antenna to improve radio signal.
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Try another channel. If you are an administrator of the wireless router, you can change the wireless channel to one which has less traffic. The three best channels to use are 1, 6 and 11; these have the least overlap. Your router probably defaulted to one of these three; try the other two and see if your connection improves.
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Upgrade your equipment. Older wireless equipment is limited to 802.11b speeds, about 11 megabits per second at its theoretical maximum. 802.11g operates at 54 megabits per second, while 802.11n can reach speeds of 400 megabits per second. To see these improvements, you'll need to improve your hardware in the router and your laptop; check your documentation to see which version you are currently running.
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