Wi-Fi is radio waves, meaning your router broadcasts in all directions from a central location. If your router is in a far corner of your house, then you’re covering a great deal of the outside world unnecessarily. If you can, move your router to a more centralized location. The closer you can put your router to the center of your coverage area, the better reception will be throughout your house.
If you live in an apartment building, other routers might be interfering with yours. Free software, like NetSpot on Mac and Windows (and Android) or Wi-Fi Analyzer for Android, can show you every wireless network nearby, and what channel they’re using. If your router overlaps with nearby networks in particular rooms, consider switching to a less congested channel.
If none of that helps, your home might be too much for one router to handle. Consider purchasing a wireless repeater or setting up an old router to serve as one to extend the range of your main router.
Slow internet everywhere #
If your Wi-Fi speed is slow no matter where you are, try plugging a laptop into your modem directly and test your internet speed using a site like speedtest.net. If speeds are still down, the problem is likely with your internet connection, not your router. Contact your ISP (Internet Provider)
If that’s not the issue, it could be that your current wireless channel is overcrowded by your devices, or by those of other nearby networks. Consider changing the channel on your router in your router settings. Each router brand does that a little differently, though.
If that doesn’t help, performing a factory reset on your router and setting it up again may help. On most routers, there’s a Reset button that you can hold down with a paperclip. Do so for 30 seconds, and the router should default from factory settings. Use our guide to setting up a wireless router to get everything properly configured, and see if that helps. If none of that works and your internet is fine on a wired connection, your router might be dying. Consider buying a new one.
If it looks like your printer is connected to Wi-Fi but you can’t get it to work, head into your printer settings on your computer and make sure the correct default printer is selected. Microsoft also has some troubleshooters you can run to see if they pick up on anything obviously awry.
We also suggest checking your router security, firewalls, and VPN security to see if any of them are identifying the printer as a strange device and refusing a connection. You may need to disable certain firewalls or reconfigure security protocols to use your printer successfully. When all else fails, uninstall your printer drivers and reinstall the more recent versions to see if this makes a difference.
