How to Get Better Fibre Speeds On Wi-Fi

You may experience slower than expected fiber speeds when connected to your Wi-Fi network. This can be frustrating, especially when you're trying to stream your favorite shows, have an online conference, or play online games.  

The reason for this is that Wi-Fi signals can be affected by a variety of factors such as physical barriers like walls or distance from the router. Imagine a ray of light representing your Wi-Fi signal, and each wall as a barrier that blocks some of the light. The more barriers, the weaker the Wi-Fi signal will be and the slower your Internet will be.  

Another factor that can affect your Wi-Fi speeds is interference from other electronic devices, such as microwaves, cordless phones, and baby monitors. These devices can cause 'noise' on the same frequency as your Wi-Fi, similar to how different radio stations can interfere with each other.  

Several other factors would also affect the Wi-Fi speeds such as router placement, limited bandwidth (if you have a lot of devices connected to your network at the same time) distance between network device and the router, and outdated network hardware (basically which Wi-Fi standard that your device supports).  

By identifying and addressing these issues, you can help ensure that you have the best possible Wi-Fi experience with your fiber connection.  

To ensure that you are getting the most out of your fiber connection and to make your wireless connection as fast as possible, we recommend the following:

• Position your router in a central location in your home, away from walls and other barriers.
• Keep electronic devices that may cause interference away from your router.

• Connect your device to your router via an Ethernet cable for the fastest and most stable connection.
• Keep your router firmware updated.
• Consider using an Xplore Whole Home Wi-Fi system (a mesh network) if you have a large home, or if you are facing blind spots or areas with weak signal.
• Upgrade your devices to support WiFi-5 standard if it's possible.

By following these tips, you can help ensure that you have the best possible Wi-Fi experience with your fiber connection.

FAQ  

What Wi-Fi standard does Xplore offer?  

WiFi-5 is the fifth generation of the 802.11 wireless networking standard, also known as 802.11ac. The maximum theoretical speed of WiFi-5 is around 1.3 Gbps (gigabits per second). It's important to note that the actual speed you will experience will be lower than the maximum theoretical speed due to various factors, typically 1/3 to ½ at the most, such as interference, distance from the router, the number of devices connected to the network, and the type of device itself. Additionally, devices that support WiFi-5 typically also support the older WiFi-4 standard, so the maximum speed will be limited by the device's capability to support the standard.  

Is the 5 GHz band any faster?  

The 5GHz Wi-Fi band and 2.4GHz Wi-Fi band are two different frequency ranges that Wi-Fi routers can use to transmit and receive data.  

The 5GHz band is considered to be the faster of the two, able to achieve higher speeds and support more bandwidth-intensive activities such as streaming high-definition video and online gaming. It has less interference compared to 2.4GHz, as many other electronic devices such as cordless phones and microwaves also operate on the 2.4GHz band. Additionally, it has more non-overlapping channels, which allows for more devices to connect to the network without interference.  

On the other hand, the 2.4GHz band has a longer range, and can better penetrate walls and other barriers. This makes it a better choice for larger homes or buildings where the router may be located far from the devices that need to connect to it.  

As an example, if you have a small apartment and mostly use the Internet for browsing, streaming and video conferencing, you could prefer to connect to a 5GHz network as you would get faster speeds and less interference. On the other hand, if you have a large house with many walls, you would probably prefer to connect to a 2.4GHz network as it would have a longer range and better penetration through walls.  

In summary, the 5GHz band is typically faster and less congested, while the 2.4GHz band has a longer range and better penetration through obstacles.  

Should I downgrade to the speed of Wi-Fi? Am I wasting money?  

If you have multiple wireless devices in the home, then you want each to have the most available speed. A 1 Gbps package will help ensure the most speed is available to each person in the home connecting over wireless.