5 common home Internet problems and how to fix them

Introduction

Have you ever experienced Internet issues at home that come and go without any explanation why? And, after calling the cable or telephone company for help, you were left wondering if customer service still exists? I totally understand your frustration. I hear people complain all the time about Internet connectivity issues. Slow browsing and streaming problems are very common. Maybe you are working from home and your Zoom or WebEx virtual meetings are disconnecting or experiencing poor video/audio. In this article I will go over 5 common home Internet issues and provide simple, easy to understand ways to troubleshoot and fix them. Hopefully, this will help save you some aggravation and an expensive technician visit!

Problem 1 – Not enough WIFI

Here’s the scenario: Your cable Internet modem is located downstairs behind the TV in the living room. This is common because the cable modem needs access to where the cable wire enters your home. The most logical place for it is behind the TV. The cable wire is right there, and you get the added bonus of hiding all those components behind the cabinet. However, your iPad can hardly browse the Internet upstairs, nor does the Xbox connect to the Internet in the bonus room. The problem is that the WIFI signal emanating from the modem behind your TV from can’t penetrate your house’s building structure all the way upstairs. If your iPad works well while near the cable modem but stops working when in other areas of your home, this is probably the problem. In this case you need to provide more wireless access points across your home. I recommend using a mesh system such as Google’s Nest WIFI. Mesh networks are easy to deploy and create their own wireless backhaul to the central point behind your TV. No cable running required!

Problem 2 – Not taking full advantage of your WIFI network’s 5GHz capability

In the United States, wireless access points can operate in two different bands, 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands are located in what is called white space spectrum. This means that the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has granted access to use these bands without a license. Any device operating in these bands must try to limit interference with other devices and must also accept any interference from other devices. For example, your microwave oven uses radio frequency located in the 2.4Ghz band to cook your food. Don’t be alarmed. Your microwave operates at a much higher wattage than the very weak signal your WIFI network uses. Your WIFI network is not going to cook you. The 2.4Ghz band is small and there many WIFI and non-WIFI devices commonly found in your home competing for this RF real estate. Due to this congestion, the 2.4ghz band is usually not the most efficient frequency to use. The answer is to move to the 5GHz band. Some wireless routers refer to this as the 5G network and may even advertise a SSID with 5G appended to the name. Make sure your wireless device is using the 5GHz enabled SSID to take advantage of less interference and the faster speeds this network offers. There is one caveat with 5GHz. The higher the frequency the greater the attenuation. Basically, this means that the 5GHz band cannot penetrate building structures as easily as 2.4GHz. You may not get as strong of a signal as you did when using 2.4GHz. If this happens, refer to Problem 1 – Not enough WIFI for suggestions to fix.

Problem 3 – Use modern network equipment with up-to-date firmware

Wireless routers have been around for many years. If you were an early adopter of this technology, chances are your network equipment is old and may need to be updated. Many new features like 802.11ac and beam forming have been developed over the last couple of years and can significantly improve your speed and mitigate RF interference. Other features have been added to make your network more secure and allow you to manage who connects to your network and what they can see once connected.

If your equipment is not that old and already has newer features, perhaps it just needs a firmware update. The firmware is the router’s operating system. Most manufactures routinely update the firmware to add features and fix bugs. Running old firmware may also be a security risk. Firmware updates are typically found on the manufacture’s website under support downloads. Do not remove power or reboot the router while downloading the new firmware as this could permanently damage the device.

Problem 4 – Wireless device should be running up-to-date operating systems

Just like the router firmware, the end user device should also have the latest operating system and patch updates applied. You should be running the latest version of Windows 10 with the latest Internet browser. Apple operating system upgrades also include updates that could improve your Internet browsing experience. 

You should also make sure you are running the latest wireless network interface card drivers. The wireless network interface card is the actual hardware inside your computer that provides the wireless connection. Wireless NIC manufactures may issue driver updates that include additional features and correct bugs that have been discovered. Windows typically keeps the drivers updated, but it is possible that your wireless NIC manufacturer may have issued an update that it not listed by Microsoft. You can find out who your wireless NIC manufacturer is by looking in device manager under network adapters. Updated drivers are typically found on the manufacturer’s website under support downloads. Apple device are updated via software updates that are distributed solely by Apple.

Problem 5 – Make sure your device is clean of all malware

Malware is a broad term loosely used to describe any application that is considered malicious. Malicious software can be viruses, worms, or spyware. Malware is usually loaded without you knowing and contains harmful software that can be used by hackers to gain information about you or control your PC to attack and gain information on other Internet connected devices. Malware will certainly cause your PC and home network to not work efficiently.

To protect yourself from malware you will need to insure you are running Windows 10 with the latest updates. Mac users need to perform all Apple IOS updates. You will also need to make sure you are running the latest browser versions. Internet Explorer and Edge are updated by the Windows 10 update process. Google Chrome is regularly updated by Google. Next, you will need anti-virus and anti-malware protection. Microsoft Windows 10 includes a good free anti-virus tool called Windows Defender that is regularly updated by Microsoft. I would also recommend an anti-malware tool such as Malwarebytes (https://www.malwarebytes.com). Malwarebytes will run a basic on demand scan for free.

Lastly, I recommend using OpenDNS (https://www.opendns.com) for all devices on your home network. OpenDNS offers a free Domain Name Server service that your PC uses to connect to resources on the Internet. It works by comparing the browsing site address or URL against a very large database of known malicious sites. If it determines that your PC is attempting to connect to a known malicious site, it will not complete the lookup and refer your browser to an OpenDNS webpage describing what happened and why. This method of protection is unique and proven to be an effective layer of security. It is also effective against ransomware attacks.

Conclusion

Having a fast, always available Internet connection is a necessity for most people today. Speed and efficiency are necessary to power our streaming applications such as Netflix and gaming apps. Home networks must also be able to provide high quality service to many devices at the same time. This can be accomplished using a basic architecture with modern components that are up-to-date and secure. Following these five suggestions should save you some frustration and allow your home’s Internet to be what you want it to be!