Home wi-fi recommendations

Once upon a time, working from home seemed like a luxury afforded to few industries and work-types. Then, coronavirus came along and flipped that into a necessity. 

Spotty wifi is a tolerable-for-some nuisance when limited to load times between Netflix shows, but when it impacts your ability to work? That’s a whole different issue. We’ve rounded up our team of network engineers to shed a light on some pro tips when it comes to wifi setups at home.

Where should you put your router/access point?

We highly recommend that you install your wireless router or access point(s) in either a centrally located area of your home or the area that your technology requires the most use and reliability. If choosing between the TV entertainment stand or your home office, let’s err on the side of your work requiring a more stable connection.   

2.4GHz or 5GHz? That, is the question.

There are two primary channels for your wireless networks to broadcast: 2.4GHz and 5GHz. We recommend that you default to using 5GHz whenever possible – if your device(s) are able – as this provides faster speeds in shorter distances. Having said that, having an additional 2.4GHz network can extend the signal to areas of your home – at a slower speed – that would otherwise have poor coverage. Another thing to keep in mind here: some older devices may only support wireless over the 2.4GHz channel.

Are your wireless devices up to date?

If you have admin access to your home network’s hardware, review if all firmware is up to date. This will mitigate against any known exposed security vulnerabilities. Furthermore, for the security of your home wireless networks, ensure they have a unique WPA2 encryption configured. Also, do not leave any wireless networks without a password associated – including guest networks. In short: make sure that your network requires a password for use. 

Running into VPN issues?

If you VPN into other networks and it doesn’t work from your home network, you likely have a solvable – but possibly complicated – reason for this. There are any number of issues that could be causing this, and we’re happy to help troubleshoot you through solving those issues. 

Two-factor authentication? Do it.

We strongly recommend enabling 2-factor authentication for any and all online services that you access. If you log into something, and that something offers you the ability to enable 2-factor authentication…do it. 

Let us know if you have any questions or need a helping hand.