Setting up a New WiFi Access Point

My wife and kids have been complaining about the slow Internet at my house and so I had to take a look at it this weekend. When your kids are young, you can blow off their complaints about slow Internet access. When they know more than you do about computers it is time to listen and fix the problem. That is where I found myself on Saturday.

I couldn't understand what the family was talking about because my primary computer has a physical wire connected to our Internet router. Everything worked well for me. I even ran a speed test and got close to the physical limits of my hardware. Then I started running speed tests on other computers around the house that connect via WiFi. To keep things uniform, let's assume my max Internet connection is 100 Mbps (that's mega-bits per second, not to be confused with mega-bytes per second). Running an Internet speed test on my hardwired desktop results in a speed of 93 Mbps. The laptop next to my WiFi access point came in at a paltry 23 Mbps. The further away from my access point, the slower the speeds. That indicated I might want to update my WiFi access point. I headed down to the local Best Buy and spent $60 on a new piece of hardware.

Setting up a WiFi access point is not as simple as plugging in the hardware and turning it on. I had to turn off and on the cable modem and run a configuration program to let it set itself up. It only took a few moments and then I had things working to the point where I could run my speed tests. My hardwired desktop still had a result of 93 Mbps. Next I tested my laptop and it came in at 83 Mbps. That is significantly better than the 23 Mbps from before. Furthermore I was getting significantly better numbers on devices scattered throughout the house. The PS4 Pro in my TV room came in at 53 Mbps while the PS4 in my bedroom tested at 45 Mbps.

One thing I noticed is the degradation of the WiFi signal. My new WiFi access point actually comes with 2 access points: one at 2.4 GHz and the other at 5.0 GHz. The higher number frequency provides for faster speeds but has a range limitation. I can see the 2.4 GHz signal throughout the house but have to be fairly close to the access point to see the 5.0 GHz network. You'll want to remember that as you select where to place your WiFi access point should you be running through the same exercise. As my bedroom PS4 is furthest from the access point, it is stuck on the 2.4 GHz network as it can't see the 5.0 GHz one.

The final step for setting everything up was to configure my printers. I use IP printing with 2 laser printers (one black and white with the other color). All of the computers in the house expect the printers to be at fixed IP addresses and so I had to configure that in the new WiFi access point. It is easy enough to do and I completed it quickly. Now everything is set up.

I did all of this work while the rest of my family attended a wedding reception and so when everyone got home they noticed they couldn't get on the Internet. The old access point SID had disappeared. All anyone needed to do was look for one of the two new ones and reconnect. I do have to admit I chuckled every time I heard one of my kids exclaim, "Hey, what happened to the Internet?"