5 Reasons Why Your WiFi Keeps Cutting Out [and What You Can Do About It]

For most businesses, having a reliable WIFI connection is essential. But all too often, you may find that your WiFi drops out or becomes unreliable at inconvenient moments. It can be extremely frustrating if this happens regularly in your office or home. So why does this keep happening? Let's take a look at some of the most common causes of WiFi issues.

If you're dealing with poor WiFi performance due to interference from other devices, a good approach is to identify the channel being used by your network. 

If the channel is shared with other networks or public services, it's a sure indication that channel switching is in order. You can download channel-finding apps for free on your smartphone, which will scan the local area, giving you an idea of which channel best suits your home needs. Once selected, manually switch your router channel onto the one identified and voila - you'll be all set to experience far better speeds and connection than ever before.

Managing a strong WiFi connection can be one of the trickiest IT tasks to tackle. Generally, the further you are from your router, the worse your signal will be. That's because radio signals degrade with distance and obstacles like walls, ceilings or large furniture get in the way. Luckily there are lots of strategies for boosting your WiFi signal: move your router higher up, choose a better router that offers better range and performance, switch to a high-performance mesh network system, or upgrade to a newer version of WiFi. Doing any of these can help ensure you don't suffer from poor signals wherever you are in your home or office.

Outdated Hardware

Outdated hardware can be a huge culprit when it comes to disrupted or slow WiFi connections. With modern tools and services relying heavily on wireless communications, having an up-to-date wireless network setup is essential for optimal performance. Unfortunately, older devices and routers may not be able to handle the latest encryption methods and technology, resulting in slower speeds and interrupted connections. If you want to improve your online experience at work, consider investing in more up-to-date router models and quality routers from some of the best manufacturers out there. Doing so may help provide a better, more reliable WiFi connection.

Outdated Firmware/Software

What's the difference between firmware and software? Firmware is software stored permanently in hardware components like motherboards or hard drives. It is more difficult to update than software because it's embedded inside these physical parts of a computer.

On the flip side, the software is an application that runs on an operating system - think Microsoft Word, Excel and other programs you would install on your computer. With software, you can download updates easily and use newer versions as soon as they arrive. In addition, software generally tends to be more user-friendly than firmware since it doesn't directly interact with hardware components.

What does that have to do with WiFi? Well, another potential cause of poor performance could be outdated firmware or software on either end (the device connecting to the network or on the router itself), which might not be able to keep up with modern standards and performance requirements anymore. In this situation, you will need to check both ends for any available updates and install them as soon as possible to regain maximum performance levels again.

Poor Security Settings

Poor security settings on WiFi networks can be a real headache for users. And not just because of the potential privacy risk that comes with using an unsecured connection. Poor security settings may also interfere with a device's ability to maintain a stable and reliable connection to the internet. In some cases, weak or outdated encryption standards used by network routers cause conflicts with certain protocols. This can result in users experiencing slower speeds or even disconnections while trying to access the internet.

For this reason, it's vital to ensure that your WiFi network is protected by updated encryption. It will significantly reduce the chances of these types of connection issues occurring.

Conclusion

Knowing why your WiFi keeps cutting out is key if you want to avoid costly downtime in your office or home environment. While most WiFi issues can be easily fixed by following this article's advice, it can be a time-consuming problem to troubleshoot.

So, be patient and systematic in diagnosing the source of your WiFi connection issues.

Harry Solutions can help with troublesome WiFi connections in any workplace or home office.