What is the Cheapest Good Wi-Fi?

Having good coverage when installing WiFi in your home can be costly, even more so when you have a big house or the WFi signals certain areas of the house. Yet, it is not necessary to spend big money to achieve good internet speeds throughout your home. There are numerous less expensive ways you can use to enhance the WiFi connectivity in your home without compromising on its functionality. It is with this background that it is prudent to provide you with the best and cheapest sources of good WiFi.

It is crucial to assess the current situation with WiFi in your house or office.

However, before exploring options to improve your equipment or add more access points, assess the current state of the organization. Check the following:

• Internet connection speed – Ensure that you have subscribed to an internet package that will support every user and device connected to the network. Nowadays, the majority of households require download speeds of no less than 100 Mbps.
• Router – If the router is not newer than 3 years, it is advisable to upgrade with a new router that can offer wider coverage and faster data rates. Another reason is that newer routers also have better wireless standards and frequencies.
• Dead zones – One can use an app on their smartphone or a laptop to run an internet speed test to determine areas with poor or no connectivity in the house. Noting these down will help decipher where certain spots are ideal for extending WiFi networks or the use of a mesh system.

After you have identified what areas you need to improve, you can begin searching for affordable gear for improving your WiFi connection.

Budget Wired Router

While some of the methods listed above might be costly, getting a new budget router if yours is outdated is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to improve home internet. It is easy to look for wireless AC routers with valuable features offered at a cheap price below a hundred dollars. Here are some things to look for if shopping for an inexpensive workhorse router:

• The newer models are either dual or triple-band technologies, the 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands.
  
• 802.11ac wireless standard
  
• Four 10/100/1000 (gigabit) Ethernet ports
  
• Guest network capabilities
  
• USB port for media sharing and connectivity

The above-specified brands TP-Link, Asus, and Linksys have several routers with a price range of less than $100. This wireless router goes for less than $60 normally and offers AC1750 dual-band speeds that most homes on both floors need.

If your home space is over 2,500 sq ft, which means that a router may not cover the entire area, you should run the wires in a more central location or use a mesh WiFi network (see below) for whole-house coverage.

WiFi Range Extenders

Another way you can easily add more coverage to your WiFi is with a wireless range extender. Sometimes called repeaters or boosters, WiFi extenders receive signals from your current router and retransmit them to reach the other ends of your house. There are inexpensive models currently on the market that only require a direct connection to an electrical socket.

While setting up your WiFi range extender, position it roughly between your main router and the dead zone you are attempting to cover. It is recommended not to place it near large metal objects like fridges or washing machines or close to thick walls as they interfere with signal reception. Features to look for in budget extenders:

• This means that a transceiver will be able to operate at two bands or three bands.
  
• The wireless adapter must be at least 802.11ac compliant or better.
  
• WPS is a very easy feature to operate and can be set up with just a push of a button.
  
• LAN for physical networking capability through the RJ 45 Ethernet port

Nonetheless, WiFi extenders can be optimal for certain rooms or specific problematic zones, not individual floors or the side of a house. For those who are price-conscious, it is recommended to get 23 cheaper extenders rather than purchasing a whole home mesh. Just make sure that the devices are good with the CPU of your router and the bands it supports.

Budget Mesh Router Systems

WholeHome Mesh WiFi systems ensure that the WiFi signal moves effortlessly from one room to the other and that all the networks share the same name in the house. These operate on the principle of forming a synthetic communications network with several zones, called nodes, located throughout your house. Mesh systems are useful if dead zones are found in between rooms or different floors of a building.

Indeed, Eero, Google Nest, Netgear Orbi, and Linksys Velop are some of the best mesh router kits that offer total home coverage but cost between $250–$700. Budget brands like TP-Link Deco provide similar mesh perks at lower price points:

• Deco S4 Perfect for up to 5,500 square feet and has a price of $130
  
• Deco M4 Includes a coverage of up to 5,500 sq. ft for $150
  
• Deco M9 Plus – effectively covers up to 6600 sq ft at the cost of $230.

Mesh kits for the same price range are the DLink Covr Dual Band, which costs $140, and the Synology RT2600ac, with a price tag of $200. Ensure that the mesh system you are to use has optimum nodes and range depending on the size of the square footage of the area you intend to cover. What this means is that if one goes overboard in the choice of a price strategy, then they might discover that the performance of their product or service is significantly affected.

Optimizing Placement of Devices

Before going out and spending your hard-earned money on new equipment for your WiFi, you may want to adjust the location of your current router and other internet devices. Something as simple as moving things to optimal locations can enhance coverage at home:

• Where possible, position the router in the middle of the home and keep it away from other items that cause interference.
  
• Check router antennas are vertical rather than horizontal and that they are not obstructed.
  
• If you can, relocate the computer or the media center near the router to allow direct connection via an ethernet cable rather than the wireless connection.
  
• WiFi extender units should be placed at halfway points between routers and the locations that receive poor signals.
  
• It is recommended that access points or mesh nodes be established at distances of 2535 feet to offer optimum performance.

Sites that initially displayed slow broadband speeds should be checked after making placement changes. This might bring a smile to your face as your results improve.

Set up an access point using an old router Here’s how one can set up the access point using an old router:

For instance, if WiFi is weak in a distant room such as a basement, garage, or, back patio, turning an old router into a wireless access point is a good solution. This process enables your present and new router to flow in unison after altering the setting of the old router. Range extenders work in a way that is quite similar to those of access points but these are capable of offering much higher speeds.

To convert most old routers into dedicated access points, follow these basic steps:

1. Go back to the old router’s management interface and turn off the DHCP to make IP addresses to be assigned by the main router.

2. To do this, set the old router’s LAN IP address to another unused static IP address that is not in the range of your main router.

3. Plug an RJ45 cable directly from among the LAN ports of the primary router to the WAN/Internet port in the old router.

4. Assign the old router’s wireless network similar to your main one but with a different channel and passcode.

Boom! You just got a means of gaining fast access to a distant room at no cost. This method will not give one integrated network if roaming asitis. But it is better than having spotty WiFi signals or having to purchase a new router.

Use Powerline Network Extenders

Another somewhat cheap method of giving WiFi or wired Internet connection to problem rooms is using powerline network extenders. These systems send information through house electrical lines after which the information is converted back to ethernet format at the other end.

Wireless powerline kits are available from $50 and offer moderate home use with gigabit speeds. Some of the cheap and reliable powerline products are available from brands such as TP-Link, Netgear, TrendNet, and Zyxel. Adapters can directly interface with wall sockets and include Ethernet ports to attach devices using wires if necessary.

Powerline network extenders function as separate devices to connect different rooms where wires or WiFi signals are unavailable or poor. Just plug and go. For example, basement offices, garage spaces, outbuildings, or any other locations that are not suitable for human habitation.

Working for this purpose, to discover the best test extender option

When it comes to the question of comparing different kinds of WiFi extenders or various internet bridging solutions, there is no doubt that practice makes perfect. Place budget extender types in problematic rooms and perform several speed checks at different time frames from popular areas within that problematic area.

Turn on any nearby microwaves, watch videos, download files, etc during testing cycles, to put realistic home loads on the local subnet. Record them based on speed and reliability. Retain whichever extender solution is proven to offer the quickest and most stable connection in target rooms.

It is possible to solve most of the dead zone issues in the house without the necessity to purchase name brands or higher systems. Careful selection of surroundings and trial of cheaper equipment in targeted problematic areas can also give satisfactory WiFi at minimal cost. Preparing site placement and making other adjustments also helps to a great extent.

Ready to upgrade your internet experience? Call us now at +1 844-349-7575 to explore the best Cox Internet plans for your needs!

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