LMi.net - Supporting Our Members - Tips to improve your WiFi in 2020

[info at lmi.net]

Hello LMi.net Member!

Many people are working and schooling from home now and struggling with 
WiFi setups that weren’t designed to support functions like video 
calling, VPN, and the uploading and downloading of large files. If your 
phone and video calls become choppy, VPN connections drop, video 
playback buffers, and/or your internet access is inconsistent, you might 
be experiencing WiFi issues. 

Oftentimes, people assume this is an issue with their internet 
connection itself. While sometimes this is true, it’s more often an 
issue with how WiFi is distributed throughout the home.  If your router 
is centrally located in your home, and if your home is relatively small 
(e.g. under 1,100 sq. ft.), a single router generally works fine 
throughout the space. However, older homes that have lath and plaster 
walls, multi-story homes, back cottages, or homes where the router is 
located on one side of the house are more likely to have issues, and 
usually require more than one WiFi access point to provide sufficient 
coverage.

At LMi.net, we’ve been installing and troubleshooting home WiFi systems 
for as long as WiFi has existed and we’ve become experts in the subject.
We’d like to share some tips so that you may have a less stressful and 
more productive remote work/school experience. 

Here is a basic guide to help determine if the issue involves your 
upstream internet connection or your home WiFi setup:

If you’re experiencing the same issues throughout the entire house, you 
may not have enough internet bandwidth available for your needs. Please 
call our Technical Support department to take a look at your line. We 
may be able to tweak it to get more bandwidth. Or, there may be a 
problem with the wires leading to your house or your inside wiring that 
we may be able to resolve. In unfortunate cases, you may be in an area 
where our fiber optic internet is not available, and you’re too far from 
the central switching station for a speedy internet connection.

Or, if issues only occur for devices that are located far from your 
router, then it’s likely you have a home WiFi issue. Here are two options:

*Purchase and install WiFi repeaters/boosters*

There are a variety of inexpensive WiFi repeaters available. However, 
they are generally unreliable and don’t meet the needs of homes with 
multiple devices accessing the internet. For small homes or apartments, 
repeaters may resolve the problem if they are placed in a location where 
there is already a good WiFi signal, which may not be the area where you 
need improved connectivity. A repeater works best if it’s connected 
directly to the main router via an Ethernet cable.

*Sign up with LMi’s **Always on WiFi 
<https://www.lmi.net/services/always-on-wifi/>**service*

LMi has been providing a guaranteed home WiFi system called Always on 
WiFi (AOW) for about four years now. It’s based on much of the same 
technology that’s used to power large office networks, and is built 
using the Ubiquiti UniFi network hardware and controller system, which 
we host in our datacenter in Berkeley.

We install a series of access points strategically in the home to 
provide the best coverage. If possible, and for a wiring installation 
fee, we install Ethernet wires inside the home to connect the WiFi 
access points directly to your router. These direct Ethernet connections 
can add a valuable infrastructure improvement to your home. We can also 
run additional Ethernet cables for devices like a TV or a desktop 
computer. In many cases though, we use the wireless mesh/uplinks and 
these work well. There’s no installation fee for AOW if no Ethernet 
wiring is installed.

Pricing for the UniFi hardware is on par with the consumer grade 
solutions from Amazon and Google, but the quality and performance is far 
superior.

Technical support is included in our AOW monthly fee. Having our 
technicians available to remotely diagnose and solve WiFi issues quickly 
is the reason this service has been so successful over the years.

Please visit https://www.lmi.net/services/always-on-wifi 
<https://www.lmi.net/services/always-on-wifi/>to learn more. 

We hope you found this information helpful. If you’d like to learn more 
about Always on WiFi for your home or company, please reply to this 
email or call us at 510-843-6389, extension 2 and we’ll be happy to 
discuss your options.

Thank you and take good care,
LMi.net <https://www.lmi.net/>
510-843-6389
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