10 Common WiFi Problems & Fast Fixes to Overcome Them

Wireless technology just changed everything from crappy wires to easy portable network, but still every good thing brings something painful right with it so people face many Wi-Fi problems and we are just going to discus the most common 10 problem people usually face with their Wi-Fi. Well we have some easy solutions that might solve your problem.

#1. I cannot connect to my router, How do I resolve this ?

This is the major problem with many causes and can hit any kind of router no matter it’s the expensive one or just a normal one.

1. If this problem occurs to you make sure that your router is configured to Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). If its is just try to disable and re-enable it.
2. The second thing you can try is disabling the WEP security, because this security can interfere and drop your IP address.
3. The last thing you can check for are the electrical interference something like microwave, alarm clock or any other thing that be interfering with your Wi-Fi router so disabling those devices may help you out.

If you are still not able to get your laptop connected to the router than you can simply reboot your router and computer and than restart again to see if now its working.

#2. What steps should I take to secure my Wi-Fi network ?

This is the normal question that arises in everyone’s mind when they first purchase a new router and get a new broadband connection fit in their house. They just want no outside intruder can access their connection except them so normally there are some steps you can take officially to protect your Wi-Fi Network.

1. Wi-Fi Router normally comes with a WEP and WPA security encryption in which WPA is the best as it allows you to add numbers and words for premium security. Now to enable this security go to router administrator page by accessing 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1, now under Wireless Security click on enable WPA and add your key and than press save and your router will reboot.
2. The second thing you can do is Disabling the SSID (Service Set Identifier) broadcasting, so that hackers are not able to see my Wi-Fi network and this will some relief.
3. The third can be done is too enable the router’s hardware firewall, that will block any suspicious connection.
4. The last thing you can do is to disable the file sharing option for optimum security.

#3. How do I open ports on my router ?

Many functions and applications like personal web server, online gaming, IP Webcams, FTP Servers require you to open ports on your router to allow outside request to be sent to an internal computer on a home network. Well this procedure is called port forwarding and is pretty simple and can be done on any router with slight change in steps.

Open your router’s administrative page and find the label called Port Forwarding. Now just enter the service name and type your start port and end port numbers. If you are opening only one port than enter same numbers in both fields. Now select TCP as the protocol and click on OK. You can even check your routers website for more detailed instructions.

#4. How to I extend range of my wireless signal ?

Well this is just a long matter of discussion and many ideas can go wrong but still people try to experiment and come up with some innovative concepts on getting your signal pumped up, well we posted about 10 steps to improve your wireless signal you can check that and I addition to that you check out Boosting Wi-Fi signal using Beer Can.

#5. How to automatically connect to a Wi-Fi network ?

Sometimes you just want to connect to any network available in your area or maybe somewhere outside, it can be like that Wi-Fi connection does not have any security enabled and its is allowing you to connect but you just want that when ever you are in that range you are connected automatically than follow below steps.

1. Go to Control Panel > Network Connections, now right click on your wireless network.
2. Now click Properties > Wireless Networks > Advanced.
3. Now check out if Radio button next to any preferred network is on just change it too any NON-Preferred network.
4. Now you will automatically connect to any network in your wireless range.

#6. Which wireless channel should I use ?

Wireless 802.11b and 802.11g routers have at-least 11 channels and some routers come with 6 channel as default. Now if you are experiencing any problems or interference with your neighbor's router. So you can change your wireless channel to avoid any interference, well you can change your channel by going to routers administrator page and than under wireless settings option choose channels and switch to anything else from 1 - 11.

#7. How do I share files on a wireless network ?

You can share files between your computers over a wireless network easily by just configuring it to one workgroup. Now enable file sharing in Windows. Now just right click on the folder you want to share and choose sharing and security from the right context menu and click on sharing tab. Now put check in the folder labeled "Share this folder on a network" and "Allow network users to change my files" to enable other to modify your documents.

#8. Should I allow other people to access my Wi-Fi Service ?

Wi-Fi sharing does not have any potential harm but still some dirty minds can crack out your back, so its recommended that you should not share your internet connection with any stranger or outside intruder. Now if you still want to share your internet connection make sure your firewall is one and file sharing is disabled. You might also wanna see who is using your Wi-Fi connection.

#9. Should I worry about packet sniffer's ?

Well obviously yes packet sniffers can sniff out all the activity you are attempting on that particular Wi-Fi connection, they can read your emails, check out which websites are you visiting and pretty much everything attempted on non secure network, but well yes they will not be able to see your transaction over a HTTPS secured network, so your bank transactions and other e-commerce purchase are still secured.

Well to make this much more secured you can use a VPN network and than you will hide everything from them.

#10. What is a router’s hardware firewall ?

Router’s hardware firewall simply protects your incoming and outgoing connections, so it includes a Network Address Translation (NAT) capabilities that will make your PC invisible to anyone trying to attack it. So now if you enable a hardware firewall you do not need to have any third party firewall enabled on your PC.

So these were pretty much 10 common problem a person might face using there Wi-Fi network, but well obviously they all have some solution :)