As a society, we are spending more and more time online, and the more we do, the more we want the internet to be faster. I get spoiled working in a place where we get blazing fast speeds on our network, so when I am at home, my internet speed feels so slow in comparison. Do you feel like your internet could be faster? Do you want it to be faster, but don’t know where to start?
If you said yes, or are even mildly interested in getting a faster internet connection, you are going to want to read more. There are a variety of factors that play into how fast or slow your home internet can be. There are things that you can do without breaking the bank. I am not guaranteeing that if you follow everything that I suggest will increase your speed, but it is worth a try.
Your Internet Provider
Now, depending on where you live, you may or may not have a good selection of internet providers that you can choose from. There are mainly three types of internet providers out there. The most common one is cable, then you have satelite, as well as cellular internet providers. I am sure there might be more types out there, but these are the main three that you will be able to use. Within these, there are a wide variety of companies that provide them, and depending on where you live will depend on what is offered.
The main thing when it comes to finding and internet provider is you have to realize that the faster internet you want, the more you are going to have to pay. When it comes to finding the right provider, you are going to want to look at who is in your area, and what is the best price for you. Find the company that you can get the best bang for your buck; in this case, the best internet speeds for the amount that you can afford. Although it is nice and convenient to get amazingly fast internet speeds, it isn’t worth it if you are not able to pay your other bills each month.
Choosing the “Right” Router
One of the biggest mistakes people make is that they believe that they should always be able to get the internet speed that they signed up for. That isn’t always the case, especially if you are going the wireless route. Remember, the only way you are going to get the most accurate speed is if you are hard wired into your modem. But, as we all know, it is not always convenient to be wired in, especially in this day and age. So the next best solution is to make sure to find yourself a good router that will provide you with the best speeds possible in comparison to what your internet provider is giving you.
So, how do you find the “right” router for you? Well, there are a variety of things to consider when you are buying a router. First, you have to ask yourself, how important is it to you that you maximize your internet speed? If you are just satisfied with being able to surf the net and check email and you are not worried about speed, you can get away with just about any router in the $25-40 range.
But maybe you want more than just surfing the net, you want faster speeds and you want to do a little more. There are a wide variety of mid range routers out there that have what is called dual bands. The easiset way to explain this without boring you to death is that basically the router comes with two different frequencies that can be used as two different networks. So maybe your computer is on one band and you are watching a movie on the other with your iPad. A lot of these mid range routers also come with other bells and whistles like being able to connect to a printer or an external drive so that you can wirelessly backup or print using the router. These types of routers will set you back any where from about $60-$125.
Portrayal of Dual Band Routers
If you want something even more expensive, you are mainly looking at refinements more than you are looking at added features. What I mean by this is that the more expensive routers, will still have dual bands, but maybe it will be able to be a little faster. They may be able to cover more ground in your house than a cheaper router. Some may even provide other features, but in my opinion, not enough to make me want to spend more than $120 for a router. As always, it is always about a balance about what you can afford and what works best for your situation.
Why I Chose the WD My Net750
Recently, I began the search for a new router because my Time Capsule was on its last leg and it was time for something new. The main things I was looking for was something that was under $100, dual band, and that I could plug in an external drive for wireless backups. In my search, I was led to the Western Digital My Net 750. There were many reasons why I was intriguied by this router, but the first thing that caught my eye was the fact that Western Digital just came out with it’s own line of routers exactly around the time I was looking for one. Now, I personally love using Western Digital hard drives and have always considered them one of the best ones to use for me. As I started to look at it more, the more I started to like what I saw. It had the dual band, was a $100, and I could plug in my Western Digital drive into it for wireless backups.
But what really got me interested was a feature called FasTrack. This feature is able to recognize up to 21 different streaming services and prioritize the bandwith so that if you are streaming a show on Netflix, the router will automatically put more bandwidth to that computer or device so that the streaming is smooth and seamless. I cut the cable over a year ago and have a Roku box, where I stream all my movies, tv shows, and music, and before I would always get intermittent lag or freezing. With the My Net750, streaming has been great and it has made a big difference.
There are a few other things to note about my experience with this router. One, the setup was super easy for me on my Mac. It honestly took all of 5 minutes to set up and really anyone could do it. After using this router for a little over a week, I do have a couple of complaints. One, I thought it would make my speeds faster, but in my testing it did about the same as my older Time Capsule. Also, I was hoping it would increase the capacity of the network in my house as I live in a two story house and in our bedroom, you can hardly get a signal. In my tests, it came out to be about the same as well and I was somewhat disappointed by that. But, instead of returning the router for these reasons, I decided to look into a signal extender and hope that works. With my house being a weird two story set up, and the router being downstairs, it is possible that it isn’t all the routers fault. I say that because when I am downstairs, I get really good speeds so I know it can’t all be its fault.
Final Thoughts
As I started to seriously look around for another router, there was one thing that I needed to keep in mind. There is no one setup or router that is going to make things perfect for me. The same goes for you, just because this router worked for me, doesn’t necessarily mean that it is going to work great for you. There are too many variables that we cannot control when it comes to maximizing our internet speeds. All this to say, do your research, but find what is going to work for you. And finally, don’t be afraid to return your router if it doesn’t work well for your situation. Yes, it may be a hassle, but you are paying good money for it, so you might as well get something that you are going to be okay with having for a while.
Hope this post was informative for you and if you are looking to purchase the Western Digital router that I talked about, look at getting it at Best Buy as that is where I found it for the best price. Do you have any other words of wisdom when it comes to this topic? If so, feel free to leave a comment below. I would love to hear your thoughts.