Simple tricks to improve your Wi-Fi

Suffering from a poor wireless connection in your home? You don't have to go out and buy a new router just yet. There are a lot of simple, free, and low-cost solutions to get a few more bars on your Wi-Fi signal.

Location, location, location: This may seem obvious, no-brainer to you, but it is probably the most important part of setting up your home network. Choosing a central location without any obstructing walls is ideal. Also, placing the router in a raised location is very important. Think about placing it on top of a bookshelf or desk area, or if you want to get really saucy, go for a wall-mounted or ceiling-mounted setup.

The rabbit ears: Again, this might seem obvious, but trust me folks, these aren't for decoration. Pointing your antenna in the right direction can mean the difference between a weak signal and a strong one. If your router is located on one side of your home (like mine), point your antenna the way you want your signal to travel through your house. Pointing your Wi-Fi card's antenna back is equally important.

Interference: Wi-Fi is susceptible to interference from a lot of other devices, most notably cordless phones and microwaves. (My colleague Christopher Null discussed microwave interference in depth here.) To reduce interference, place these items far from each other and try using the channel-frequency setting on your router's settings page to get on different frequencies.