With the holiday season fast approaching, recent reports reveal that home decorations like Christmas lights have staggering effects on the overall speed of Wi-Fi connections.
United Kingdom-based communications regulator Ofcom recently published a report claiming that electronic gadgets and lights at home cause Wi-Fi connection performance to drop by about 20 percent.
Most tech analysts usually account network congestion and poor infrastructure design as the main reason for slow broadband connection. However, the report cited devices such as baby monitors and home phone can also cause interference with Wi-Fi connection.
Ofcom revealed that electronic devices compete with Wi-Fi connections for frequencies; hence, Wi-Fi connections drop in performance. As part of its study, Ofcom is planning to release a mobile app that can check for home broadband.
According to BBC, the app will test wireless signals in order to make sure that data flowing through it are not interrupted from the router to the receiving device. The app will also have a feature that allows users to check whether there are certain appliances within their vicinity that might be slowing down their Wi-Fi connection.
Tech experts also suggest some practical and easy to do steps in order to maximize the speed of a Wi-Fi network. Experts suggest that when users begin to experience sluggish internet connection, they can restart their router. Restarting a router usually takes care of clogged networks as it allows the device to search for new channels that are not being used by other devices.