A home internet connection is practically one of the necessities of life these days. This was especially true during the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, where many people had to work and study from home. With the whole family taking up internet bandwidth, conflict and slow speeds are a natural consequence. Therefore, you may find yourself arguing with your kids about their internet usage, particularly if you work from home, and are plagued with video call issues.
However, there is an easy solution to this problem. You won’t feel your Cox internet speeds suffering if your children are playing Mario Kart in the other room if you take a few simple steps. These involve tinkering with your router settings and setting different priorities for different devices. Resultantly, you will be able to direct your bandwidth priority to your devices, without your childrens’ internet activities interfering. Here’s how you can make these adjustments.
Table of Contents
Evaluate Your Internet Bandwidth Needs
The first thing you need to do is evaluate your bandwidth requirements. Take inventory of how many devices are in your house, and how heavy their usage is. To do this, consider every device, such as smartphones, computers, gaming consoles, and your kids’ tablets as well.
This will give you a good general idea of your household’s bandwidth usage, and let you determine if your current wifi plans meet your needs and if not, then switching to Cox plan would be a good decision. In addition, you also need to see what times your internet usage spikes the most. For example, if your kids have online classes and you have a Zoom meeting at the same time, the internet may start acting up if you don’t have a satisfactory package.
Check Your Signal Distribution
Use a heat mapping app to see how the signals around your house are distributed. If you work in an area where you don’t get enough signals, your internet bandwidth speeds will suffer. Then, use this signal map to see what the best place for your router would be.
Make sure you set your router up in a central area, with no blockages around it. This will help distribute the signals more equally and help your devices catch them in a more efficient manner. If necessary, you can boost your signals with a series of signal extenders, especially if you live in a large, multi-story home.
Do A Speed Test
You should run a speed test on your connection to see whether it is acting at its best potential. You can easily do this with some simple websites or even on the portal your internet provider gives you. Make sure you test your internet speed at different times of the day to see if there are any dips at certain times.
Furthermore, you should try running a speed test by connecting your device to the ethernet cable of your connection. If there is a marked difference between the ethernet connection speed and WiFi speed, there may be some problems within your home network. You’ll have to look for interference and signal distribution issues, in that case.
Get A Router With QoS Settings
This is where you’ll really get to play around with your internet bandwidth. Check if your router lets you adjust the Quality of Service (QoS) settings. You can confirm this by looking at the router’s specifications or by signing in to your admin settings. Regular routers do not often have these capabilities, but ones made specifically for gaming always do.
So, if your current router does not support QoS adjustment, then you need to get a new one to meet your requirements. Companies like ASUS and Linksys make these routers, and you can easily find them online or in physical stores.
Prioritize Your Devices Accordingly
Once you have your QoS-capable router, you can get down to the real work. If you want to get the primary claim on your home’s internet signals, then you need to go into the settings and prioritize accordingly.
Some routers let you only set one priority device, while others enable you to set different levels for multiple devices. Choose the right router and settings for your needs, so that you get uninterrupted signals.
Upgrade Your Connection
Sometimes, your existing connection may just not be enough to support your household’s internet needs. In that case, you should update your connection. While you’re at it, you may as well look into Charter cable plans and entice your kids away from the internet by giving them access to age-appropriate shows. If you get our internet and TV services bundled, you can even save a considerable amount of money on both of them.
Furthermore, access to good channels with cable wifi bundles such as Cox packages can actually ease the burden on your internet connection and let you enjoy the speeds you need.
In conclusion, if your kids are hogging your internet, there are a number of solutions you can opt for. These are simple and user-friendly, along with being easily reversible.
