How to improve the WIFI signal in my French home?

I am having lots of visitors to stay for Christmas – any tips for improving my wifi?

It is never too early to start planning to ensure everyone can stay in touch.

Reliable broadband is a must and visitors expect to be able to jump on to the broadband anywhere. With a houseful of people, with all their phones, iPads, Kindles, laptops and so on connected to the wifi, it’s going to slow the broadband speed.

Getting a faster speed can be as simple as each device having the wifi connection disabled when not in use.

This will make the signal on every other device far stronger. Every device connected will slow it down a touch.

Large homes, especially those with thick walls, pose another barrier to getting the most out of your connection. Wifi extenders plug into sockets in the walls to extend the signal into “dead” areas.

Getting the best wifi from your modem is all about location. The higher the better, as signals are sent out radially and downwards.

Modems do not like microwaves and white goods so kitchens are not recommended. They also don’t like TVs or mirrors so not too close to them either.

Your telecoms technical support team are there to help and are able to check wifi service to see if there are any reasons why it is slow.

Modems are often sent out with a factory-set wifi channel but many new types now automatically search for the best channel to use.

If you are surrounded by houses using the same channel, it can slow down the service. Ask your provider to check and they can move it to a less congested channel if needed.

Also - if you are giving a gift that needs to be connected to wifi - remember to have the wifi details to hand so the recipient can get their gift up and running.

Question answered by Sarah Fletcher from the telephone and broadband provider, UK Telecom. See uktelecom.net for more information on their services in France. If you have a query on this topic send it to news@connexionfrance.com