Getting Internet Service Requires More Than Excellent Signal Strength

As computers in general, and WiFi in particular, become more like home appliances and less tools or toys owned by the geeky or the wealthy, not everybody who needs Internet access will be able to get it at any given time. Some people aren't aware of the details involved, especially when using the convenient WiFi connectivity. Reports like

My Internet connection is Excellent, but when I start Internet Explorer, I see

The page cannot be displayed.

What is going on here?

are becoming more and more common in many forums.

Between turning on on your WiFi equipped computer, and seeing the home page of your choice pop up in the browser window, there are a few details which you need to consider.

• Is this your WiFi access point? Setup your WiFi access point so you connect only to it.
• Are there any signal interference sources inside your home? Make sure that noise doesn't prevent your connection.
• Is your WiFi security setup properly? Make sure that you can connect, but your neighbours can't hijack your connection.
• Is your selected WiFi channel available? Make sure that there is bandwidth available.
• Have you run a WiFi environment survey? Make sure that there is a channel available.
• Have you tried using Ethernet? Make sure that the problem is with WiFi, not your Internet service in general.

All of these are issues which involve WiFi connectivity, and all different ways. The bottom line, though, is that WiFi will never replace Ethernet. And there are other issues which affect Internet connectivity in general, but might still affect this computer, alone.

>> Top