Wireless connections have made everyone’s life so much more comfortable. Without the need for cumbersome wiring, you can enjoy a stable Internet connection. However, it also has its own drawbacks from wireless networks. Learn how see the speed and strength of the Wifi signal in Windows 10 and optimize it to the maximum.
This will help you get the most out of your connection and distribute it in the most efficient way for your computer and other devices. Find out how you can check the signal strength from the ‘Command Prompt’ in Windows 10 and the other methods to check your network speed and increase its quality.
How to know the strength of your Wifi signal within Windows 10?
Wifi networks transmit an Internet connection signal within a certain radius; however, the signal is strongest in the center of that radius. The further your PC is from the source or router, the weaker the signal will be. Other objects can also interfere with the transmission of the wireless signal and decrease its intensity.
How to know how much signal is reaching your Windows 10 computer? There are several ways to find out. One of them is the taskbar; Among the icons to the right of the bar, there is an item that represents the available Internet connections. When you are connected to a Wifi network, it will show you the current signal strength.
This little icon allows you to have a basic idea of how much signal you have; but if you want more detailed data on the strength of the connection, you should go to the ‘Control Panel’. Within the category ‘Networks and Internet’ you will find the section ‘Center network and sharing’. On this page you can check all the information about your connection.
In addition to an icon similar to the one on the taskbar, you can access the properties to see the status of the connection. You will see information about its connectivity, signal quality, the amount of data sent and received, among many other details and settings. Finally, you can check the signal strength from the ‘Command Prompt’ or ‘CMD’.
From the CMD
The system console is useful for performing advanced actions on your computer. With a simple command, you can review all the information about the wireless network you have connected to. Enter the command ‘netsh wlan show interfaces’. You will then see different data about the wireless network, including the signal status represented as a percentage. Above 80%, the signal is good.
How to know the speed of Wifi that you have available in Windows 10?
Improving your signal coverage can make the network more stable, but it does not always equate to faster browsing speeds. To discover how fast is your connectionYou must use other methods within the Windows 10 operating system. It should be noted that the maximum speed of your wireless network is subject to the plan contracted with your Internet provider.
Now, within the contracted bandwidth, the speed can fluctuate for various reasons. It could be a coverage problem, interference in the signal transmission or too many devices connected to the same point. In any case, there are a number of ways you can measure how fast the connection is on your PC.
One way to do this is from the ‘Network and Sharing Center’. When you open the wireless network of your Wifi, you will be able to see various information about the connection, including the internet speed available. However, this method does not offer a really exact measurement, so you will have to try another means to know the speed of Wi-Fi.
There are two resources you can use to get more accurate information about your connection speed. There are programs to collect data and analyze your wireless network, as well as online tools to run a quick measurement. Similarly, Windows 10 offers you detailed information on speed from the console.
Doing a speed test
An effective way to assess the speed of your connection is to use an online service to perform a speed test. There are many sites that you can use to measure the speed of your connection, all provide detailed and real-time data. One of the most popular and reliable is the Speedtest speed meter, which with a simple click shows you the speed of data transmission.
From command prompt
Opening the command console in administrator mode and entering the command ‘netsh wlan show interface’, you will see the ‘Receive speed’ and ‘Transmission speed’, that is, the speed lowered and lowered, respectively. These are represented in Mbps, so you can easily compare them to the bandwidth of your contracted plan and make sure you are receiving all the connection speed.
What to do to increase the speed and improve the intensity of Wifi with Windows 10?
If you notice that the signal and speed of your wireless connection is not what it should be, you can apply certain tricks to increase them. For example, you can improve the signal strength by placing your router in the best place to distribute the Wifi without interference caused by certain objects in the environment.
Another way to increase intensity is changing the Wi-Fi transmission band. Usually, a router is configured to operate in 2.4 GHz. However, some have dual band and can be switched to 5 GHz. Switching between the bands helps avoid saturation of wireless signals that interferes with connection speed.
Likewise, you can use signal repeaters to extend the coverage of your Wifi network. The speed will always depend on your Internet provider, but you can configure your router to distribute bandwidth in a personalized way. In other words, you can keep a bandwidth exclusively dedicated to your computer.