There’s a good chance that every member of your household is using the internet, whether they’re gaming, studying, or working. The problem is that everyone being on one network can cause major performance issues for everyone in the house. Of course, in this day and age, you’d expect a little more out of your network as opposed to telling someone they have to get off the internet while you get something done.

Fortunately, with a few tweaks to your WiFi and router set up, you can likely get far better performance out of your network without having to kick someone off entirely. Here’s a look at four practical things you can do to make sure your whole family gets a better, more reliable signal for whatever it is they’re doing online.

Upgrade your router

The best WiFi routers today far out-perform the routers of just a few years back. With the option to split your network in two, creating a 2.4 GHz connection and a 5 GHz connection, along with other modern tools, you’ll likely find that getting a new router is the fastest way to improve your internet experience. With a relatively minor upgrade, you’ll enjoy a more stable connection from all your devices and likely a faster one, too.

A new router will give you access to multiple management tools, like entertainment management. With entertainment management, you can tell your router to either give priority to devices that are gaming and streaming or ask to de-prioritise them, like if you need a strong signal for working or studying. Other features, like manual device prioritisation, will help make sure that you always have the best signal when and where you need it.

New router features are ideal for your family because they let you prioritise the work and play of the “big kids” (including mum and dad!) without taking away devices from the little ones or telling your family to stop streaming while you’re trying to get X, Y, or Z done. These features are practically a must-have in the new work-from-home and virtual school era.

Use Parental Controls

The best modern routers have a host of parental controls that can help you do everything from reinforce a bedtime to ensure they’re staying safe while browsing the internet. Some routers and ISPs allow you to track what your kids are doing online, while others require additional software for you to browse internet history without going to the individual’s device. However, all modern routers give you some sort of blocking capability.

As a parent, your child’s safety is paramount, and with so many scary stories about what could go wrong when kids are online, it’s a good idea to check what sort of parental control features your router has. Taking the time to block certain websites is a good start. From there, you might actually turn off a device’s connection after a given time at night or block them from the internet for a certain number of days if they get in trouble.

When used correctly, parental controls can help you keep your children safe and give you one less thing to worry about, while ultimately improving their online experience since you won’t have to check or confiscate their devices from them to reinforce the rules.

Optimise signal strength

If someone persistently complains about their connection, but everyone else seems to be okay, or if everyone experiences a bad signal from one part of the house, it might be time to optimise your router with some updates that won’t cost anything. First off, think about where your router is actually located. Your router should not be in a cabinet or behind furniture as these things will impact the signal.

Next, consider relocating your router closer to the centre of the house or closer to the general area where most people connect to it. If you have a large house or people connecting all throughout your home, you should consider using a signal repeated to improve strength in the rooms far away from the router.

Consider plugging in

If you have devices that need better performance, like a TV where you stream movies or an Xbox where everyone plays games in the entertainment corner, consider using an Ethernet cable to connect those devices directly to the router.

When you plug a device directly into the router, everyone will enjoy a better signal on that device, and it will prove more stable. You can use this trick for other important devices in your network, like if you have a dedicated work computer or if one member of your family really loves to game.

With just these small changes, everyone in the household will begin enjoying a better, safer, and more stable connection in no time at all.