Set Wi Fi password
Most routers have basic security settings. It will have a Wi Fi password, which you need to enter on each device you want to connect to the internet. You can find it in the documentation or on the label at the bottom of the router.
Unlike router passwords, Wi Fi passwords are unique to each router, so there is no need to change them urgently. However, you must carefully check other security settings.
Password protection of your Wi Fi is important for two reasons:
It can prevent unauthorized users from stealing your internet, so your neighbors will not use your bandwidth to download the seeds of ‘Game of Thrones'.
It encrypts the connection between your computer and router, eliminating the risk of data you send or receive being intercepted by other devices.
Routers offer many different Wi Fi encryption methods, some of which are more useful than others. In short, you should look for WPA2 security because other types of security are too easy to crack.
Disable remote access
Remote access is a function that network administrators (or anyone else) can use to remotely log in to routers through the internet. For typical home users, it has almost no practical use and should be disabled by default as it poses potential security risks.
If you decide to need remote access to the router, you must ensure that the router's management password (see # 3 in this article) is changed to a very secure password.
Choose the correct channel and network mode
You can quickly explore two settings to ensure optimal speed from the router from the beginning. They are channel mode and network mode.
The router broadcasts on different channels, covering the entire frequency range of the Wi Fi protocol standard. If many routers use the same channel, they will all be affected by interference and their performance will also decrease.
The default setting for many 2.4 GHz routers is 6 channels. Avoid this because it is highly likely that your neighbors will also use it. Many modern routers can automatically select the best channel based on the minimum usage, or find the best channel themselves.
Network mode refers to the protocol used by routers to communicate with devices. Routers support multiple protocols, with Wi Fi 6 currently the fastest, followed by 802.11ac.
Ensure that you are using the fastest protocol supported by the router. They are mostly backward compatible and can be compatible with your old device, although they will not benefit from faster speeds.
You can also choose to use the 5GHz frequency band using the newer Wi Fi protocol. This is less susceptible to interference than the old 2.4 GHz frequency band, although its range is also shorter and incompatible with devices designed before 2014.