If your home Wi-Fi network speed drops, someone might be stealing access. Here’s how to identify and stop them.
If your Wi-Fi internet speed drops unexpectedly and you’ve ruled out equipment and provider issues, then there might be another explanation. Someone might be stealing your Wi-Fi and hoarding some of your bandwidth. It might be someone in your vicinity, like a neighbor, who borrowed your password and then kept using the connection. The good news is that there’s a way to see if someone is using your Wi-Fi. Also, you can kick them off your Wi-Fi easily and restore some of that speed.
How to see if someone is using your Wi-Fi
Even if your Wi-Fi network works flawlessly, it is still a good idea to see whether someone else is using your Wi-Fi from time to time. As a rule of thumb, you should have a password-protected Wi-Fi network at home. Also, only your devices should connect to it. That means all the gadgets your family uses. And the devices from friends that get on your Wi-Fi periodically.
To see all the devices connected to your home Wi-Fi, you must load the router app you might have used the first time you set up your Wi-Fi. Or the last time you changed the password.
You’ll need login credentials for this step, usually found on the router itself. If you changed the default password, you might have the new one stored in a password manager. Or maybe you know it by heart.
The bottom of the router will also contain an address that lets you connect to the device. You’ll have to load that up in a browser if your router doesn’t have a companion app.
