A quarter of Americans experience connectivity problems at home

With more people than ever before working from home remotely, a strong Wi-Fi signal has never been more essential. But that’s not what everyone has, according to a new survey of 1,000 consumers by a company called Waveform, which says 28% of Americans have issues with either their cell phone or Internet connectivity.

The problem is not to be ignored, as 33% of newly remote employees reported that they’re getting less work done at home due to connectivity problems. On the flip side, around 25% of respondents said they’re getting more work done at home – presumably, the ones with no connectivity issues at all.

Some 16% of Americans report having issues with staying connected on a daily basis, while 12.5% said they experience poor or very poor cell phone reception at home.

Still, some 60% of those surveyed who are new to remote work said they enjoy working at home more than in the office, and 49% say they’d like to do so permanently.

For that to happen they’ll need to solve their connectivity problems once and for all. Luckily, NetSpot, a website that offers Wi-Fi troubleshooting advice, has a few tips. It said that one of the main culprits of poor Wi-Fi is that the signal can be partially or completely blocked by things such as walls, furniture, home appliances and even people. So, make sure there are no obstructions between the Wi-Fi router and the device you’re using. Also, be sure to disable any services that tend to hog bandwidth, such as video chatting tools and streaming services like Netflix, when trying to get some work done.

Some more technical issues that commonly cause problems include router capacity, which happens when more people are using the Internet at home. In that case, users may need to buy a better router.

As for cell phones, Signalbooster.com offers a few tips for boosting your reception. Some are pretty obvious, such as ensuring the battery is charged and making sure the phone antenna isn’t blocked, as these can cause problems.

“Hold the phone in an upright position and, if a bad signal persists, try to hold it or lift it from the bottom using the tips of your five fingers,” the site says.

Another useful trick is to toggle the airplane mode on and off. This can help the device connect to a closer cell phone tower and give you a stronger signal.