Geek’s Blog

5 Reasons Why Your Wi-Fi Isn’t Working


If you’ve ever experienced the pain of Wi-Fi dropping out at the most inconvenient time possible, you’ll know how limiting it can be at work or at home. If you’re the parent of teenagers, you’ll also know the sound of frustrated cries a Wi-Fi outage can bring. So how you determine the ‘why’ in your Wi-Fi issue? Check our top 5 reasons below if you need help with making your Wi-Fi connect.

5. Malware is stealing your internet

With an increasing number of apps, programs, and files downloaded from the internet, there’s a greater chance of one containing a hidden virus or piece of malware. These nefarious hacker tools can cause havoc in any number of ways, but one is to potentially hijack your hardware – and internet connection – for a hacker’s personal gain. With the advent of Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency, hackers are implementing viruses with the goal of using your computer’s processing power to ‘mine’ digital currency. If you notice a drop in Wi-Fi connectivity and a computer that’s quickly overheating, this may be the cause.

4. The router name or password has changed

Depending on who acts as the in-house IT support in your family, chances are they’ll have access to your router when performing the initial internet setup. This means they may have the ability to change the router name or password. If you’re a parent, you may have changed the password for your Wi-Fi connection to prevent kids accessing the internet outside of approved hours – or perhaps you’ve recently updated your computer security and changed your well-known password to something far more secure.

While we don’t ever recommend writing down your password, make sure whenever you do change it, it’s something both incredibly secure and easy for you – and only you – to remember.

3. Your laptop or phone is out of range

Connectivity range isn’t something you might consider when you’re sitting in your house and having trouble connecting to your Wi-Fi. However, if you’re located in the opposite corner of the building to your router, and on different floors, there’s a chance you could be out of range for optimal connectivity. You could solve this issue by moving the router to the middle of your house, or by investing in a Wi-Fi extender.

2. Your local network is congested

A congested local network can be a common cause of Wi-Fi connectivity issues. If you have multiple devices in the same household all streaming music, videos, or used for playing data-intensive video games, this collection of download speeds can make it difficult to connect or maintain an adequate speed. The Routers supplied by your internet provider, are often only designed for one device. Consider upgrading to a better router.

1. You’ve reached your bandwidth limit

While almost every internet service provider (ISP) today will provide affordable, unlimited bandwidth plans, you may still be signed up to a plan from long ago that only offers a certain amount of data each month. If this is the case, and you’re connected to Wi-Fi but nothing seems to be happening – it may be that it’s time to call your ISP and ask them to update your plan.

If you’ve checked the above issues but still can’t find the answer to your Wi-Fi problem, the expert team at Geeks on Wheels are here when you need computer help. Our team offers same-day computer support services in Wellington, Auckland, Waikato, Christchurch and almost everywhere else in New Zealand – call our team today and find out why we’ve been trusted to help Kiwis with their IT problems for over a decade!