Wi-Fi and Tablet Best Practices

Here is a list of WIFI best practices to enhance your experience with the use of our TAP tablets:

• When was the last time you power cycled (turning off and on) your tablets? Make sure you power cycle them periodically to improve their performance.

• Make sure your tablets are charged as low battery can impact performance.

• Are your tablets placed near your router? We recommend placing your tablets as close to the router as possible as this will increase connectivity and prevent disconnections for you and your patients. 

• Location of the router in your building is crucial to the strength of the Wi-Fi connection. Remember that the strength functions in a circular distance so it’s important to have the router placed in a central location to provide the largest area of coverage. It’s best to place the router as close to the middle of your building as possible, which allows equally distributed access to the Wi-Fi signal, see image below for an example:

• Be aware that walls and floors will impede Wi-Fi signals, so the more obstructions you have between your tablets and your router, the weaker (and potentially slower) the signal will be. Try to avoid proximity to large metal, glass, brick or concrete objects. 

• Avoid placing routers near windows or other electronics. Building devices such as cordless phones, microwaves and other electronic devices may emit interference and reduce the wireless signal. 

• Do you have a firewall? Most Health Care spaces/buildings have firewalls installed to prevent personal devices from connecting to the Wi-Fi. Even though our tablets are not used as a personal device they still connect to the Wi-Fi as one. This would prevent the tablet from connecting to the Wi-Fi 

• Does your router have an antenna? If so, adjust it. Sometimes the slightest angle tweak can help.

We recommend contacting your IT team before attempting any of the steps below and/or to find out additional information:

• Is your router firmware up-to-date? The router’s firmware and driver need to stay up-to-date to provide optimal signal strength. 

• If you’re using a dual-band Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6 router, you can connect your client devices to either a 2.4GHz band or a 5GHz band. If you have a tri-band router, you get an extra 5GHz band that you can dedicate to devices that may require constant streaming or video. A 5GHz connection will provide better performance at short ranges than 2.4GHz. This is because 5GHz, while somewhat faster, can’t travel as far or transmit through some objects due to that band’s shorter wavelengths. On the other hand, the 2.4GHz band travels further but tends to have more congestion and fewer channel options. If you are unsure of your router or options, we suggest contacting your IT team or Wi-Fi provider for additional information and assistance. 

• Do you have a guest network? A guest network is handy to have if you’d prefer to keep all the data and files on your personal network out of unapproved hands. This is also a great practice for your staff’s personal devices. Remember the more devices that are connected to the network the tablets are using the slower the connection may be. It’s best practice to minimize device connection on the network your tablets will be using.

• When was the last time you power cycled (turning off and on) your router? Just like rebooting your computer, power cycling your Wi-Fi equipment will almost always help improve performance. 

• Is your router up to date? Oftentimes your Wi-Fi providers will come out with newer equipment but fail to let you know that a newer option is available. We recommend contacting your IT team or Wi-Fi provider to make sure your equipment is up to date.

• Your Wi-Fi provider may have mesh systems that can help you get around this problem by providing you a node that you can place wherever your coverage is weakest. If you were only provided a standard router or even wireless range extenders, this will require some patience and testing to see where your optimal placement areas are.

Another option is a wireless range extender or booster which can help increase the wireless coverage and range within your building.