The 7-Point Home
Wi-Fi & Security Checklist
Find the dead zones and open doors on your home network in about 5 minutes. Run through these seven checks yourself — and if anything looks off, we'll come to you and fix it.
Do It Yourself
Your 7-Point Home Network Check
Grab your phone or laptop and walk through each item. Check off the ones you're confident about — the rest are exactly the kind of thing we handle on a single on-site visit.
Map your dead zones
Walk every room with a streaming video playing on your phone. Note where it buffers, drops, or the signal bars fall off — back bedrooms, garages, patios, and upstairs corners are the usual culprits. Tip: if a room is unusable, that's a coverage gap, not a "slow internet" problem.
Lock down your router's admin login
Log into your router (usually 192.168.1.1) and change the default admin username and password. If it's still "admin/admin" or printed on a sticker, anyone who's been on your network can change your settings. Tip: this is different from your Wi-Fi password.
Use WPA3 (or WPA2) encryption
In your Wi-Fi settings, confirm security is set to WPA3 or WPA2 — never "WEP," "Open," or "None." Older encryption can be cracked in minutes. Pair it with a strong passphrase of 12+ characters you don't use anywhere else.
Set up a guest network
Create a separate guest Wi-Fi for visitors and smart devices. It keeps phones, laptops, and family files isolated from cameras, plugs, and anyone who pops over. Bonus: if a smart device is ever compromised, it can't reach your main computers.
Update firmware & turn on auto-updates
Check your router's admin page for a firmware update, install it, and enable automatic updates if available. Outdated firmware is one of the most common ways home networks get exploited — and most people have never updated theirs.
Secure your smart devices
Cameras, doorbells, thermostats, and smart locks ship with weak defaults. Change every default password, enable two-factor authentication in each app, and put them on your guest network (Step 4). Tip: a hijacked camera is a privacy problem, not just a tech one.
Turn on parental controls & back up your data
If you have kids, enable content filtering and time limits at the router level. And make sure family photos and important files are backed up automatically — to the cloud or an external drive — so a failed hard drive or ransomware never means losing them.
Stuck on any of these? That's normal.
Most homeowners get through the first few and hit a wall on firmware, guest networks, or a stubborn dead zone. That's exactly what we do — on-site, in plain English, usually in a single visit. No hauling equipment, no jargon, transparent pricing before we start.
Want us to handle the whole checklist for you?
Book an on-site visit and we'll secure your network, kill the dead zones, and set everything up right — or just call if you have a quick question.
On-site across the Central Valley · Response within 24 hours · Transparent pricing, no hidden fees