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Wireless networks have become more powerful in the past few years. Speeds are comparable to a wired network's, and in some cases even faster. Or, at least, that's what's supposed to happen.

In reality, as you might have discovered, that speed depends on your proximity to the router, and on the far side of the house you might get slow Internet or nothing at all. This presents a problem for taking full advantage of your home tech, particularly when you're trying to pull up a recipe on your iPad in the kitchen or check your email from the patio. But the solution is simple. Here's a five-step method to solving your wireless networking problem.

Step 1: Determine the Network Standard That's Right for You

There are five wireless network standards: 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, and 802.11ac. You can use any of them, but keep in mind:

• 802.11a is typically used by large corporate networks.

• 802.11b is low-cost, but it has a slow maximum speed (11 Mbps) and tends to get some interference from home appliances.

• 802.11g is the newest of the three standards, and it combines the best aspects of 802.11a and 802.11b. It's also backward-compatible with everything that runs on 802.11b. • 802.11g has a maximum speed of 54 Mbps, which is solid for most home use.

• The best so far is the 802.11n standard, recently finalized with a top speed of 600 Mbps. The N routers are still new (the final tech's only about two years old) and may have issues with devices configured for 802.11b/g networks. 802.11ac won't be finalized until late 2014.

Whatever the standard, make sure all your equipment—computer, router, etc.—runs on the same one. An 802.11g router, for example, won't run with an 802.11a range extender. For personal use, you can get away with 802.11g or, if you want to be fancy, some 802.11ac equipment.

Step 2: Design Your Network

The next step is deciding how much of your house to cover, and where to place your gear. A lot depends on the size of your home and the material used to construct your walls. For example, brick or concrete walls will require a different layout than a wood-frame home. Plan to buy one wireless router as well as at least one range booster, depending on your home's size (for anything under 1200 square feet, a router alone should be fine). The best option is to place your gear in central locations: The router should go within easy wiring distance of your ISP's Ethernet modem, with the range booster accessible to pump out greater coverage.

Step 3: Buy Your Gear

There are a lot of wireless networking gadgets on the market, so it's easy to get overwhelmed when picking your gear. Cisco, Netgear, and Alfa are just a few of the names on the market. Every router can come with its own host of issues, so there's no perfect way to run this. Since the wireless standards are fairly common, you don't need to worry too much so long as you stay within the same family.

If you want better-quality coverage through an entire house, you probably want to spring for a higher-end system. If you've got a small studio apartment on the other hand, you can get away with a less expensive wireless router—and probably don't need that range extender. Everything does come down to budget, but you get what you pay for when it comes to wireless networking equipment.

Step 4: Hook Up Your Network

Whichever router and repeater you choose, the simplest part is installation. Power down your ISP's modem, plug your new router into the appropriate output port, and then plug your router into your primary computer. Power everything up and wait for the on-screen instructions to appear and help you set up the router. It'll take a few minutes, but once the lights blink green on the router, you're good to go on at least one floor of your home.

Installing your repeater/range extender runs much the same way, but before you can place the extender where you want it, such as the second floor or in the basement, you have to make sure it's recognized on your network. Do this by bringing the extender into the same room as the router and powering it on. Once the router recognizes your extender and you've installed the software to make them talk to each other, you can move the device where you actually want it.

It bears mentioning here that radio interference can wreak havoc with your network. Read more here.

Step 5: Secure Your Network

An inevitable beginner's mistake is to simply install your router and walk away. This results in an unsecured network that anyone can log into, killing your bandwidth and potentially making your files fair game for theft. Set a network password and encryption profile. Do this by first entering the admin dashboard for your router, which can be done in one of two ways: first, via the software package that came with your router, or second, by visiting and entering the default username and password (found in manufacturer instructions).

Follow the on-screen instructions, set a proper password—for goodness' sake, don't make it "password"—and you're done.

From here on out, you should have a secured wireless network that spreads throughout your entire house and, if you've done it right, out into your yard.

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