Hello Drivers! How did everyone do NYE? Hope you all made your goals, or enjoyed staying in with family and friends. How many times does your pax get in, you slide to start the trip, and the navigation just rotates and rotates and rotates, trying to catch a signal? It is definitely frustrating and slows us down when we don’t know which way to go! Here’s a little tip that may help you connect to the Uber and Lyft servers a little faster, and get that money rolling in.

Home internet service providers, especially Comcast, transmit free wifi signals for people to connect to when you’re out and about, as long as you’re a customer. The signal is transmitted from someone’s home, who also has their service. It is not the same home wifi that most of us have locked down and secured with a password in our home, but an open network that anyone can use if they know their own ISP login. While this can be convenient if visiting friends or family, it can wreak havoc when you’re in your car, driving from location to location.

Because many of us have our cell phones set to automatically connect to open wifi signals, your phone will begin to connect to the free wifi available near your passenger’s home. But if you don’t enter your password, or don’t have one, the signal won’t connect and you’ll have trouble reaching the Uber or Lyft servers because you aren’t getting through on the wifi your phone is trying to connect to.

To fix this issue, simply turn off your wifi while driving. Use your data only. The first time I did this I was concerned I would run through all of my data, but after running hard for a couple of weeks, it has not been a problem. When I arrive at a passenger’s home my connection is more stable, and since my phone isn’t trying to bounce between a wifi network i can’t fully connect to, it stays connected to Uber and Lyft and I am able to access my navigation much more quickly.

So, when you’re ready to hit the road for the day, make sure you toggle your wifi off for quicker navigation.