Almost every home has one room where the Wi-Fi is weak. I have set up office networks and Wi-Fi for years, and the causes at home are the same ones I see in offices, just smaller.
Wi-Fi is radio
Your router sends out radio signals, a bit like a small radio station. The farther you get, and the more things in the way, the weaker the signal. Weak signal means slower speeds and dropped connections.
Walls and materials matter
- Brick, concrete, stone and plaster with metal mesh block Wi-Fi strongly.
- Mirrors, large appliances, fish tanks and metal cabinets get in the way.
- Each wall adds up. Three walls between you and the router can matter more than distance.
Where the router sits
A router hidden in a cabinet, on the floor, or in a far corner of the house sends much of its signal where nobody needs it. When you can, place it up high, out in the open, and as central to the home as the cable allows.
Test before you buy anything
- Run a speed test on your phone standing right next to the router.
- Run the same test in the slow room.
- If it is slow next to the router too, the problem is likely your internet service or the router itself, not the distance.
- If it is fast next to the router and slow in the back room, the problem is coverage.
Simple things to try first
- Restart the modem first, then the router, waiting for each to finish starting.
- Move the router higher or more central if you can.
- Check the age of your router. One that is many years old may not support newer, faster Wi-Fi standards, and may no longer get security updates.
Fixing coverage
If coverage is the problem, a mesh Wi-Fi system usually works better than a cheap range extender. Mesh uses several units that work together as one network. Better still, where you can run a network cable to a room or to a second access point, a cable beats both, because it does not lose speed through walls.
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