Get a strong, stable signal in every room

Wi-Fi is not the same thing as your internet

Your internet connection ends at your router. Everything after that — the wireless signal travelling through your walls to your phone, laptop or TV — is Wi-Fi, and it is a completely separate system with its own limitations.

This matters because a perfectly healthy 40 Mbps line can deliver 4 Mbps to a laptop two rooms away with a brick wall in between. Nothing is broken; the signal simply isn’t reaching. Before assuming there’s a fault on the line, it’s worth establishing which side of the router the problem sits on.

Start with router placement

Placement is the single biggest factor in Wi-Fi performance, and it costs nothing to fix. Wi-Fi radiates outwards in all directions and is absorbed by everything it passes through. A router in a cupboard in the corner of the house is fighting a losing battle.

1. Move it central and high. Put the router in the most central room in the house, roughly chest height or above — on a shelf rather than on the floor. Signal travels downwards and outwards more easily than upwards.
2. Get it out into the open. Cupboards, TV cabinets, drawers and shelves behind books all absorb signal. The router should be visible in the room, with nothing stacked against it.
3. Keep away from metal and water. Fridges, geysers, metal filing cabinets, mirrors and fish tanks are particularly effective at blocking Wi-Fi. So are concrete and face-brick walls.
4. Move it away from other electronics. Microwaves, cordless phones, baby monitors and Bluetooth speakers all share airspace with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. Aim for a metre of clearance.
5. Angle the antennas. If your router has external antennas, position one vertically and one horizontally. Devices receive best when their antenna orientation matches.

Use the right frequency band

Most modern routers broadcast on two frequencies at once, and choosing the right one for each device makes a noticeable difference.

Band	Strengths	Best for
2.4 GHz	Travels further and passes through walls better, but slower and more congested	Devices far from the router, smart-home gear, cameras, older equipment
5 GHz	Much faster and far less congested, but shorter range and blocked more easily by walls	TVs, laptops, phones and consoles in the same room or nearby

If your router presents both bands under the same network name, devices should switch automatically — though some do it badly and cling to the weaker band. If they appear as two separate names (often with “-5G” on the end), connect nearby devices to the 5 GHz network manually.

Reduce interference and congestion

In a dense area, your neighbours’ routers compete with yours for the same airspace. Symptoms are slow evening speeds, dropped video calls and Wi-Fi that works fine at 06:00 and badly at 20:00.

• Change your Wi-Fi channel. In your router’s wireless settings, switch the 2.4 GHz channel to 1, 6 or 11 — the three that don’t overlap. If it’s set to “auto” and performing badly, pick one manually.
• Prefer 5 GHz where you can. It has far more available channels and is much less crowded.
• Count your devices. Phones, TVs, laptops, consoles, cameras, smart plugs and speakers all consume airtime even when idle. Thirty devices on a home router is a lot to ask.
• Disconnect what you’re not using. Guest devices from months ago, old phones and unused tablets are worth removing from the network.

Extending coverage in a bigger home

If you’ve optimised placement and one end of the house is still weak, you need more hardware. There are three approaches, and they are not equally good.

Mesh Wi-Fi (recommended)

Two or three units that work together as a single network with one name and one password. Your devices roam between them automatically as you move around. Mesh is the best option for most homes: it’s reliable, easy to live with, and doesn’t halve your speed the way a basic repeater does.

Access points on cable

The strongest option technically. A second access point is connected back to the router with an Ethernet cable, so it gets full speed rather than relaying wirelessly. Ideal in double-storey homes or where a cable can be run reasonably easily. This is what we install in business premises.

Wi-Fi repeaters and extenders

The cheapest option and the weakest. A repeater receives and rebroadcasts on the same radio, which typically halves the available throughput, and a repeater placed where the signal is already poor simply rebroadcasts a poor signal. Use only as a last resort, and place it halfway between the router and the dead zone — not in the dead zone itself.

Keep your network secure

• Change the default password. The password printed on the router sticker should be replaced with something only you know. See our step-by-step guide.
• Use WPA2 or WPA3 encryption. If your router still offers WEP, don’t use it — it can be broken in minutes.
• Set up a guest network. Visitors get internet access without reaching your computers, printers or network storage. Our guest Wi-Fi guide explains how.
• Change the router admin password too. This is separate from the Wi-Fi password and is often left as “admin”.
• Keep firmware updated. Routers we supply are updated as part of our management; if you use your own, check the manufacturer’s app or admin page periodically.