Wi-Fi that does not reach the back room

Wi-Fi that works in the lounge room and dies in the back bedroom is one of the most common household complaints, and the usual response is to buy a more expensive router.

That is usually the wrong fix. Here is what actually causes it.

Where the router is matters more than what it is

Wi-Fi radiates outwards from the router in roughly a sphere. Put the router in a corner of the house and you have thrown half the signal into the neighbour’s yard.

The single best free improvement is moving it. Ideally:

• Roughly central in the house
• Out in the open, not in a cupboard or behind the television
• Raised up, on a shelf rather than on the floor
• Away from the microwave, cordless phone base and large metal objects
• Antennas, if it has them, pointing straight up

The problem is that the router has to live near the wall socket the internet comes into, which is often in the worst possible place. A longer cable from that socket to a better position is inexpensive and frequently transformative.

What actually blocks the signal

Not all walls are equal:

• Plasterboard: barely noticed
• Brick: significant
• Concrete: severe
• Anything with foil-backed insulation: severe, and invisible
• Mirrors and large glass: worse than people expect
• Water: a full fish tank or hot water system is a surprisingly effective shield

A single brick wall between the router and the back room explains most dead spots on its own.

The two frequencies

Modern routers broadcast on two bands, and understanding the difference explains a lot.

2.4GHz travels further and passes through walls better, but is slower and heavily congested, because everything from baby monitors to garage door openers uses it.

5GHz is much faster but has noticeably shorter range and is stopped more easily by walls.

Many routers present both under the same network name and let the device choose, which mostly works. If your phone insists on holding a weak 5GHz signal in the back room, splitting them into two named networks lets you deliberately connect to the 2.4GHz one where distance matters.

In units and townhouses

If you live in an apartment block, your problem may not be your equipment at all. It may be that thirty other households are broadcasting on the same channel.

Routers pick a channel automatically, and they often all pick the same one. Changing yours to a quieter channel can fix an evening slowdown completely, at no cost.

This is common enough around Charlestown and other unit-heavy areas that it is worth checking before spending anything.

What to buy, if you do need something

In order of what I would try:

1. A longer cable, to move the router. Under twenty dollars, fixes a great many cases.

2. A mesh system. Two or three units placed around the house, working together as one network, with your devices moving between them seamlessly. This is the right answer for most houses with a genuine coverage problem. Around $200 to $400 for a set.

3. Ethernet cable, where you can run it. Unglamorous and unbeatable. If the back room contains something that stays put, such as a desktop computer or a television, running a cable to it solves the problem permanently and takes load off the wireless for everything else.

4. Powerline adapters, which send the network over your electrical wiring. Results vary considerably with the age and layout of the house wiring, but they are cheap and occasionally excellent.

What I would not buy

A “range extender” or “booster”. These repeat the signal, and in doing so they typically halve the speed and create a second network your devices cling to at the wrong moment. They are cheap and they are the reason many people conclude their internet is bad. A mesh system does the same job properly.

A more expensive router, hoping it reaches further. Transmission power is limited by law, so a premium router does not broadcast noticeably further than a basic one. It may handle many devices better, but it will not punch through your brick wall.

When it is not the Wi-Fi at all

Worth checking before spending anything:

Is it slow everywhere, including right next to the router? Then it is your internet connection, not your Wi-Fi. Ring your provider.

Is it only slow in the evening? Congestion, either on your provider’s network or from neighbours on the same channel.

Is it only one device? Then the problem is that device, not the network.

Have you restarted the router lately? Turn it off, wait thirty seconds, turn it back on. Genuinely fixes a surprising proportion of problems, and costs nothing.

Getting it sorted properly

Working out whether you have a placement problem, a channel problem, a wall problem or a connection problem takes about half an hour with someone who knows what to measure, and it usually saves buying hardware you did not need.

That is a standard visit anywhere across Lake Macquarie and Newcastle. If you would rather someone just came and fixed it, get in touch.