Why Is My Wi-Fi So Slow?

Of all the techie tasks we’re called upon to fix, improving home and office Wi-Fi is at the top of the list. Common reasons why your Wi-Fi isn’t performing well include

a). the wireless router is not located in a central place in your home or office, This means most of your signal is being pushed outside your house and is wasted.

b). that your Wi-Fi demand is greater than the network’s ability to supply enough signal. If you work from home or have kids who are on the internet a lot, then your demand may be pushing the signal limits, or

c). the current Wi-Fi equipment is more than 5 years old and isn’t keeping up. Technology moves fast and devices that worked perfectly well for years may now be struggling to deliver enough signal to keep everyone streaming as they want.

How does Wi-Fi actually work?

Think about Wi-Fi as a big invisible ball.  Your router sends out its signal in all directions – up through the roof, down through the floor and through the walls. To get a good signal you need to be inside that area. When you are near the edge of the signal range, the signal deteriorates and you get a patchy, unstable signal. A wireless router pushes its signal anywhere from 10m up to 25m out from the centre - that’s actually a pretty big globe. and if you have neighbours then your signals probably overlap. If you have a large house that’s two or more stories high, then parts of your house may fall outside that signal range - especially if your router is in the garage or somewhere away from the middle of your home or office. Things like concrete walls and stainless-steel kitchens, can have a negative effect by ‘soaking up and killing’ the signal. So, there are a number of factors that

The simplest way to remedy all these causes is to install signal boosters – they’re known as Access Points or Repeaters and there are a number of types. We prefer the TP Link Deco range of repeaters - they start with light weight versions (X10 series) for smaller homes and with moderate demand all the way to the BE65 version (high grade signal & super-fast). These are known as Mesh Networks. They simply plug into the power supply, pick up the weakening signal and amplify it.  You can have as many of these devices as you need. If you’re experiencing problems with your Wi-Fi at home, get in contact with us today.