Bit of a rant, sorry. Had my router swapped last week because the old one kept rebooting. The new box is honestly worse in the bedroom upstairs. Downstairs near the TV it's fine, but upstairs video calls freeze and my son's gaming keeps kicking him out.
House is a standard 3-bed semi, router is in the hall by the front door because that's where the engineer put it years ago. I've tried turning it off and on again, moving the router a little, changing the Wi-Fi name, all the usual stuff. I don't really want to pay extra for anything if I can help it.
Any actual tips for dead zones? Or is this just what broadband is like now?
Hi KerryM, sorry to hear the swap hasn't improved things. A hall cupboard or front hall can be a tricky spot for Wi-Fi if the signal has to travel through floors and walls.
A couple of quick checks:
- Is the router standing upright in the open, not tucked behind furniture?
- Are there any devices like smart hubs or baby monitors near it?
- Do you know if the router has both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands available?
If you can, try connecting the upstairs devices to the 2.4GHz band first, as it usually reaches further. If you want, I can also talk you through a few placement changes that don't cost anything.
Hi KerryM, sorry to hear the swap hasn't improved things. A hall cupboard or front hall can be a tricky spot for Wi-Fi if the signal has to travel through floors and walls.
A couple of quick checks:
- Is the router standing upright in the open, not tucked behind furniture?
- Are there any devices like smart hubs or baby monitors near it?
- Do you know if the router has both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands available?
If you can, try connecting the upstairs devices to the 2.4GHz band first, as it usually reaches further. If you want, I can also talk you through a few placement changes that don't cost anything.
Developed by
