your router is doing its best. it is also probably on the floor, behind the telly, inside a cupboard, or next to the microwave. sometimes all four at once.
wi-fi is radio. it spreads out in every direction and loses strength through walls, water, metal and glass. so where the box sits decides how much of it reaches the far end of the house, and that often matters more than which box it is.
none of the below costs anything. most of it takes five minutes.
ten ways a good router ends up looking like a bad one
carpet, concrete and skirting boards all soak up signal, and half of it is heading downwards anyway. a shelf or a table at chest height gives it a fair start.
a router in the corner of the upstairs office is sending most of its signal into next door's garden. the more central it sits, the less of it is wasted.
both put a floor between the router and everyone using it, and a cellar usually adds thick walls too. it is the single most common reason one end of a house never works.
signal that goes out of the window does not come back. a router on the front windowsill is giving a good chunk of your wi-fi to the street.
tellies, consoles and set top boxes all throw out interference, and an enclosed cabinet full of them adds heat on top. it is the worst spot in most living rooms.
microwaves and cordless phones use the same 2.4ghz band as a lot of wi-fi. put the kettle on, run the microwave, and watch the signal dip.
a cupboard door, a stack of books or a big mirror in the way all cost you something. it is not the prettiest thing in the room, we know. it works much better out of the cupboard.
radio does not travel through water well. a full tank between the router and the sofa works as a surprisingly effective wall.
work out where you actually need wi-fi, then give the router as straight a path to it as you can. signal bounces off walls, but it loses a little every time.
routers get software updates like anything else, and some only take effect on a restart. off for thirty seconds, back on. once a month is plenty.
the spot you are aiming for
chest height, near the middle of the house, out in the open, on the floor you use most, with nothing electrical stacked around it. you will not get all five in a real house. four out of five is usually enough to feel the difference.
when it is not where the router is sitting
plenty of slow evenings are nothing to do with placement. one big game download, a 4k stream in every room, or a long video call can take most of what your plan gives you and leave the rest of the house with the remainder.
there is a quick test that tells you which problem you have, and you can run it from the my home telecom app. check your speed standing next to the router, then check it again in the room that struggles. if it is fast at the router and slow in the room, that is wi-fi, and everything above applies. if it is slow in both places, the router is not the issue.
if the signal is weak, the app can also run diagnostics on your connection, show you what is connected, and let you change your network name and password. download the app if you have not already. if your router is not showing up in it yet, the router setup guide walks through adding it, and you can always ring us on 01403 214069.
before you buy an extender, move the router. it is free, it takes five minutes, and it fixes more dead rooms than any bit of kit you can order.
common questions
a bit, yes. it has to stay plugged into the socket your broadband comes into, so a short cable onto a shelf on the same wall is the easy win. moving it to another room means an extension lead or having the socket moved, which we can talk through with you.
sometimes. an extender rebroadcasts whatever it receives, so it only helps if you plug it in somewhere the signal is still decent, roughly halfway. put one in the dead room itself and it will faithfully rebroadcast weak wi-fi.
5ghz is faster but does not travel as far or through walls as well. 2.4ghz is slower and goes further. most routers choose for you as you move around the house, and that is usually the right answer.
there is no need to do it daily. once a month keeps any waiting updates moving, and it is always the first thing worth trying if something feels off.
then it is our turn. ring 01403 214069, monday to friday, and our support team can check the line, the speeds you should be getting, and whether the router itself is the limit. the troubleshooting guide covers the steps we will ask about.
