Router only covers a tiny bit of the house?

[katesam]

I moved house a few months ago and started a Plusnet account but ever since I moved in I've had problems accessing wifi from anywhere except the room with the router in.

I've followed the advice about keeping it off the floor etc but only that room & the room directly above gets a good connection.  The rooms next to those get a very slow/intermittent connection but only halfway into those rooms.  The rest of the house nothing.

Plusnet customer support have tested the general speed coming into the house and say it's ok so I'm guessing it must be a router issue?  It affects 2 different laptops and apple devices.

What can I do to improve wifi coverage through the house?  I work from home and am off furlough next month so I need to get it sorted.

thanks!

[Bogbody]

Download an app onto your phone like "wifi anyaliser". Use that to check the wifi signal strength around the house.
Move the router around to see if there is a location that gives better coverage.
One of my clients wanted the router out of sight so had hidden it in an alcove and put a picture in front of it. Result? No wifi coverage outside the front room and no connection to the sky box. I moved it out of the alcove and it worked fine.
You could look at using powerline adapters to get wifi in every room its needed???

[Leapy]

@katesam A mate of mine has a decorating business, and he was  doing up a house and had lots of problems with his phone. 

The previous owner of the house had lined all the walls with tinfoil under the wallpaper 

[VileReynard]

Pity he didn't install ethernet cabling whilst he was decorating...

[Bill_C]

I've seen a lot of "foil backed" expanded polystyrene insulation boards being used in new construction these days instead of the expanded  foam or fibreglass, easier to handle and cheaper than the alternatives i think.

I'm in a new build and WiFi was terrible with BT Smart hub, thankfully things are a bit better with the PN's hub. Saying that I've had to use an external modem (HG612) and move the PN box to outside my living room and keep everything wired

[Alex]

Hi @katesam 

You could try splitting the bands on WiFi and see if it makes any difference. It will be in the router settings.

[katesam]

Moving the router around was the first thing I tried... and it's definitely not hidden away in an alcove  

Thanks for the wifi analyser suggestion. As I thought -40 in room with the router and the one above, -66 in the room next door to router and -68 to -76 everwhere else (and a couple of places I couldn't get on the wifi to run the test!).  That can't be right can it?  I've never had trouble getting a signal to stretch before and I'm not living in a mansion 

With powerline adapters do you need to plug devices into it via ethernet etc to use or is it wireless?

[katesam]

There's some crazy people out there! No wallpaper here so unless they've insulated the walls with tin foil...

[katesam]

Hi Alex

I've set up connections to the 5GHz band for my laptop as I was having intermittent connection problems on the 2.4GHz.  Solved that problem but the 5GHz band has even less range than the 2.4.

Is that what you meant or is there something else I should try?

[Alex]

Yep @katesam 

That is what I meant.

The only other thing I can suggest is moving the router around a bit (as best you can). If you have other sockets in your house, try them.

[Bogbody · Accepted solution]

With the powerline adapters there are several version.
What I would suggest is an ethernet cable to the first one then via the mains to a number of other wifi units.
TP-Link do a range of devices.
Like this for example
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-WPA4220KIT-Powerline-Broadband-Configuration-UK/dp/B01LXOZ4EN/ref=mp_s_a...

[VileReynard]

Powerline sometimes works and sometimes is worse than useless.

Bit of an expensive gamble.

[Bogbody]

The kit from Amazon is £35 --- send it back if it doesn't work

[katesam]

Thanks @Bogbody I'll definitely give that a try.  Will it work for the 5GHz band?  My 2.4GHz connection is intermittent, even if I'm standing next to the router!

[Bogbody]

This particular one is 2.4GHz.
Other models are mentioned on the page that are 2.4 and 5GHz.
Your 2.4GHz signal should be strong next to the router. Any interfering channels found on the wifi app? Is the router faulty?