How to improve WiFi coverage at home?

1. Move the router — this usually works best, and it's free

The most common cause of weak coverage isn't a weak router — it's its location. A router in a TV cabinet in the corner of the living room, behind the TV, next to metal wiring — that's a recipe for dead zones. Moving it closer to the center of your home, to a height of about 1–1.5 m, can improve coverage more than any extra hardware.

2. Change the WiFi channel

In an apartment building where a dozen or more neighboring networks are in range, your router may be “fighting” for the same band with others. Most new routers pick a channel automatically, but it's worth checking in your provider's app or the router's settings — sometimes a manual channel change gives a noticeable improvement.

3. Update the router's firmware

Manufacturers regularly improve connection stability and band management in updates. If the router hasn't been updated in years, this is a simple step that costs nothing but often gets skipped.

4. Remove obstacles you might not notice at first glance

Metal cabinets, radiators, mirrors, and aquariums can block the signal far more than an ordinary wall. If the router is standing right next to one of these, simply moving it a meter away can unblock an entire direction of your home.

5. Split the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands deliberately

Devices near the router (laptop, console, TV) are best connected to 5 GHz — it's faster. Devices in far rooms or behind walls do better on the slower but longer-reaching 2.4 GHz.

6. Add an extender or mesh node — but in the right spot

An extender placed in the wrong spot (right at the edge of the router's range) has a weak signal itself and relays an already-weakened one. The rule is simple: a mesh node needs a solid link to the router before it can help cover the rest of your home at all.

7. Verify the plan before you start moving hardware around

Instead of moving the router around your whole home by trial and error, it's worth first checking on the plan which spot actually makes physical sense — taking into account walls, distances, and where you actually need the signal.

Perfect WiFi does exactly that: it analyzes your floor plan and shows where to place a router or mesh node to improve coverage where you actually use it — instead of guessing.