Why your home Wi-Fi comes and goes: 7 causes and what to do

Published 2026-11-03 · 6 min read · By the Alian Digital team

In most homes Wi-Fi misbehaves not because of a bad provider but because of where the equipment sits and how it is configured. Here is what we find most often.

1. The router is in the wrong place

A corner by the entrance, a cupboard, a metal-doored utility box: the signal spreads in all directions, so a corner gives half of its power to the street. The best spot is near the middle of the home, high up and out in the open.

2. Walls and floors

Reinforced concrete, brick, mirrors, underfloor heating and metal structures weaken the signal a lot. The 5 GHz band is faster but passes obstacles worse than 2.4 GHz, so in a far room a phone often clings to a weak 2.4 GHz signal.

3. Crowded channels

In apartment buildings dozens of networks share the same channels and interfere. Manual channel selection (usually 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4 GHz) and a sensible channel width help more than the default "auto".

4. One router for a big house

A two-storey house with brick walls cannot be covered by one router. You need several access points placed by calculation, not by looks.

5. Repeaters instead of cable

A wireless repeater receives and transmits on the same radio channel, so speed often drops by about half. If you can run a cable to the second point, it is almost always better.

6. Old devices and poor roaming

An old phone or laptop drags the network down, and while walking around the house a device holds on to a distant point instead of switching to a nearer one. Fast roaming (802.11k/v/r) and modern equipment fix this.

7. Cable, power, overheating

A damaged patch cord, a non-original power adapter, a router in a closed niche without ventilation: afterwards freezes become random and annoying.

A 15-minute check

• Measure speed next to the router and in the problem room. If it is fine next to the router and bad further away, the problem is coverage, not the provider.
• Move the router closer to the centre and higher up, out of the cupboard.
• Update the firmware and reboot the equipment.
• Check the patch cord between router and modem: swapping the cable sometimes solves everything.
• Try another channel and channel width.