Spotty Wi-Fi: How to Fix It

Do you have spotty Wi-Fi in your home or office? Have you contacted your internet service provider (ISP) for help, but the issue is still there?

Did your ISP recommend or install a wireless range extender? While your ISP's solution is to extend your Wi-Fi's reach to areas with poor signal, the quality may be inconsistent, unreliable, or slow. Wi-Fi range extenders are useful as a temporary solution, but they are not a permanent, reliable solution. They introduce latency and other problems. Using range extenders is like playing the telephone game, where the message gets garbled each time it's passed on.

Because building structures vary, and Wi-Fi signals can be absorbed or reflected by common materials. The best solution is to use a mesh Wi-Fi system. Mesh systems consist of multiple nodes that work together to create a single, seamless Wi-Fi network. This can be a more reliable solution than range extenders, and if implemented properly, is less likely to introduce latency.

You can improve the performance of a mesh Wi-Fi network by hardwiring each node to the network. This will reduce the amount of wireless traffic on the network, which can help to improve speeds and reduce latency. And if your primary router only has one Ethernet out port, you can connect a network switch to it and connect your nodes to the switch. This will give you more ports to work with, so you can hardwire all of your nodes to the network.

By following these tips, you can improve your Wi-Fi coverage and performance, even in the most difficult areas.

At Zidra, we recommend TP-Link networking products for your home and office network. Their products are powerful and don't require frequent intervention.