The best places to put your router for optimal broadband speed

Your router is the heart of your home network. It manages all of your network devices so that they can talk to each other and connect to the internet.

The thing is, if your router isn’t in an optimal spot, some of the devices in your home may not get consistent internet connectivity. Even if you have one of the best broadband providers in the UK, you won’t be able to take full advantage of the proposed speeds if your router placement and setup isn’t up to snuff.

So before you think about changing your network or paying for a higher-speed package, it’s worth ensuring that you’ve got your router in the best position possible for your home. Here’s how you can figure out where that sweet spot is and other tips for maximising your broadband efficiency.

Start with a central location

Your router creates a bubble of Wi-Fi around it. If it were in an open field, in ideal circumstances, you’d have about the same level of Wi-Fi signal at any point on the field, at a given distance from the router.

So, if your router is installed at one end of your house, it means that half of that Wi-Fi bubble is outside of your home, and probably covering your neighbour’s home instead.

This means the logical thing to do is putting your router in a central location. However, in many cases this is easier said than done, because your router is likely plugged in right next to the fibre broadband point of your home. There’s usually an ONT (Optical Network Terminal) that connects to the router using an Ethernet cable.

The best thing to do in this case is to use a longer cable, installed neatly out of sight if you can, and move the router to an area where it will cover as much of your house as possible. This is a little extra work but it will make a big difference to those dead zones on the other side of your house.

Every house has different challenges

Of course, depending on the size of your property, moving the router to a central location might mean that devices at the outskirts of your home get a poor signal. A large house and a small home won’t be equally served by the same router. Most home routers can comfortably cover a council flat, or other small dwelling, but bigger properties might require you to upgrade to a larger, more powerful model.

Apart from sheer size, different homes present different challenges to Wi-Fi signals. Not all materials are equally porous to radio waves. Metal piping, metal doors and generally any material that blocks electromagnetism is going to diminish your Wi-Fi signal if it’s between the router and you.

Then there’s the issue of multistory homes. If your house has two floors, then your router signal will likely be great on the floor it’s installed on, but not so much on the other floor.

If your router has movable antennas, or has the option to attach them, you can use this to extend the signal, or change how it propagates. If you want to spread the signal horizontally for a single floor, orient the antennas vertically. If you want to send signals vertically, orient them horizontally.

Try tweaking your router settings

Before you make any major hardware purchases or modifications, have a look through your router settings, to see if you can increase the transmission strength. Different routers have different ways of accessing their internal settings, so refer to the manual for your specific model.

Check that the transmission level is set to its maximum level, or to whatever works best for you. Sometimes it can even be set too high, and you end up giving Wi-Fi to the whole block, depending on your Wi-Fi router’s power.

Mesh is the gold standard

While you can gain a lot by simply positioning your router in a better place to spread its signal around, the most elegant and effective solution today is using a mesh router system. Here you have multiple small mesh units that all seamlessly connect to each other and create one mega-router.

This type of network technology used to be the sole domain of large companies, but these days home mesh systems are quite affordable, and easy to expand as needed. We’ve reviewed many excellent mesh Wi-Fi routers, including great budget options like the Mercusys Halo H80X.

It doesn’t matter where your fibre connection point is in your home, a mesh system makes it easy to get flawless Wi-Fi anywhere in your house, as long as each unit has a strong connection to the next closest one. Three units are generally enough for most typical homes.

There are cheaper ways to extend your signal

If you don’t want to buy a new router, and you don’t have the budget for a mesh system, there are some cheaper alternatives. Wi-Fi extenders come with a significant performance penalty, but can still be cheap and effective if you just want reliable internet access in the far reaches of your home.

If your home’s wiring allows for it, Powerline Ethernet adapters are also an elegant way to spread Wi-Fi and Ethernet points throughout your home, using the existing wires in your walls to carry the data.

Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi everywhere

With all of these options on the table, there’s no need to settle for Wi-Fi dead spots in your home anymore. With a router relocation, most people, most of the time, can resolve the majority of Wi-Fi signal issues. If you can’t, it’s well worth spending a little money and time ironing out the last few weak points in your home networking setup.

Of course, if you try all of these improvements and still find that your broadband performance still isn’t where you’d like it to be, it might be time to consider upgrading to a higher-speed package – our roundup of the best broadband providers in the UK has a range of excellent options for all budgets and needs.