Where to Place Your Router for the Best Wi-Fi Speeds

[learninmypc]

If your home Wi-Fi seems slow in some rooms, your router might not be in the best location. Wi-Fi doesn’t travel far—especially through metal and concrete. So, it’s important to determine the best place for your router.
Yes, Router Placement Matters
It’s tempting to stick your Wi-Fi router wherever you have space, without giving it much thought, but that’s a mistake. A Wi-Fi signal only travels so far, and the more walls, bookcases, or other materials it encounters, the shorter that distance becomes. If the internet seems slow or spotty on your phone or tablet, check your Wi-Fi signal strength and check for channel interference.FULL ARTICLE

 

[Gabriel Pike]

Signal is one half but the other is modulation. It is possible to have a good signal level but low modulation thus resulting in poor performance.

 

[TheDevopsGuy]

Although it also has to do with signal, SNR is quite important also for wireless connectivity.
If SNR is quite low meaning the difference from signal strength to the noise margin is minimal wireless connectivity would be unsustainable.

A difference of 15dB SNR and over is always recommended anything lower may hinder wireless performance severely.

Apart from proper placement of wireless routers, general testing of the network signal performance is required when troubleshooting wireless connectivity as various factors may be the result to poor performance.

 

[Talal Zuberi]

First, it's better to check the designated strength of the modem on the box. Otherwise, check the backside of the modem. There are some routers whose signal strength is not at par. For that its better to keep the device away from objects and walls and on an elevated place. Router signal spreads in 360-degree direction and if the signal is blocked from an object, it bounces off which reduces the strength.