Coverage is lost through walls, not distance
Before buying anything, it’s worth understanding where the signal gets lost. Straight-line distance matters little: what matters is the number of barriers between the router and the device.
| Barrier | Approximate loss |
|---|---|
| Wooden door | Low |
| Hollow brick partition | Moderate |
| Solid brick wall | High |
| Window glass | Medium |
| Metal, wardrobe, mirror | Very high |
| Three or more walls | Usual dead zone |
A router in the centre of the living room loses more signal in a bedroom surrounded by walls than in the hallway on the other side of the house. That’s why placement often matters more than the equipment.
The four solutions, ranked from best to worst
| Solution | Real speed | Cost | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Network cable | 1000 Mbps | Minor building work | High |
| Mesh system | 600-900 Mbps | €150-400 | Low |
| Powerline (PLC) | 200-800 Mbps | €40-100 | Low |
| WiFi repeater | 20-100 Mbps | €20-60 | Minimal |
The order isn’t arbitrary: every step you take towards a wireless solution costs speed. Cable doesn’t cost speed because it is the physical medium.
1. Network cable: what always works
If you can run a network cable through a trunking, along a wall or under the floor, it’s the optimal solution. Every metre of cable supports 1 Gbps up to 100 metres.
The typical layout is to put the router in the centre and run a cable to every room with an Ethernet port. A router with four LAN ports covers a normal home.
Requirements worth checking:
- All stages on the same local network, with the router acting as the gateway. If you use several cables, connect them all to the same router, not in a chain.
- Maximum length of 100 metres per run. If you go further, you need a signal repeater or a switch.
- Category 5e or higher. Old telephone cables are no use.
Extra benefit: wired devices don’t consume wireless bandwidth. Televisions, consoles and desktop computers are always better on cable.
2. PLC: the electrical wiring as a cable
A powerline adapter turns the network signal into electrical current and sends it through your home’s wiring. You need one adapter at each end, plugged into a power socket.
It’s the ideal solution when every room has a socket and there’s no way to run cable. It’s much faster than a repeater because, inside each adapter, the mains only carries the signal while the network runs over cable at 1 Gbps.
Its limitations are the reason behind its performance variations:
| Problem | Cause |
|---|---|
| Slow throughout the whole home | Old or insulated wiring |
| Fast in one room, slow in another | Different conditions between runs |
| Cuts out when other appliances switch on | Electrical interference |
| Doesn’t work | Near a transformer, or a different circuit |
Newer models use standard pass-through frequency bands, which greatly reduces interference with power cables. A mid-range powerline adapter of around €60 delivers far more than a €30 repeater.
Always check that both adapters go into sockets on the same circuit, and avoid plugging them into extension leads or multi-sockets.
3. Mesh system: coverage by zones
A mesh system spreads access points around the home. Each node is an independent access point with its own name, and devices move between them transparently.
It’s the solution when you have several floors or several zones separated by walls. Cable is still better, but a well-placed mesh system comes close and needs no building work.
The setup is in how to set up a mesh system step by step, and the criteria for deciding are in repeater or mesh system.
4. Repeater: the cheap patch
A repeater is the quickest and cheapest option, with one important limitation: it uses the same radio to receive from the router, retransmit to your devices and send back to the router. That means the speed is usually halved.
It only pays off when the failing area is close to the router, with a good signal, and your connection doesn’t need many megabits. For anything else, it’s throwing money away.
Where to place the router
Before extending anything, check these points, because sometimes moving the router is enough:
- Put it at a height of one to two metres, not on the floor or in a cupboard.
- Keep it away from the television, the microwave, nearby wireless routers and any large appliance with a motor.
- If you can, make sure there is line of sight to the key areas.
- Don’t box it in between books, heat dissipation matters.
- Orient the antennas so they don’t all end up on the same line towards the router.
CISA includes router placement and antenna power among its home network security recommendations. The goal is to keep the signal inside the home, so cranking up the power blindly is rarely the solution.
What to choose for your situation
| Situation | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| A small gap, current network works well | Cheap repeater |
| Two rooms separated by a wall | 2-node mesh |
| Home with two or more floors | 3-node mesh |
| Power sockets in every room | Mid-range PLC |
| You can run cable | Cable, always |
| 1 Gbps fibre and you want to make the most of it | 3-node mesh with 2.5 Gbps |
| Small home with a badly placed router | Move the router and nothing else |
Common mistakes
- Placing the repeater next to the router: it won’t fix the failing area.
- Putting the mesh nodes in the corners: the node goes where signal is needed.
- Buying the cheapest PLC and concluding that powerline doesn’t work.
- Ignoring interference and extending coverage when the problem was a saturated channel.
- Not measuring first. Without the data, any purchase is a gamble.
Quick checklist
- Measure the signal in the area that fails.
- Router placed high up and away from nearby interference.
- Cable if building work is possible; otherwise PLC if every room has a socket.
- Mesh if there are two or more separated zones.
- Repeater only for a small gap.
Sources and next step
Always start by measuring, with how to measure your home WiFi signal. If you already know coverage is the problem, decide with repeater or mesh system. And if the signal arrives fine but the network is slow, the problem is something else: see slow WiFi at home.
External sources
- CISA: home network security — document archived by the agency itself, still valid as a reference for the basic recommendations.