How to Improve Wi-Fi Speed: 10 Practical Fixes
Quick answer
Move the router to a central, open spot, use 5 GHz or 6 GHz, restart and update the router, cut background traffic, and add mesh in big homes. Test before and after each change.
Start with a baseline
Before you change anything, find out where the problem actually is. Run the Wi-Fi speed test in the rooms that matter — the home office, the living room, the bedroom where the signal always drops — and write the numbers down. Then plug a laptop into the router with an Ethernet cable and test once more.
That cable test is the most useful number you'll get. It shows what your connection delivers before Wi-Fi gets involved:
- Cable fast, Wi-Fi slow → the problem is your wireless network. The fixes below are for you.
- Cable slow too → the problem is your line, your plan or your provider. See why is my internet slow instead; no router trick will fix a slow line.
- Fast in one room, slow in another → it's distance and walls. Placement, band choice and mesh will help most.
Test at the same time of day when you compare, because evening congestion can hide or exaggerate a change. If you're not sure how to get a clean reading, read how to test your internet speed.
10 fixes, easiest first
- Reposition the router. Wi-Fi spreads out from the router and weakens with every wall, floor and metre. A router in a cupboard, behind the TV or at one end of the house wastes most of its signal. Put it high up, in the open and as central as you can manage. Full guide: best router placement.
- Use 5 GHz or 6 GHz when you're close. These bands are much faster than 2.4 GHz at short range and far less crowded. Keep 2.4 GHz for distant rooms and smart-home gadgets. See 2.4 vs 5 vs 6 GHz.
- Restart the router. Routers are small computers, and long uptimes can leave them sluggish. Unplug it for 30 seconds, plug it back in and wait a few minutes before testing. If a restart fixes things every time, that's a sign the router itself is struggling.
- Update the firmware. Router makers fix bugs, improve performance and patch security holes through firmware updates. Check the router's app or admin page; turn on automatic updates if it offers them.
- Change the channel. In flats and terraced houses, dozens of networks can share the same channels. Most routers pick a channel automatically, but a restart or a manual change can move you somewhere quieter. A Wi-Fi analyser app on your phone shows how busy each channel is.
- Stop background traffic. Cloud backups, game downloads, system updates and a forgotten 4K stream on another TV all compete with you. Pause them while you test, and schedule big downloads for overnight.
- Remove or update old devices. Very old devices talk to the router slowly and take up airtime that faster devices could use. Disconnect gadgets you no longer use, and move old smart-home kit to the 2.4 GHz band.
- Update Wi-Fi drivers on PCs. An outdated wireless driver can cap a laptop well below what the router offers. Check your laptop maker's support page or Windows Update. More PC fixes: speed up internet on a Windows PC.
- Add mesh for large or awkward homes. If no single spot covers the whole house, a mesh system with two or three units spreads strong Wi-Fi evenly. It usually beats a cheap extender. Compare them in mesh Wi-Fi vs extender.
- Replace an old router. The free router from your provider may be several years old. A Wi-Fi 6 or newer router handles many devices at once far better and reaches higher speeds with modern phones and laptops.
When to use a cable instead
Some devices don't move: a desktop PC, a games console, a smart TV under the router. For these, an Ethernet cable is faster, steadier and lower in ping than any Wi-Fi fix. If running a cable isn't practical, powerline adapters or a mesh unit with an Ethernet port next to the device are good middle grounds. Read Wi-Fi vs Ethernet for the trade-offs.
Gaming or video calls lagging?
Lag is often about ping and jitter, not speed. Check them with the ping test, and see bufferbloat if ping jumps while someone else downloads.
Measure again
Make one change at a time, then re-run the test in the same spots you used for your baseline. Keep the changes that help and undo the ones that don't. Your results are saved in your browser's history on this site, so you can compare before and after without writing anything down.
Don't expect Wi-Fi to match the cable number exactly. Wireless always loses some speed to distance and interference. If the rooms you use most are now close to the cable result, you've done what can be done.