Slow Wi-Fi in the office? 5 moves to speed it up right now

The router's physical position directly affects signal quality and coverage.

• Avoid cabinets, drawers, metal shelving or enclosed corners.
• Place it high up (at least 1.5 m) and in the middle of the office.
• Keep at least 1 meter away from metal surfaces, printers, NAS, UPS.
• If the router has external antennas, orient them vertically to cover more floors and tilted to cover horizontal spaces.

Older or entry‑level routers handle many simultaneous devices poorly, causing Wi‑Fi saturation.

• Log in to the router's panel and check the list of connected devices.
• Disconnect smartphones, tablets or laptops that are not in use.
• Turn off Wi‑Fi printers if they are not needed.
• If the router supports band steering, enable it to distribute devices between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.

In shared offices or apartment buildings, many neighboring networks can overlap and degrade the signal.

• Use an analysis app (e.g. WiFi Analyzer) to see which channels are least crowded.
• On 2.4 GHz use only channels 1, 6 or 11 (they do not overlap).
• On 5 GHz choose high channels (e.g. 100-140) to avoid interference from consumer devices.
• Avoid the “Auto” mode if the router is not recent.

Outdated firmware causes instability, bugs and reduced performance, especially with many devices.

• Log in to the router's panel and look for the Firmware update section.
• Check whether a newer version exists.
• Install the update and restart the router.
• After the update, check that the SSID, password and settings have not been reset.

A single router cannot cover offices with many rooms, thick walls or multiple floors evenly.

• Install 2-3 mesh nodes to cover the whole office.
• Place the nodes 8-12 meters apart from each other.
• Use wired backhaul (Ethernet) if possible: it increases stability and speed.
• Configure a single SSID to avoid disconnections while moving around.