Wifi cut out questions

Wanno

Hello All
It will be come very clear that I know very little about this area, and I'm hoping I can get some idea from you friendly people how I fix a problem, or at least ask for the right thing!

I have standard broadband (£24.50 I think per month from talk talk). I live in a teeny two up two down timber cottage with mega thin walls. I only have an IPad and I like to watch videos and Netflix on this. The problem I have is that my wifi shows as being strong but then I try to watch YouTube or a programme upstairs and it immediately cuts out. I have to frequently reconnect but basically, there's no watching videos upstairs. Downstairs in the main room is fine.

So is my problem the strength of wifi? Or the 'reach' upstairs?
Is it my IPad, which is admittedly getting on in years?
And what could I do (complain, buy a better speed, buy a gadget?) to mean I can watch things upstairs and never leave my bed?

I do feel a dummy for asking, but I fear that I'll fear worse if I have no idea what or who I should be asking for. Any suggestions welcome.

forgotmyname

Signal bars/meters tell lies. Same when your out and about and it shows a string signal. There a few town centres near me where there is virtually no signal and yet the strength meters show a good connection.

You cannot make or receive calls though. 2 different Samsung phones and a Sony not no phone specific.

Change the channel on the router?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

have a look at this, scroll down to 'How to improve your wifi signal'.

Then if you think it will help, google wifi extender/booster, for an idea on price.

Mr_Toad

forgotmyname wrote: »

Signal bars/meters tell lies. Same when your out and about and it shows a string signal. There a few town centres near me where there is virtually no signal and yet the strength meters show a good connection.

You cannot make or receive calls though. 2 different Samsung phones and a Sony not no phone specific.

Change the channel on the router?

Absolutely.

I'm sitting at home and my Samsung Galaxy S6 shows no signal at all but I can make and receive calls/texts anywhere in the house. My previous phone Galaxy S4 used to show full signal at home.

If moving to a different channel doesn't help then look at WiFi extenders as frugalmacdugal suggests.

I have a brick built workshop/man cave halfway down the garden that is out of WiFi range but connected to the power. I use a Devolo network and WiFi extender in there and it's perfect.

You plug one in near the router and connect a network cable to it then plug another in wherever you need it and it gives you three network ports

I have a PC in the workshop and a weather station connected to the wired network. I use the WiFi to connect my phone and tablet when down there. It also means I have WiFi when sitting in the garden away from the house.

It sounds like you only need WiFi but the principal is the same and will solve you problems.

Norman_Castle

Try moving the router to different parts of the room or plug it in upstairs.

As above, try changing the router channel.

psychic_teabag

On android there are free apps that can show wifi information - such as signal strength, which channels your neighbours are using, etc. You can wander round the house looking to see where the signal is strong / weak. Maybe there's something similar that can run on an ipad.

Do you have any other devices near the router ? I had our digital phone base station on the same hall table as the router. A few weeks ago I moved the base literally a few cm backwards on the table and that was enough to lose wifi connection in the kitchen. Moving it forwards restored it (and then moving it to a different phone socket entirely improved the wifi signal a bit more). Even random nearby metallic objects can interfere with the wifi.

If the router has an external ariel, have you tried adjusting the orientation ? I'm not sure if physically rotating a router (eg standing upright or lying flat) can change the orientation of the internal ariel and so change the distribution of the signal. Never experimented with that.