How to position router antennas to improve Wi-Fi signal

In this guide, I show you how to improve your signal by properly positioning your router antennas at home. Improve your connection quality with these simple tricks

In this guide I’m going to give some tips position the router antennas correctly and thus improve the Wi-Fi signal. This will allow you to maximize your wireless network coverage and speed up your connection, especially if fiber doesn’t reach your home and you have to make do with an ADSL connection. Don’t miss this!

First of all, decide where to place the router

The first thing you should do before changing the position of the router antennas is position it exactly in the space you want to cover.. I’ll explain.

As shown in the previous image, in a proposed two-story home, a router placed at one end of the house will not be able to cover the entire space by itself.

In this sense, there are two options. First, create larger infrastructure, such as a mesh network or wired connections throughout the house. The second, much cheaper and simpler, consists of the correct location of the router

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Obviously there will be times when you won’t be able to move the router or even after that you will still have to improve the signal. Not all spaces are the same, nor are the obstacles the sign must overcome. Despite all this, placing this device in a central point in the house will distribute the Wi-Fi signal more efficiently.

Good location of the router, good location of the antennas

Now that the importance of router placement in the home has been explained, it’s time to talk about the most convenient antenna positions. To give you an idea of ​​how the signal propagates from them, you should imagine which expands like a donut. The following image helps us illustrate this fact.

Therefore, the position of the antennas will affect the orientation of the “donut”, that is, the Wi-Fi signal waves. If the antenna is positioned completely vertically, the signal will travel predominantly horizontally. covering more surface area at the same height level.

On the contrary, if you place the antenna vertically, the signal will propagate vertically, reaching as high as possible. upper levels of the housebut he was also the first to crash into the ground.

Considering this, what is the optimal position? Again, this will all depend on the type of space you need to cover and the areas you want to prioritize. However, in general terms the best antenna placement is:

• antenna. It’s almost always best to keep it vertical to provide horizontal lighting to the space. If you want to direct the signal upward without losing intensity, you can tilt the antenna slightly. When a router only has one antenna (or no antenna), it’s interesting to mount it at an elevated location, especially if you want to cover two levels.
• two antennas. One antenna can be placed vertically and the other horizontally. This will distribute the signal more evenly. With two antennas, you can play around with positions more until you find the most effective combination.
• Three or more antennas. If you have a router with more than two antennas, you can tilt two of them slightly so they cover a larger area while keeping the center antenna upright to transmit the signal horizontally.

Antenna Position Efficiency It’s not an exact science. In reality, achieving the best performance depends on many factors. Therefore, it is best to try different combinations until you find the best one.

Other ways to improve your Wi-Fi signal

Sometimes, no matter how much you place the antennas in different positions, the signal does not reach all corners of the house correctly. In such cases, other measures can be taken to improve communication in your home. Here are some suggestions:

• Wire. Sometimes we forget, but the most reliable way to transfer data over a local network is via cable. In most cases, the distances in the house are not very large, so organizing a wired infrastructure may be an interesting option. Remember that anywhere you have an Ethernet cable, you can create a Wi-Fi network. This way you are not solely dependent on a cable connection.

• Mesh networks. This is another possibility. Mesh networks distribute the Wi-Fi network evenly through different nodes. They are all part of a single network and, even though you move around the house, you do not experience any interruptions. This is a very interesting option to send the connection to the street as shown in the image above.
• Extension of the electrical network using PLC. The last system I suggest is where you use your home’s electrical grid to send data. This way you will have an Ethernet connector wherever there is a plug. Keep in mind that while this is a really convenient and cheap solution (PLCs are not very expensive), if you use other electrical devices in the connection, interference may occur, which will affect the final performance of the network.

Of course, remember that Wi-Fi speed will depend on many other factors. For example, if the connection is made using mobile data, it should not be overlooked that there are operators with better coverage than others.

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