I'm renting a room in a fairly large shared house, and the landlord provides the internet. There are several Wi-Fi boosters around the house, including one near my partner's and my bedroom. It worked reasonably well until about two months ago, when the connection became inconsistent. Recently, download speeds dropped below 1 Mbps even though the internet plan is rated at 1.5 Gbps.
The landlord says the booster works normally when tested and suspects one of my devices is causing the problem. However, I don't use a VPN, none of my devices have changed, and the signal and speed actually improve when I unplug the booster completely. Could a device really cause this behavior, or is the extender likely failing or being poorly configured? Why might it test normally by itself but perform terribly in everyday use, and what tests could identify the problem?
4 Answers
Don’t use the advertised 1.5 Gbps plan as the expected speed over Wi-Fi; real-world wireless performance will always be lower. However, less than 1 Mbps is still abnormal. Test a device directly beside the main gateway, then test in the same location with the extender enabled and disabled. If speeds are good near the gateway but collapse through the extender, the wireless setup is the likely problem rather than your devices.
If the gateway speed is healthy and the extender remains inconsistent after trying a better location, the extender may need to be replaced or reconfigured. Ideally, use wired Ethernet to feed multiple access points. If wiring is impossible, use a mesh system with a separate wireless backhaul radio rather than several basic repeaters. Testing each unit closer to and farther from the gateway should help identify whether the problem follows the extender or its location.
First find out whether the device is a basic single-radio repeater. Those repeaters use the same wireless channel to receive data from the main router and retransmit it to your devices, so every transmission has to take turns. That can cut throughput dramatically, especially if the signal between the repeater and the main router is weak or there is more wireless interference than before. A dual-radio extender with a dedicated backhaul, or preferably a properly configured mesh system with wired access points, will usually perform much better.
The landlord should first verify the connection at the gateway using a wired device. That separates an internet-service problem from a Wi-Fi problem. After that, compare wired or gateway-adjacent wireless results with the extender in different locations. An extender placed too far away may receive such a weak signal that it only repeats a poor connection. Interference, a failing unit, a changed channel, or a nearby network becoming busier could also explain why performance deteriorated over time.
That makes sense. I’ll check whether the boosters are single-radio repeaters. Is there any reason one would seem fine for months and then suddenly become extremely slow?