Best Ways to Improve WiFi Signal at Home in 2026

Imagine a work-from-home scenario when a video call with your team is about to start, but your WiFi refuses to connect, showing a weak signal. Or the WiFi is not connecting, or the connection keeps dropping due to poor signal strength when you play games, download large files, or stream 4K content. The solution? Learning how to improve the WiFi signal at home. 

This article helps you improve the WiFi signal in your house through free fixes, such as clearing the router cache and moving the router, and other effective tips. However, before moving further, let’s look at what makes your WiFi signal weak. 

Why Is Your WiFi Signal Weak

Common factors that can impact your WiFi signal strength include distance from the router, obstructions, interference from other electronic devices, and router placement. 

• The farther away your device is from the router, the weaker your signal.
• Furniture, walls, and other obstructions between the router and your device weaken the WiFi signal.
• Interference from other electronic devices, such as microwaves, cordless phones, and Bluetooth devices, can cause a weak WiFi signal.
• The wrong router placement can result in weak signal strength.

Now that you understand the reasons your WiFi signal is weak, let’s walk you through how to increase your WiFi signal strength. 

How to Improve WiFi Signal at Home

You can improve the WiFi signal in your house by restarting the router to clear the cache, updating your device, investing in a WiFi booster, repeater, or extender, securing your network to protect your bandwidth, and updating your network adapter driver. Below are these solutions explained in detail. 

1. Clear the router cache

One of the most effective methods to improve your WiFi home coverage is to clear the router cache. To clear the cache stored in your router, you can restart the modem. 

To restart the modem, follow these steps. 

• First, unplug the Ethernet and power cables.
• Wait for the modem to power off completely.
• Lastly, reconnect the power and Ethernet cables.

2. Update your device

An outdated device may also be responsible for a weak WiFi signal strength. An outdated device may also be responsible for a weak WiFi signal strength. It is essential to ensure your smartphones, tablets, and computers are up-to-date for optimal WiFi performance. Generally, you can update devices running iOS by going to Settings, selecting ‘General,’ and then ‘Software Update.’ For Android devices, navigate to Settings, choose ‘System,’ then ‘Advanced,’ and finally ‘System update.’ Below are the clear and detailed steps to update your Windows device.

• First, click the Start button and type check for updates in the search bar that appears.

• Next, click the first search result to open it.
• Click the Check for updates button.

• Next, click Download & Install to get all recommended updates downloaded and installed.
• Lastly, restart your computer to complete the Windows update process.

3. Use a WiFi booster, repeater, or extender

Using a WiFi booster, repeater, or extender can help increase your WiFi signal strength. Below are what they mean. 

A WiFi booster is a catch-all phrase for devices that extend your WiFi signal. It includes a wireless range extender and WiFi network extenders. 

A Wireless range extender is a device between the wireless router and the location where you need better WiFi coverage. It takes the current WiFi signal from the wireless router and broadcasts it again. However, you must place the wireless range extender correctly to get a sufficient WiFi signal from the router to rebroadcast, stream, and play online games or watch a video simultaneously. 

A WiFi network extender uses a wire or cable to communicate back to the source or router to ensure you get consistent and reliable high-speed WiFi everywhere in your home. It helps shorten the distance between your WiFi devices and the WiFi signal to increase your device’s internet connection speed and improve its performance. 

A WiFi repeater is a first-generation WiFi signal extender. It rebroadcasts the WiFi signal to a localized area. It increases the WiFi latency or response time, while keeping the WiFi signal strength the same; a good choice if you have less than five wireless devices and are not going to stream on your device. 

4. Protect your internet bandwidth

Your internet bandwidth is limited. Too many users consume it more quickly. Hence, use a strong WiFi password and WPA3 encryption if available to prevent unauthorized access to your network. WPA3 is the latest security protocol that enhances the protections provided by WPA2, making it harder for cyber criminals to crack your password. To check if your router supports WPA3, consult your router’s user manual or check the specifications on the manufacturer’s website.

Moreover, since all devices connected to your router use bandwidth, ensure multiple devices are not downloading large files or streaming videos simultaneously, as doing so can reduce the connection speed for everyone. It is better to limit the number of active connections or schedule heavy usage for off-peak hours. 

5. Update the network adapter driver

A driver is the interface your computer’s operating system needs to communicate with your WiFi device. Without a network adapter driver or if this driver is outdated, this communication breaks down, leading to issues such as WiFi not connecting. 

To update the driver for your network adapter, you can follow these steps. 

• First, right-click the Start button and choose Device Manager from the menu that appears.
• In the Device Manager window, double-click Network Adapters.

• Next, right-click your network adapter and choose Update Driver.
• Click Search automatically for drivers.

• Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to download and install the driver update.
• Lastly, restart your computer to complete the driver update process.

In addition to the above, below are some additional tips for how to increase your WiFi signal strength. 

Other Effective Tips to Improve WiFi Signal in the House

You can follow the tips below to improve the WiFi signal at home. 

• Update your router’s firmware. To update the firmware, you can check your router manual or visit the manufacturer’s website.
• Change your wireless channel via the router’s configuration page. To find your router’s configuration page, open your web browser and type in your IP address in the address bar.
• Keep your router at a central location. For example, yours is a two-story structure, place the router high on a shelf to ensure devices on the second floor get a strong signal if your router or access point is on the first floor.
• Avoid keeping your router on the floor. Moreover, ensure that walls, metal objects, and floors do not interfere with and weaken the router’s wireless signals.
• Keep your router away from electronic devices, such as microwave ovens, cordless telephones, etc., that use the same frequency to avoid interference between your router and device.
• Replace a card-based network adapter with a USB wireless network adapter with an external antenna.
• As far as possible, use the routers and network adapters produced by the same manufacturer to ensure a smooth connection.
• Ensure your router uses the latest WiFi technology. You can get a new router that supports the latest WiFi 6 technology, MU-MIMO technology that allows WiFi to communicate with multiple devices simultaneously, to improve your home network capacity and efficiency, or a router that supports a Mesh WiFi system to eliminate dead zones (these are areas in your home where the wireless signal is weak or non-existent).

That’s all for how to improve the WiFi signal at home. For persistent WiFi issues, consider reaching out to your internet service provider or a tech support service. They can offer personalized troubleshooting tips and check if there are any network issues in your area. This step can provide reassurance and help solve more complex connectivity problems.