A Wi-Fi drop is not an internet drop. Telling the two apart is the first step, and it directs everything that follows.
First test, in thirty seconds : when the connection goes, plug a computer into the router with a network cable. If everything works over cable, your internet access is healthy and the problem is purely Wi-Fi. If the drop continues, it comes from the line or the router, and it is your provider you need to call.
This is the most common cause, and the easiest to fix. Wi-Fi travels poorly through concrete, metal and water. A router sitting on the floor, in a closed cupboard, behind a television or in the hallway of a long flat loses a large part of its range.
Put it high up, in the open, as central in the home as possible. Away from a microwave oven, a cordless phone and a fish tank - these are not myths, all three genuinely interfere with the 2.4 GHz band.
Recent routers broadcast on two bands, often under the same network name. The 2.4 GHz band carries far and goes through walls, but it is slow and crowded with the neighbours' traffic. The 5 GHz band is much faster and far less congested, but its range is short and it copes badly with load-bearing walls.
A device sitting at the edge of 5 GHz range spends its time switching from one band to the other : that is exactly what produces those regular micro-drops. The answer is either to move closer, or to pin the device to the right band by separating the two networks in the router's interface.
In a block of flats, dozens of routers share the same channels. On the 2.4 GHz band, only three channels do not overlap : 1, 6 and 11. If you and your neighbours are all on the same one, everyone slows everyone else down.
Most routers pick their channel automatically, but some make that choice once and for all at startup. Simply restarting the router forces it to reassess its surroundings. Failing that, the channel can be set by hand in the admin interface.
On Windows laptops, a power-saving setting switches the Wi-Fi adapter off after a few minutes of inactivity - hence the classic disconnection after a break.
In Device Manager, open the properties of the wireless adapter, go to Power Management, and untick the permission to turn it off to save power. While you are there, check for a driver update on the machine maker's site - an old driver is a classic cause of instability.
An entry-level router copes badly with thirty devices at once. Between phones, televisions, speakers, cameras and smart devices, the count rises quickly. Go through the list of connected devices and remove the old ones.
A poorly positioned repeater makes things worse rather than better : it halves the speed and, placed too far from the router, it rebroadcasts an already degraded signal. It belongs halfway, in an area where the original signal is still good.
For a house on several floors, a system of several linked access points, or a unit connected through the electrical wiring, gives far steadier results than a simple repeater.
Does the drop hit every device at once, or just one ? If everyone loses the connection together, look at the router. If only your computer drops while the phones stay connected, the problem is in that computer - Wi-Fi adapter, driver or power setting.
Proper coverage in an older home, a house on several floors or business premises has to be designed : measuring the signal room by room, choosing between a repeater, powerline and cabling, setting the channels. We handle these installations as part of our network work, in Lyon and across the Rhone.
It is not needed day to day, but a restart clears a good number of temporary blockages and forces the router to pick a less crowded channel. It is the first thing to try.
Well placed, yes. Badly placed, it makes things worse by rebroadcasting an already weak signal and halving the speed. Its position matters more than its price.
Absolutely, and it is common. Fibre stops at the router ; what happens after that depends entirely on the quality of the Wi-Fi. A cable test settles it in a minute.
We measure the coverage at your place and propose what suits the building.
Automatic assistant: it can make mistakes. Never share a password or a card number.
