Wi-Fi Is Weak in Some Rooms

A weak spot is either too far from the router, or the air there is crowded with other networks. Two Netutilus Pro tools tell them apart.

1. Walk the signal

Open Wi-Fi Analyzer and click Start. Carry the Mac from the router to the problem room and watch RSSI, the signal strength:

• around −50 dBm or higher is excellent;
• −60 is good;
• −70 is fair, and the connection starts to slow;
• below that, it struggles.

Note where the number drops. Thick walls, floors, mirrors and fish tanks take a lot of it. See Wi-Fi signal.

2. Check the latency split

In the same tool, Latency split times your router and the internet. If the router is slow or loses probes in that room, the Wi-Fi is the bottleneck there, not your provider.

3. Check the neighbours

Open Wi-Fi Networks and let it scan. The Channel graph shows how many networks share your channel or overlap it, and the Channel recommendation names a quieter one. On 2.4 GHz, only channels 1, 6 and 11 don’t overlap. See Wi-Fi bands and channels.

4. Fix it

• Move the router: high up, central, out of cabinets and away from the TV and the microwave.
• Change the channel to the one Wi-Fi Networks recommends, in the router’s settings.
• Use 5 GHz near the router: it’s faster and less crowded, but reaches less far than 2.4 GHz.
• For far rooms, add a mesh node or an access point wired to the router.

Note: macOS shows network names only to apps with Location access. Netutilus asks for it when you first start a Wi-Fi tool, and never reads your location.

Related

• Wi-Fi Analyzer and Wi-Fi Networks.
• The internet is slow or keeps dropping.