How to boost Your WiFi signal in 10 easy steps

A weak WiFi signal can happen for a few reasons, but one of the most common is being too far from the router. If you're far away from your WiFi router, the signal not only gets weaker but can also be blocked by walls, ceilings or floors, especially if they’re thick or made of materials like concrete or metal.

This only gets worse if your router is placed in a corner, behind furniture, or inside a cabinet, since the signal won’t be able to spread far enough to reach your device. Other electronic devices, like microwaves, cordless phones, or even your neighbor’s WiFi, can also interfere with your signal. This is especially true if you're using the crowded 2.4 GHz band, which is used by a lot of devices.

Sometimes the problem is with the router itself. Older routers may not be strong enough to cover a big area or handle lots of devices at once, so upgrading to a newer model can make a big difference.

Other times the weak signal has nothing to do with your signal strength, but the broadband package you’ve got. If your service is tow or you're using too many devices at once, your connection may feel weak, even if the signal itself is fine.

WiFi signal strength can be affected by many different factors both inside and outside your home. Things like where your router is placed, how many walls the signal has to pass through, and even how many devices are connected can all impact your signal strength, so it's important to optimise your setup to get the best signal possible.

Here are just some factors you'll need to consider:

To test your signal strength, you can simply look at the WiFi signal bars on your phone or laptop. These bars are just a rough guide, so if you need to find the decibels (Dbm) of your WiFi signal to know how strong it really is.

• You can do this directly from your phone or computer:

• On an iPhone, you’ll need to download a WiFi analyser app from the App Store because Apple doesn’t show dBm values directly in the settings.

• On an Android phone, you can go to Settings > Wi-Fi and tap on the network you’re connected to. It should show the signal strength in dBm.

• On a Windows computer, open the Command Prompt and type 'netsh wlan show interfaces', then press Enter. Look for the signal value, which is shown as a negative number (like -60 dBm).

• On a Mac, hold down the Option key and click the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar. A drop-down menu will show the signal strength (RSSI) in dBm.

Signal strength is measured in decibels (dBm) for cell signals and Wi-Fi signals, and the closer the number is to zero (even though it’s negative), the stronger the signal. Be sure to read our  signal strength guide to learn more about signal strength and what it means.

We'd also recommend running a broadband speed test to make sure it's not your broadband that's causing you issues, rather than your signal strength.

1. Move Your Router to a Better Location

The placement of your router plays a big role in how far and how well the WiFi signal travels. If your router is tucked away in a corner, behind furniture, or inside a cupboard, the signal can easily get blocked or weakened by things around your home. Try placing it in a central location, away from thick walls, or raising it from the floor by putting it on a side table or a cabinet. This can help the signal reach further and spread more evenly throughout your home, boosting your WiFi signal.

2. Keep the Router Away from Electronics

Many everyday devices can interfere with your WiFi signal, especially those that use radio waves or generate electromagnetic noise. Things like microwaves, cordless phones, baby monitors, Bluetooth speakers, and even TVs can all weaken your signal if they're too close to your router. Try to keep the router at least a few feet away from other electronic devices to avoid any risk of your signal being interrupted.

3. Reduce the Number of Connected Devices

Each device connected to your WiFi takes up a portion of the available bandwidth. If too many devices are online at once, like phones, smart TVs, laptops, it can slow down the signal for everyone. Disconnect devices that aren’t in use, and if possible, schedule heavy internet use (like large downloads or updates) for off-peak times to free up bandwidth when you need to use the internet.

4. Use a WiFi Booster or extender

WiFi extenders and boosters are helpful tools that can increase the range of your signal, receiving your existing signal and rebroadcasting it to hard-to-reach areas, like upper floors or rooms far from the router. Both are great solutions if you have dead zones in your home where the WiFi is weak or doesn’t reach at all.

Our intelligent WiFi Pods are a type of mesh WiFi booster that wirelessly pass the Hub’s signal from Pod to Pod. This lets your signal reach further, giving you a fast and stable connection, wherever you are in your home. Pods also use cloud technology to learn how you use WiFi, so your experience is always tailored to your needs.

5. Update Your Router

Just like a phone or computer, your router has software that controls how it works. This is called firmware. Manufacturers often release updates to improve performance, security, and stability. Check your router’s user manual or go to the manufacturer’s website to see how to log into the router settings and update the firmware. It’s usually a quick process and can make a noticeable difference.

6. Upgrade Your Router

If your router is more than a few years old, it may not support the latest WiFi standards, like WiFi 6, which are faster and more efficient. Older routers also tend to have a shorter range and may struggle with multiple devices. Upgrading to a newer model can offer better coverage, faster speeds, and more reliable connections—especially in larger homes or if you stream and game often.

7. Change Your WiFi Channel

WiFi signals operate on channels, and if too many nearby networks are using the same channel, they can interfere with each other. This is common in blocks of flats or busy neighborhoods, where lots of people are using the same channel at the same time. You can manually switch to a less crowded 2.4GHz or 5 GHz channel in your router settings. Some routers do this automatically, but it’s worth checking if you're having issues with slow or unstable connections.

8. Use a Wired Connection When Possible

For devices that don’t need to move around - like desktop computers, smart TVs, or gaming consoles - consider using an Ethernet cable rather than WiFi to connect them directly to the router. Ethernet cables are faster and more stable than WiFi, and they also free up wireless bandwidth for other devices like phones and tablets that need to stay wireless.

9. Limit Apps or Devices That Use Too Much Data

Certain apps and devices use large amounts of data, which can slow things down for everyone else on the network. Streaming in 4K, large file downloads, video calls, and online games are all data-heavy. You can improve WiFi performance by reducing the quality of streams (e.g. from 4K to HD), pausing automatic downloads, or setting bandwidth limits on certain devices using your router’s Quality of Service (QoS) settings.

10. Use Mesh WiFi for Larger Homes

If you live in a large home or one with thick walls, a single router might not be enough to provide strong coverage everywhere. A mesh WiFi system uses multiple devices (called nodes) placed around your home to create one seamless network. These nodes communicate with each other and spread the signal evenly, so you get strong, stable WiFi in every room without needing to switch networks as you move around. It's a great solution for eliminating dead zones in big or multi-storey houses.

While WiFi signal is not the same as WiFi speed, they’re often closely linked. A strong WiFi signal allows data to travel quickly and without interruptions, giving you fast internet speeds for things like streaming, gaming, and video calls, while a weak can slow down your internet connection, causing buffering, lag, and longer loading times.

When the Wi-Fi signal is strong, your device can communicate easily with the router, which means data can flow smoothly. For example, if your WiFi signal strength is around -50 dBm (which is very strong), you should be able to stream high-quality videos, make clear video calls, and download files quickly. But if the signal drops to around -80 dBm or lower, the connection may become unstable, causing videos to buffer, calls to drop, and online games to start lagging.

Remember, not all internet speed issues are caused by a bad signal strength. If you’re signal strength is good but you’re still experiencing speed issues, your broadband package may be what’s causing your speed issues.

Is your internet too slow? The easiest way to supercharge your broadband speed is to upgrade your broadband package. At Virgin Media, we’ve got a range of broadband and TV packages to suit every speed and budget with speeds ranging from 100Mbps with our M125 broadband to 1Gbps and beyond when you go gigabit.

Not sure what you can get? Check out all of our broadband deals and enter your postcode to see all of the deals your can get you your area.