Why is the Wi-Fi slow?

The usual suspects

Coverage. Wi-Fi signals weaken with distance and through walls, floors, glass, metal shelving and even fish tanks. A single router in a back room cannot cover a large or divided space well.

Crowding. Each access point can only serve so many devices well. A conference room full of laptops and phones can overwhelm one that coped fine with a few people.

Interference. Neighboring networks on the same channels, microwave ovens and some older equipment all compete for the same airwaves.

Old equipment. Access points and routers more than a few years old may not support current Wi-Fi standards or handle modern traffic.

The internet connection itself. Sometimes it really is the line, especially when large uploads, backups or video calls compete for limited bandwidth.

How it gets fixed properly

• A site survey measures signal strength and interference across the building.
• Access points placed by design, with enough of them for the number of people and devices, wired back to the network.
• Settings tuned for channels, power and roaming between access points.
• Monitoring to show where and when problems happen.

Quick checks you can do

• Does the problem happen everywhere, or in certain rooms?
• At certain times of day, or all the time?
• On wired computers too? If so, look at the internet connection.