Router Placement: The 10-Minute Fix for Weak WiFi in Perth Homes

Good router placement is the cheapest WiFi upgrade there is. Before you buy a new modem, sign up for a faster NBN plan or fill the house with extenders, spend ten minutes looking at where your router actually sits. In a lot of Perth homes we visit, moving it a few metres makes a real difference to the bedrooms, the home office and the patio.

This guide walks you through why position matters so much, the most common mistakes, and a simple step-by-step check you can do yourself this weekend.

Why router placement matters so much

A WiFi router sends its signal out in every direction, a bit like a light bulb. Anything between the router and your device dims that signal: walls, floors, cabinets, mirrors, fish tanks, even people.

The further the signal travels and the more it passes through, the weaker and slower your connection gets. That’s why the same internet plan can feel fast in the lounge and hopeless in the back bedroom.

You can’t change the laws of physics, but you can change where the signal starts. That’s all router placement really is, and it costs nothing to try.

Perth homes make it harder

Many Perth houses are double brick, and older homes in suburbs like Attadale, Applecross, Nedlands and Como often have solid internal walls as well. Brick and concrete soak up WiFi far more than the plasterboard common in the eastern states.

Two-storey homes add a concrete or timber floor between levels, and long single-storey homes simply have a lot of distance to cover. Get the router placement wrong in a home like this and half the house is fighting for signal.

Common router placement mistakes

Most router placement problems happen for a good reason. The NBN connection box was installed in a certain spot, the router was plugged in next to it, and nobody moved it again. Here’s what we see most often:

• In the garage or meter box end of the house. The NBN point is often on an outside wall, so the router ends up at one edge of the home.
• Inside a cupboard or cabinet. It looks tidy, but timber doors, shelves and everything stored around it block the signal.
• On the floor. WiFi spreads outwards and slightly downwards, so a router at floor level wastes a lot of its coverage.
• Behind the TV. Large screens, metal brackets and a tangle of electronics are a poor neighbour for a router.
• Next to the microwave, cordless phone base or baby monitor. These can interfere with the 2.4 GHz band.
• Antennas all pointing the same way. If your router has external antennas, a mix of angles usually covers a home better.

The 10-minute router placement check

You don’t need special tools. A phone and a free speed test app (or your internet provider’s own app) are enough.

1. Find the rooms that matter. List where you actually use the internet most: home office, lounge, kids’ rooms, the patio. These are the spots you’re optimising for.
2. Take a baseline. Run a speed test in each of those rooms and jot down the results. Do it at a similar time of day so the numbers are comparable.
3. Look at where the router sits now. Is it at one end of the house, on the floor, in a cupboard or behind the TV? Any of those is an easy win.
4. Pick a more central, open spot. Aim for the middle of the area you want covered, at roughly desk or shelf height, out in the open. Upstairs? A central spot on the ground floor, up high, often reaches better than one at floor level.
5. Keep it clear. Leave some space around the router, away from thick walls, metal, mirrors, aquariums and appliances like the microwave.
6. Adjust the antennas. If it has them, try one upright and one angled to the side, which helps signal reach both across and up through the house.
7. Restart and re-test. Power the router off and on in its new spot, then repeat your speed tests in the same rooms. Compare with your baseline. If one room is still weak, try small tweaks to the router placement and test again.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority gives similar advice in its guide to improving your home internet, which is worth a read if you’re troubleshooting a slow connection.

What if the router can’t move?

Sometimes ideal router placement isn’t possible because the router has to stay near the NBN connection box. That’s common with fibre and HFC connections where the box is fixed to a wall. You still have options:

• Use a longer ethernet cable. Run a quality cable from the NBN box to a better position for the router. A neat cable along a skirting board is often all it takes.
• Use existing data points. Some newer Perth homes have ethernet wall ports in several rooms. With the right setup, the router can live in a central room rather than the garage.
• Add a second access point. If one router can’t reach everywhere no matter where it sits, a second wired access point or a mesh node fills the gap.

When better router placement isn’t enough

Good router placement fixes a surprising number of WiFi complaints, but not all of them. Large homes, double-brick internal walls, a granny flat or a back shed are often simply too much for one box.

If you’ve moved the router, re-tested and still have weak spots, it’s usually time to look at a mesh system. We cover this in more detail on our WiFi dead zones in Perth page, and our eero mesh WiFi installation page explains how several small units work together to blanket the whole home.

A few other signs that placement alone won’t solve it:

• Your router is more than five or six years old and doesn’t support newer WiFi standards.
• Speeds are slow even when you’re standing right next to the router.
• Devices keep dropping off the network, not just slowing down.
• You’re relying on plug-in extenders that give “full bars” but poor speeds.

Slow speeds right beside the router usually point to the plan, the NBN connection or the router itself rather than its position. That’s worth checking before you spend money on more hardware.

A quick word on security while you’re there

Since you’ve got the router in your hands, it’s a good moment to check a few basics. Make sure the admin password isn’t the default printed on the sticker, the WiFi uses WPA2 or WPA3, and the firmware is up to date. If that sounds unfamiliar, our network setup and security service can take care of it for you.

Router placement checklist

• Central to the rooms you use most
• Up off the floor, around desk or shelf height
• Out in the open, not in a cupboard or behind the TV
• Away from microwaves, cordless phones, mirrors and fish tanks
• Antennas at mixed angles (if it has them)
• Speed tested before and after, in the same rooms
• Admin password changed and firmware updated

Frequently asked questions

Is it better to put my router upstairs or downstairs?

It depends on where you use the internet most. As a general rule, a central spot, up high on the ground floor, covers a two-storey home better than a corner upstairs or at floor level downstairs. If both levels are busy, a mesh system is usually the more reliable answer.

Can I move my NBN router to another room?

Often, yes. The router needs to connect to the NBN connection box, but that connection can run over a longer ethernet cable or through existing data points in the walls. Avoid moving the NBN box itself; that’s a job for your provider or NBN Co.

Will a WiFi extender fix a badly placed router?

It can help a little, but an extender placed far from a poorly positioned router just repeats a weak signal. Fix the router placement first, then look at mesh WiFi if you still need more coverage.

Need a hand with your WiFi?

If you’ve tried the steps above and your WiFi still drops out, Lark Assist can help. I’m Siamak, a Perth IT technician based in Attadale with more than 25 years of enterprise networking and security experience, and I look after homes and small businesses across Perth, from Applecross and Nedlands to Como and Fremantle.

Give me a call (I answer evenings and weekends too) or get in touch through the contact page for a free phone assessment. We’ll talk through your home, your router placement and whether a simple move or a mesh upgrade makes more sense.