Why Does My Wi-Fi Keep Dropping? Causes and Fixes for Irish Homes

The short answer: Wi-Fi keeps dropping for a handful of reasons. The signal is too weak where the device sits, something nearby is interfering on the same band, the router is overloaded or needs a restart or a firmware update, a device is set to drop its Wi-Fi to save battery, or the broadband line itself is dropping. The first thing to find out is whether everything loses the connection at the same moment, which points to the router or the line, or whether one device in one place drops while the rest stay up, which points to the Wi-Fi to that spot.

Does everything drop, or just one device?

This one question splits the problem in two, and it costs nothing to answer. Leave a laptop plugged into the router with a network cable, or keep an eye on a smart TV or games console that is wired in, and watch what happens the next time the Wi-Fi goes.

• If the wired device drops at the same moment as the phones and laptops, the Wi-Fi is not the problem. The broadband line or the router is losing the connection for the whole house.
• If the wired device stays online while one or two wireless devices drop, the line is fine and the Wi-Fi is losing it on the way to those spots.

Those are two different problems, with two different people to fix them. Take them one at a time.

Is it the Wi-Fi or the broadband line?

A broadband line can drop on its own: a fibre or cable fault, a copper line re-syncing, or work on the provider's network. The signs are that the broadband light on the router changes colour or goes red, that wired devices drop along with everything else, and that it comes back by itself after a minute or two.

To check, plug a laptop into the router by cable and run a speed test when the drops usually happen. ComReg, the communications regulator, notes that speeds can be noticeably slower at peak times, so test in the evening as well as during the day. Our guide to telling the line from the Wi-Fi walks through it. If the cabled connection itself stalls or drops, and the result is well below the minimum and normally available speeds your contract has to state, ring your provider with the figures: when you tested, that it was on a cable, and what you saw.

What makes the Wi-Fi itself keep dropping?

If a wired device stays up while wireless ones drop, the signal is being lost between the router and those spots. The usual reasons:

• Weak signal at the edge of range. Distance, walls, floors and foil-backed insulation all take a share of the signal. A device at the very edge holds on, then drops whenever the signal dips a little further. Our guides to why Wi-Fi fades upstairs and to testing room by room show how to find the spot where it goes.
• Band and mesh hopping. When the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands share one network name, or a mesh system hands a device from one unit to the next, a device can lose the connection for a second as it moves. It is brief, but it is enough to drop a call or a camera.
• A device saving battery. Phones and laptops can switch their Wi-Fi off when they think they are idle, which shows up as a device that keeps dropping and reconnecting while it sits on a shelf.
• A tired or overloaded router. ComReg points out that the more devices are active at once, the more the line struggles. A router that has been running for weeks, or a basic one carrying a houseful of devices, drops connections it would otherwise hold.

Interference and a crowded channel

The 2.4 GHz band reaches furthest, which is why older and cheaper devices use it, but it is also the most crowded. TP-Link, which makes routers, names microwaves and cordless phones as the worst offenders; Virgin Media Ireland adds baby monitors. A Bluetooth speaker and the neighbours' networks sit in the same band. When one of them bursts into life on the same channel, a 2.4 GHz device can drop.

In an estate or an apartment block, every router is competing for the same few 2.4 GHz channels. The more of them that are busy at once, usually in the evening, the more each one stalls, which is why a connection that is steady all day starts dropping after tea. Our guide to Wi-Fi that slows in the evening goes into that pattern. The 5 GHz band has far more channels and much less of this, as NETGEAR explains, though it does not reach as far.

How to stop Wi-Fi dropping, from free upwards

Roughly in order of cost. Give each one a day or two to show whether it helped.

1. Restart the router, and keep it updated

Turn the router off for a minute and on again. Virgin Media Ireland says this lets it pick the best channel, and it clears a router that has been running a long time. While you are in its settings, check for a firmware update: TP-Link notes these often improve performance and stability.

2. Put the right devices on the right band

Near the router, join the 5 GHz network, which is faster and far less crowded. Leave older devices that can only see 2.4 GHz for the jobs that do not move. If your bands share one name and a device keeps hopping, some routers let you split them into two names so a device stays put.

3. Move the router, and move the interference

Routers end up wherever the line came in: the hall, a press, behind the TV. Put it out in the open and up off the floor, which ComReg, Virgin Media and NETGEAR all recommend, and keep it away from the microwave, the cordless phone base and any baby monitor. Our guide to slow Wi-Fi upstairs covers placement in more detail.

4. Turn off Wi-Fi power saving on the device that drops

If it is one device that keeps falling off, look in its Wi-Fi or battery settings for an option that turns Wi-Fi off when idle, and switch it off for that device.

5. Carry the signal to the spot that drops

If a room is simply too far for a steady signal, bring the connection to it rather than hoping it reaches. A network cable to an access point gets past every wall in the way; where a cable cannot be run, powerline can carry it over the electrical wiring, and a mesh unit linked back by cable is steadier than one relying on Wi-Fi. Our guides to mesh Wi-Fi, powerline in Irish houses and extender, mesh or powerline cover which suits which problem.

6. Replace a tired single-band router

A basic, single-band router supplied years ago struggles with a houseful of modern devices. A newer router copes better with a busy house, as our guide to Wi-Fi 6, 6E and 7 explains, though a new router in the same bad spot still has to get through the same walls.

When it still drops after all that

If the router has been restarted, moved and updated, the device is on the right band, and the connection still drops, it is worth measuring the house before spending more. Our home network assessment does that: a two-hour visit that tests the broadband at the router by cable and measures every floor, then a working powerline and access point trial left for three days on the floor that struggles, with the figures in a written report. It costs €395, credited in full against any work you go ahead with, in Dublin and the rest of Leinster. If the report shows the line itself is dropping, you have the figures to bring to your provider.

To start for free, run the Wi-Fi check beside the router and again in the room that drops. It grades the result and tells you whether it is worth going further.

Frequently asked questions