topic Strength of Signal in Broadband

Strength of Signal

JohnGriff — Sat, 02 May 2026 12:34:17 GMT

The strenth of our Wi fi signal drops off as I move through the house.

Using my laptop to check the signal I have moved in a straight line away from the router. All indoors, in a straight line and no obsticles. The signal drops from strong to medium after six metres and down to weak after a further ten metres. So, sixteen metres to go from strong to weak.

It this what we should expect?

John Griff

Re: Strength of Signal

caesarome — Sat, 02 May 2026 12:40:25 GMT

@JohnGriff

Try going through this to see if it helps as it might be worth rebooting your broadband hub if you are yet to do this so that when it loads backup it looks for the best channel to transmit the signal on:

https://www.sky.com/help/broadband/my-broadband-speed/improving-wi-fi-signal-to-my-devices/articles/improve-the-wi-fi-signal-to-your-devices

If doing this has not helped and if you have Wi-Fi Max on your account then Sky will supply up to 3 pods as you can read about here:

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/sky-wifi-max

So you can either¬†call them on 150 from a landline¬†phone or a mobile that has a Sky sim in it or Select "No, I still need help" at the bottom on the above link.

Re: Strength of Signal

stereohaven — Sat, 02 May 2026 12:44:36 GMT

@JohnGriff wrote:
It this what we should expect?

I think the honest answer is "it depends".

Obstaces to WiFi don't have to be physical walls or floors, it can be other devices, neighbours WiFi etc. Then there is checking if the drop off only effects the laptop or is it the same on all devices?

Which band is it is another question I suspect, because lower bands like 2.4ghz are slower but cover greater distance than 5ghz, the router could be faulty, it's hard to know really.

There are some tips here to start with, which could lead to an engineer appointment if needed. I believe they carry equipment these days to help diagnose issues more easily than the old days: Sky Help: Improving your WiFi signal

Re: Strength of Signal

TimmyBGood — Sat, 02 May 2026 14:50:07 GMT

@JohnGriff wrote:

It this what we should expect?

Essentially yes: WiFi decays over distance as an inverse square

Excluding external factors such as local interference or intervening material, at double the distance, signal strength is 1/4th of the original