Before you start, work out which problem you have, because each one has a different fix.

Slow everywhere, including next to the router? That’s usually your internet connection or your plan — Wi-Fi isn’t the culprit.

Fine in some rooms, poor in others? That’s coverage, and steps 2 and 5 are for you.

Fine most of the time, then drops out? That’s interference or an overloaded router — steps 1, 3 and 4.

A quick way to tell them apart: run a speed test standing next to the router, then again in the room where it’s bad. If the first is fine and the second isn’t, your internet connection is doing its job and the problem is inside your house.

1. Restart properly

Turn your modem and router off at the wall, wait 30 seconds, and power back on. It clears the most common glitches. Do this first, every time.

The 30 seconds matters: it lets the hardware fully discharge rather than warm-restart. If your modem and router are separate boxes, power the modem up first and let it settle before switching on the router.

Resist the urge to do this daily. If you need to restart every few days, something is wrong and it should be looked at.

2. Move the router

Central, high and out in the open beats tucked behind the TV or inside a cabinet. Every wall, mirror and appliance between you and the router costs signal.

Some obstacles cost far more than others. Plasterboard barely affects the signal, but brick, concrete, tiles and anything with foil backing block much more of it. The worst offenders in most homes are mirrors, metal filing cabinets, fish tanks and the kitchen. Water and metal both absorb Wi-Fi well.

Two things that surprise people: routers radiate outwards and slightly downwards, so a router on the floor wastes much of its signal on the slab; and the far corner of the house is the worst possible spot, because half the coverage goes to the neighbours.

3. Pick the right band

The 5GHz band is faster up close; 2.4GHz reaches further through walls. If your network shows both, use 5GHz near the router and 2.4GHz in far rooms.

Many modern routers merge both into one network name and choose for you. That’s convenient and usually fine, but devices can be stubborn about letting go of a weak 5GHz signal when they’d be better off on 2.4GHz. If a device is clinging to a bad connection, turning its Wi-Fi off and on forces it to re-choose.

If your router lets you split the bands into two names, doing so gives you manual control, useful for a smart TV or desk computer that never moves.

4. Cut the clutter

Too many devices streaming and backing up at once will choke any connection. Pause big downloads and check nothing’s hogging bandwidth in the background.

The usual suspects are the invisible ones: cloud photo backup on everyone’s phones, a games console downloading a large update, a computer installing system updates, security cameras uploading continuously.

Your neighbours count too. In units and townhouses the 2.4GHz band is often crowded with a dozen networks fighting for the same space. That’s a big part of why 2.4GHz can feel slow even with full signal bars. The bars show signal strength, and don’t tell you how crowded the band is.

5. Consider a mesh system

For larger homes, a mesh Wi-Fi kit spreads several access points around the house for even coverage, far better than one router straining to reach everywhere.

Mesh is the right answer for a double-storey home, a long single-storey layout, or anywhere with brick internal walls. Mesh units talk to each other over Wi-Fi, and each hop costs some speed. Place each unit where it still gets a decent signal from the previous one, even if that means they aren’t spread evenly.

If you can run a network cable to the far unit, do. A wired connection between units removes that speed loss entirely.

One thing to skip: the cheap plug-in “Wi-Fi extender”. They typically halve your speed and create a second network your devices don’t switch between cleanly. You usually end up with a slow spot where the dead spot was.

When it isn’t your Wi-Fi

If the speed test next to the router is also poor, moving hardware around won’t help. Check what speed your plan is actually meant to deliver. Evening speeds are the ones that matter, and NBN plans are sold on a typical evening speed rather than a maximum. If you’re well below what you’re paying for, that’s a conversation with your provider.

Still fighting dead spots after all that? It’s almost always placement or hardware, and both are fixable without replacing the lot.