Renovation Tips for a Strong WiFi Connection Throughout Your Home

Don’t get caught in the buffer.

We’re all too familiar with the annoyance of a disrupted broadband or WiFi connection. Beyond the perfunctory switching on and off of your router, did you know that there’s a lot more you can do from the get-go to ensure a strong and stable connection in your home?

Common connectivity issues such as patchy or weak signals are usually due to interior design elements, and homeowners often only find out after they’ve moved in (read: when it’s too late).

To maximise the speeds promised in your broadband plan, be sure to keep the following tips in mind and discuss them with your ID before your renovation.

1. Review the location of telecommunication service points

While planning for renovation, it’s important to review the layout of your home and identify the location of the following with your ID:

• Fibre termination point
• Data points
• Termination points

This will help determine from the get-go if their existing locations are ideal, if there’s a need to shift them, or to convert any telephone point to a data point. Note that shifting/converting of these points mid-renovation may incur additional costs – not something you’d want.

If you have the luxury of owning a large or multi-storey home, additional cabling/trunking may be required for a second router positioned at another end of your home - this will ensure strong coverage no matter where you are.

However, since such cabling/trunking may affect the wiring and/or aesthetic of your home, it’s recommended that you also raise this with your ID prior to starting your renovation, to facilitate his/her planning.

Pro-tip: Some internet service providers like MyRepublic even offer free on-site survey upon signing up for a broadband plan, for new customers, to provide tailored expert advice on this – so do make full use of it!

2. Don’t keep the router behind closed doors or walls

While a router may appear to be an ‘eyesore’ amidst your uber-sleek, streamlined furnishings, concealing your router behind carpentry will block the signals from reaching you properly.

Yes, we get that it may not be the most aesthetic decor piece, but you’ll thank us later when your WiFi connection improves by leaps and bounds. Also, keep in mind that concrete walls are terrible for WiFi signals; it's usually the reason why rooms at the furthest end of the house tend to receive the weakest signals.

With this in mind, do speak with your ID on a good spot to place your router and for solutions to mask unsightly wiring without weakening your WiFi signal nor standing out like a sore thumb.

3. Avoid tinted glass and large mirrors in areas where you need stable WiFi

Tinted glass for windows or doors is popular for privacy and heat reduction purposes. But did you know that tinted glass often contains metal additives that can heavily absorb WiFi signals. So, if you are intending to have a glass partition in your study – where you’ll undoubtedly require WiFi – tempered glass may be a better option as there are no traces of metal.

You may also face the same issue with large wall mirrors. While small decorative mirrors are unlikely to have much of an effect, larger floor-to-ceiling mirrors are definitely a major culprit when it comes to killing your WiFi connection; their metal backing interferes with WiFi signals and can reduce the strength of WiFi signals significantly.

4. Avoid excessive use of metal furnishings (especially bulky ones)

Anything containing metal could potentially weaken your WiFi connection, as the material absorbs radio waves. To circumvent this, avoid excessive use of metal furniture, like storage cabinets. Such items, if necessary, should be placed at a considerable distance from the router.

5. Space your appliances apart

It’s always nice to meet someone on the same frequency as you, but that doesn’t apply to appliances. Common home appliances such as microwaves, cordless phones, baby monitors and Bluetooth devices emit the same frequencies as a WiFi signal does, inadvertently disrupting one another. To avoid connectivity issues, ensure that they are spaced out and a good distance away from the router.

Bonus tips (because faster is always better)

For bigger homes, opt for a mesh system

We can all do with a little extra help every now and then. If you’re staying in a relatively smaller flat or apartment (such as 3- or 4-room HDB flat), a single router and a 1Gbps broadband plan may suffice. If you're staying in a larger home like a 5-room flat or multi-storey home, however, you may wish to consider opting for a mesh system to cover a wider area and solve the issues of WiFi dead spots (in addition to the tips above).

For gamers and households that require higher bandwidth, split devices across two networks

If you live with a large family and/or have a smart home ecosystem in place, consider a 2Gbps plan with two separate 1Gbps connections. That way, you get to split your devices across two different networks for seamless connectivity.

If you’re an avid gamer, consider plans that offer low latency. MyRepublic’s GAMER 2Gbps broadband plans offer live latency tracking and a dedicated IP address range. This allows their engineers to prioritise and optimise the best custom routes to overseas game servers, reducing lag for the best online gaming experience possible.

Surf and stream with ultra-fast, reliable broadband by MyRepublic

Once your renovation is complete, the next step would be to find a reliable internet service provider. But skip the legwork – MyRepublic offers a wide variety of plans in terms of bandwidth, contract duration, router/gadget choices, so you can be rest assured there will be one that caters to your needs.

But don’t take our word for it – they have all the right accolades to back them up, like consistently having #1 Netflix Streaming Speeds and top STEAM Download Speeds!

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