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When you have WiFi, your router becomes like a light in your home. Your router carries a signal throughout your home so that your devices may connect with it. To enjoy the best connection and signal with your RightFiber WiFi connection, it’s helpful to understand how signal strengths can vary in different parts of your home; particularly why signal loss sometimes occurs.

Internet speed is measured in Megabits (typically 200, 500, or 1,000 Megabits, which is 1 Gigabit). WiFi performance is measured by signal strength in what’s called “decibel milliwatts,” or dBm. Your WiFi might feel like it is going faster or slower in certain areas of your home, but it’s actually getting a weaker or stronger signal. When your signal is stronger, your connected devices will go faster, which is why signal strength is so important.

Distance is the main gauge for signal strength. A great example would be a plug-in air freshener in your living room. The closer you are to the air freshener, the stronger the scent. As you move away, the scent gets weaker. Your device’s signal strength works the same way depending on distance from the WiFi router! If your device is right next to the WiFi router, you’ll have the fastest speed because the signal is very strong and close. The further away from your router, the less signal your device will have.

Our recommendation for a household is to place your router in a central location because central placement usually offers the best reach and broadest coverage throughout the home. And while WiFi signals can travel through doors and sheetrock walls, they lose some strength as they do. So it’s good to remember that the location of those devices will affect the speed and strength of the signal on your device.

Remember, getting a high-strength WiFi signal is how you get the most out of your high-speed internet connection. And the Right move is toward the middle: locating your router in the most central part of your home.