Wireless networks are very important today. In fact, most of our devices connect to Wi-Fi networks to access the Internet. We are talking about tablets, televisions, mobiles, laptops and many IoT devices. This means that we must have a good installation in our home to avoid problems. In this article we explain how many routers or access points we need in a house to have the Internet correctly.
How many Wi-Fi points should you have in a home
Keep in mind that this will depend on several factors . There is no fixed thing that we can apply in all cases. It will depend on the power of our router, the access points we use, whether there are many walls and walls, how they are placed …
Therefore the first thing we must analyze is our home . Choose a good position for the router, for the Wi-Fi points that we use, as well as manage everything that can block the signal. It is not the same to connect 20 meters from the router but in a large open space than if there are several rooms, walls and even other devices in the middle.
Another point to take into account is that current routers, as well as access points, normally work in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. The former offers a greater range of reach, while that the second is less but with more speed.
If we start from a typical home , where we can place the router in a central place, we can say that it is capable of covering an area of about 150 square meters to be able to connect. Logically the speed and quality of the signal, especially if we use the 5 GHz band, will decrease as we move away. With typical housing we refer to a more or less quadrangular or rectangular area, in which there is not an excessive distance from one end to the other, which is one floor. For example, a different case would be if our home has an “L” shape or an irregular area with too many walls and walls.
However, those 150 square meters would be in optimal conditions, as we have indicated. In addition, the construction material that may be affected must be taken into account. So we can even reduce the area that a single router or access point can cover by half. We are talking about 75 square meters .
Therefore we can say that to achieve a really stable connection, that we can connect without problems, we will need a router or access point for every 75 square meters of housing, in general. If we live in a house of 200 square meters, for example, we would need at least 3 to be able to cover the area correctly.
Users quantity
Beyond the area that we want to cover, we must take into account the number of users or devices that we are going to connect. Generally we can say that an average access point can offer guaranteed connection to a maximum of 25 devices . It can work with more, but from there we could have problems.
Therefore, if we are going to use many connected equipment at the same time and we do not want problems of cut or loss of speed, we must calculate that from 25 devices we should think about using an additional access point.
If we are going to configure the network in our home where we plan to have 40 connected devices, for example, it would be convenient to have at least two Wi-Fi points. In this way we would divide the ability to connect.
How to correctly place the router or Wi-Fi points
We have seen how many routers or Wi-Fi points we need depending on the size of the house or according to the number of connected devices. A generic figure, taking into account specific situations. Now we are going to see how to correctly place these devices .
Something very important is the location of these devices. It is essential that they are in a central area , from where they can distribute the signal equally well. They should also be away from other devices that may interfere or from walls and walls that may block the signal.
We must bear in mind that placing the router or Wi-Fi point in a low location is a mistake. The interesting thing is that it is elevated , as it can be on top of a piece of furniture.
If we are going to place Wi-Fi repeaters or amplifiers, we must avoid dead zones . We need them to receive the best possible signal to later distribute it well so that we can connect from other computers.
