Full bars of signal in any room and even the garden...

In the 21st century more and more connected devices are brought into our homes. Due to the recent necessity to work from home many homeowners are discovering that their internet is becoming less reliable. Typically the problem isn’t with the devices themselves or the speed of the connection entering the home, rather with the way homes are configured.

The construction of homes hasn’t changed massively in recent years, but the way we use the internet significantly has. Usually phone lines enter the home at the front of a property and this is where the router is situated. If you imagine WiFi signal reaching out around the router in a circle, half of the coverage will be wasted in your front garden.

A typical router in a 3 bed semi under 2000sq ft. with a couple of laptops and smartphones using wireless everything will usually work fine. But as soon as you add a smart TV streaming service, a smart speaker or 4K games console, WiFi speeds can become very unstable. Nobody wants to see that buffering circle in the middle of an important Teams call or a movie night cliffhanger!

The best way to have full coverage across your home is to have one or more “wireless access points” located around the home and wired back to a central point. The same way it’s set up in Hotels, Restaurants and when we used to work in Offices?! In the larger homes we work on at Signal Flow we often need 2 to 4 of these devices to give adequate WiFi coverage around the property. On our biggest project to date we installed 11 across 4 floors and one outbuilding.

These smart WiFi systems present themselves as one wireless network, so no matter where you are in the property your portable device will automatically be moved on to the access point with the strongest signal. No more fumbling on your phone trying to connect to the “Upstairs Booster” to check the football scores, it just works! 

We’re often told - “isn’t everything wireless these days?”. Whilst this is partly true - more devices are WiFi compatible than ever, that doesn’t mean this should always be their default method of connection. Generally speaking, if a device doesn’t move; Smart TV’s, Games Consoles, Set Top Boxes, Desktop PCs, Printers etc. it should be connected directly to the internet and not using wireless. Most gaming experts would tell you, you must have a wired connection for latency-free play without wireless interference.

A solid cabled infrastructure is something we insist on installing in every job. This means ensuring there is a physical cable installed to every location within the home where you might need an internet connection. This is then run back to a central point and terminated onto patch panels so any device can easily be connected whether it be the day you move in or in the future when you might get the urge to convert the loft into a home cinema or need a bigger home office.

We can’t emphasise enough the importance of getting the right cabling installed during the early stages of a new build or renovation - usually at the same time a plumber or electrician would do their first fix. Whilst we have techniques to retrofit cabling and technology at any time, it’s always less disruptive and more cost-effective when it’s been thought about early in a project.

At Signal Flow we can specify all the necessary cabling for a future-ready home with drawings and documentation ready for when you want to kit out your home with the latest technology. We can then ensure that the internet speed that comes in to your home router is the same that reaches your TV and with carefully placed wireless access points we can give you full bars of signal in any room and even the garden if required. 

Get in touch to find out more