UK households urged to move routers away from their mirrors and beds

You can instantly boost your internet speeds by simply moving your Wi-Fi router away from six items in your home.

The location of your Wi-Fi router is crucial as it can significantly affect the performance and reach of your internet. Certain materials can absorb or disrupt your connection, causing issues with streaming, making calls or working remotely.

One such material is metal, including steel. You might be surprised at how many items in your home are made of metal, such as appliances, devices and fixtures. This comes after a major broadband provider introduced a new £60 charge and issued a deadline to act.

Six items can affect your Wi-fi. Before ringing up your provider or shelling out for a pricier package, try repositioning your router to see if its placement is the problem. This simple move could save you a tidy sum, reports the Express.

Wi-Fi signals struggle to penetrate metal materials, and many household appliances, pieces of furniture and fixtures contain significant amounts of metal. For the best results, keep your Wi-Fi router as far away from these metal objects as possible.

Additionally, many homes have metal laths in the walls, which can also interfere with the Wi-Fi signal. Therefore, you should keep your router away from any thick walls.

Other culprits that can cause your internet speeds to plummet or your signal to drop are thick concrete and ceramic tiles. Additionally, devices such as microwaves, smart speakers and baby monitors can absorb Wi-Fi signal because they use the same radio waves.

The optimal spot for your Wi-Fi router is as central in the room as possible, elevated off the floor and away from thick walls, particularly corners.

When selecting the best router for your home, comparing factors like speed, coverage, and the number of connected devices make all the difference. Google Nest Wifi; TP-Link (Archer A7); Asus (RT-AC86U); Netgear (Nighthawk R7000); and Linksys (Velop) are all internet favourites, recommended for their performance and reliability.

if you're a household of internet savvy smartphone and tablet users, its also suggested to consider the router's ability to support your web activity.

To support your speed, your choice should be able to support a greater speed greater than what you receive from your ISP (Internet Service Provider). If you are not engaging with the full speed you are paying for, that's money down the drain.