We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again for the people in the back – A strong Wi-Fi signal does not necessarily mean a reliable Wi-Fi connection.

You can have full bars of Wi-Fi signal but still be experiencing:

Dropped Teams/ Zoom calls
Slow or intermittent internet
Applications disconnecting
Devices repeatedly reconnecting
Poor voice quality
High latency
Bluetooth problems occurring at the same time

The reliability of Wi-Fi depends on a lot more than just the strength of the signal. We unfortunately see many clients where they’ve tried to fix the problem by adding another Access Point – But this rarely works. Intermittent Wi-Fi problems require measurement and diagnosis to identify exactly what the problems are and how best to fix them. Throwing in another Access Point can cause more issues than they fix if not done correctly.

Here at Geekabit, we specialise in investigating the RF environment of your wider network, rather than just assuming that every reported Wi-Fi problem is caused by weak coverage. News Flash: It’s often not.

Does this sound like one of your employees?

An employee comes to the IT Manager and complains that their Wi-Fi keeps dropping out, despite their laptop showing 3 or 4 bars of signal.

Surely then, the Wi-Fi can’t be the problem? Wrong! We can see the logic, but hopefully your IT Manager gets a little more curious than either wrongly assuming that the Wi-Fi can’t be the problem, or just installing another Access Point in the vicinity of the employee experiencing problems.

But signal strength is only one measurement of wireless performance.

A reliable Wi-Fi connection depends on:

Interference
Noise
Channel utilisation
Access Point placement
Network design
Client behaviour
The infrastructure behind the Wi-Fi

What do the Wi-Fi bars actually tell you?

The strength of a wireless signal when a device receives it is measured in Received Signal Strength Indicator, or RSSI.

The signal bars you see on your device show how strongly it can ‘hear’ the Access Point.

What these signal bars don’t tell you, is:

How busy the channel is
Whether another transmitter is interfering
Whether packets are repeatedly being retransmitted
Whether the access point is overloaded
Whether the device has chosen the best AP
Whether DHCP or DNS is working properly
Whether the internet connection itself is stable.

Think of it as being a bit like someone talking loudly in a crowded room – You might be able to hear their voice, but struggle to understand what they are actually saying.

What people sometimes forget or don’t realise, is that Wi-Fi is two-way communication. Hearing the AP doesn’t automatically mean that the

Also mention that Wi-Fi is two-way communication. A device hearing the AP strongly doesn’t automatically mean the AP can hear the client device equally well.

Interference can cause problems despite excellent signal

RF or Radio Frequency is what powers wireless technologies like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mobile phones, radio/ TV broadcasting, and radar.

Wi-Fi operates in this shared radio spectrum, meaning that interference can occur – Both through the competition for airtime and physical blocks to the waves.

This means that the frequencies used by Wi-Fi can be interfered with by other Wi-Fi devices as well as non-Wi-Fi devices. Things that can cause interference are:

Bluetooth devices (although it’s important to point out that not every Bluetooth device destroys Wi-Fi – Modern systems are designed to co-exist. But in congested or unusual RF environments, interference can be relevant)
Wireless audio/ video equipment
Some IoT equipment
Microwaves
Cordless/ wireless equipment
Specialist industrial or building equipment
The buildings themselves

Remember that interference can be intermittent – An employee might complain to the IT Manager at 10am that there’s a problem, but by the time they have a chance to investigate it at 2pm, it’s apparently disappeared.

Wi-Fi Scanner vs Spectrum Analyser

It’s important to note the distinction between these 2 Wi-Fi tools.

A conventional Wi-Fi Scanner can see Wi-Fi networks and Access Points. It cannot necessarily tell you what non-Wi-Fi radio activity is occupying the spectrum.

Spectrum Analysis examines RF energy itself. This can reveal interference that wouldn’t appear as another SSID.

Professional troubleshooting of Wi-Fi problems would likely therefore combine Wi-Fi Analysis with Spectrum Analysis.

Your device may be connected to the wrong access point

Did you know that a device doesn’t necessarily connect to the AP that’s physically nearest? You do now.

Your device ultimately makes many roaming decisions by itself. A laptop can remain attached to an AP further away, when there is a better one available.

It’s also worth noting that the way a building is constructed can make physical distance misleading. For example, an AP that appears close by on a floor plan, might actually be:

Upstairs
Through a reinforced floor
Behind several walls
Around a corridor
Serving users from an unintended location

Remember that a strong enough signal for connectivity, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s sufficient for a consistently good user experience.

Proper AP placement really matters.

Too many access points can also cause problems

If you’re experiencing Wi-Fi problems, adding more AP’s isn’t necessarily the solution. You can read more about that here.

The problem may actually be with the network design. Poorly designed networks can have:

Excessive transmit power
Overlapping coverage
Too many AP’s sharing channels
Poor channel allocation

Badly configured APs can actually increase contention.

Wi-Fi networks should be designed around coverage and capacity, rather than simply filling a building with radios. .

Channel width matters — particularly on 2.4 GHz

A Wi-Fi channel width of 20 MHz provides a narrower, more stable connection with less interference, while 40 MHz bonds two channels together to double your theoretical speed, but at the cost of higher susceptibility to interference.

The 2.4 GHz band has very limited usable spectrum. Using unnecessarily wide channels consumes more of it.

In busy environments, 40 MHz channels on 2.4 GHz can contribute to poor coexistence and increased contention.

For many business deployments, 20 MHz channels on 2.4 GHz are the sensible choice.

Wider isn’t automatically faster in a real-world environment.

It’s important when channel planning that your IT Manager considers neighbouring networks and the actual RF environment.

The problem might not actually be Wi-Fi

Picture this. One of your employees rings the IT Manager and says “The Wi-Fi went down!”

This user can be experiencing a failure anywhere along this chain:

Laptop → Wi-Fi → AP → switch → router/firewall → ISP → internet service

The potential cause of this failure could be:

Failing or incorrectly configured network switches
Ethernet links negotiating at the wrong speed
Damaged cabling
PoE problems
VLAN/configuration errors
DHCP exhaustion or slow DHCP responses
DNS failures
Gateway/router problems
ISP instability
Packet loss upstream
Internet connection congestion

Unfortunately, just replacing APs isn’t going to fix any of these problems.

Why intermittent Wi-Fi problems are difficult to diagnose

Perhaps the only good thing about persistent Wi-Fi faults is that they are relatively easy to diagnose because they’re still present when the Wireless Engineer arrives.

Intermittent faults on the other hand, require evidence.

A short visit from a Wi-Fi Engineer might find a network that appears to be completely healthy. This is why it’s important to engage a wi-Fi specialist who can conduct a useful investigation that includes:

Spectrum analysis
Wi-Fi scanning
Channel utilisation measurements
AP/controller logs
Roaming information
Latency and packet-loss testing
Wired-network testing
Longer-term monitoring

Where appropriate, leaving a monitoring device onsite can help establish exactly when failures occur and whether the LAN, DNS, gateway or internet connection is affected simultaneously.

The aim of our expert Wi-Fi Engineers is to correlate your user’s reported experience with measurable network behaviour. Then we can get to work in providing the fix.

Why Bluetooth dropping out at the same time can be an important clue

Bluetooth also operates in the 2.4 GHz spectrum.

If users report both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth problems in a particular location, that is very useful diagnostic information.

Whilst it doesn’t automatically prove RF interference, it does give an engineer a reason to investigate the local 2.4 GHz spectrum rather than concentrating solely on the Wi-Fi configuration.

This is an excellent example of why asking users exactly what they experience can be as important as looking at the controller dashboard.

How should a business investigate Wi-Fi that keeps disconnecting?

If your business is experiencing intermittent Wi-Fi problems, then it’s time for your IT Manager to get curious and start recording some data. Does the problem affect one user, one room, one AP or the whole building? Start making a log of:

Where the problem happens
When it happens
Which devices are affected
Whether wired devices are affected
Whether Bluetooth is affected
Whether users still show strong Wi-Fi signal;
Whether it happens during particularly busy periods.

Don’t be tempted to try random things before getting curious. The following actions can mask the underlying fault or even make the RF environment worse.

Things to avoid doing:

Rebooting everything repeatedly
Installing additional APs
Turning every AP’s transmit power to maximum
Widening channels in pursuit of higher headline speeds

What does a professional Wi-Fi investigation involve?

We sometimes see clients assuming they know what the Wi-Fi problem is and trying what they think is the obvious solution. But you need to start with the reported symptoms and get curious about what the cause could be.

A professional Wi-Fi investigation starts with the reported symptoms and uses them to lead an examination of the existing Wi-Fi design and configuration.

A specialist Wi-Fi Engineer will measure the RF environment and look for both Wi-Fi and non Wi-Fi interference. They will assess channel utilisation and channel planning.

Access Point placement will be checked, alongside actual client associations.

The wired infrastructure will also be examined as well as the internet path where relevant.

All of the data from these investigations leads to the Geekabit team making evidence-based recommendations. This could be new hardware, or some configuration changes to your existing network. Sometimes it’s as simple as repositioning equipment or fixing something elsewhere in the network.

Our expert Wi-Fi Engineers here at Geekabit will always find the cause of your Wi-Fi problems before recommending the cure. You can contact our friendly team to find out more.

Remember: Strong Wi-Fi signal doesn’t guarantee good Wi-Fi

Reliable wireless networks depend on clean spectrum, sensible RF design, appropriate AP placement, sufficient capacity and a healthy network behind the Access Points.

If your business is experiencing repeated Wi-Fi dropouts, the most useful first step isn’t necessarily buying more equipment. It’s getting curious and establishing what is actually failing.

If you need any help with business Wi-Fi troubleshooting or you are interested in a Network Health Check for your business, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team here at Geekabit. Our professional Wi-Fi Engineers are experts in their field and ready to help make your Wi-Fi network more reliable so your business operations run smoothly.

FAQs

Why does my Wi-Fi keep disconnecting when I have full signal?

Full Wi-Fi signal generally means your device can receive a strong signal from the access point. It doesn’t tell you whether the radio channel is congested, whether interference is present, whether packets are being lost or whether another part of the network is failing. A device can therefore display full Wi-Fi bars while still experiencing an unreliable connection.

Can Wi-Fi interference cause devices to disconnect?

Yes. Wi-Fi and other radio transmissions can interfere or compete for airtime, particularly in busy environments. This can result in reduced throughput, increased latency and retransmissions and, in more severe cases, unreliable connections. Spectrum analysis can help identify RF activity that a normal Wi-Fi scanner may not detect.

Can Bluetooth interfere with Wi-Fi?

Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi share the same general frequency band and are designed with coexistence mechanisms. Usually they operate alongside each other successfully. However, heavy or unusual 2.4 GHz RF activity can affect wireless performance. If Bluetooth and Wi-Fi devices experience problems simultaneously in the same location, it can be a useful reason to investigate the local RF environment.

Why does my Wi-Fi only drop out in one room?

A location-specific problem can be caused by AP placement, building materials, interference, channel conditions or the device connecting to an AP that isn’t ideally positioned to serve that room. Measuring the network from the affected location is often more useful than relying solely on an AP controller or floor plan.

Will adding another Wi-Fi access point stop dropouts?

Not necessarily. Another AP can improve coverage where signal is genuinely inadequate, but it won’t solve problems caused by interference, DHCP, DNS, cabling, switching, broadband or poor configuration. Adding APs without considering channel planning can sometimes make wireless performance worse.

Should businesses use 20 MHz or 40 MHz channels on 2.4 GHz?

In many business environments, 20 MHz channels are preferable on 2.4 GHz because the band has limited spectrum available. Using 40 MHz channels consumes considerably more of that spectrum and can make effective channel planning and coexistence with nearby networks more difficult.

What’s the difference between Wi-Fi analysis and spectrum analysis?

Wi-Fi analysis examines Wi-Fi networks, access points, channels and related protocol information. Spectrum analysis looks at radio-frequency energy across the band, which can expose interference that isn’t generated by Wi-Fi equipment. Professional troubleshooting may use both because a Wi-Fi scanner alone cannot identify every source of RF activity.

How can I tell whether the problem is Wi-Fi or my internet connection?

Testing connectivity at several points can help isolate the problem. An engineer might test communication to the local gateway alongside DNS, external internet connectivity, packet loss and latency. Comparing wired and wireless devices can also help establish whether the fault is within the Wi-Fi network or further upstream.

Why does office Wi-Fi work perfectly sometimes and badly at other times?

Changing numbers of users, channel utilisation, neighbouring networks, intermittent RF interference and internet utilisation can all cause performance to vary throughout the day. Longer-term monitoring and spectrum analysis can be particularly useful when the fault isn’t present during an engineer’s visit.

What information should I record before reporting an intermittent Wi-Fi problem?

Record when and where the problem occurs, which devices are affected, whether the device still shows Wi-Fi signal, what application was being used and whether wired or Bluetooth devices experience problems at the same time. Patterns in this information can substantially narrow down the potential causes.

Do you use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi at the same time? Whether you’re at work, home – Or working from home! – you might find that you’re connected to both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth via various devices.

And if this is the case, it’s probably common for these connections to fight with each other and cause you to run into connectivity issues. Why, we hear you ask? Surely they are completely different from each other? Actually, they’re not. They have a lot more similarities that you might have thought.

There are instances where Wi-Fi and Bluetooth can use the same radio frequency range for data transfer, meaning that Bluetooth could interfere with your Wi-Fi.

If you’re experiencing wobbly Wi-Fi or a Bluetooth connection that keeps dropping out then we feel your pain – There is nothing more frustrating. Not only that, but it isn’t very productive, is it? If you’re having to continually reconnect your Bluetooth device to make it work then you could indeed be struggling with interference between that connection and the Wi-Fi.

Why can Bluetooth interfere with my Wi-Fi?

When it comes to understanding how Bluetooth and Wi-Fi can transmit data and interact with each other, you need to know a bit about frequency bands.

Telecommunication and other applications depend on a series of electromagnetic frequencies in the Radio Spectrum. Each range of frequencies, or bands, are used for specific purposes. Some of the main frequency bands that you may have heard of are:

Marine Band which is used for ships communicating outside of the range of the shore.
Citizen’s Band which is public radio frequency, known as CB and most commonly used by truckers.
Broadcasting Band like AM and FM, multiple bands that are used to broadbcast radio signals

So which do Bluetooth and Wi-Fi come under? Well, they are on Industrial Scientific Medical bands, or ISM. The home of radio telecommunications. One of these, which you will likely have heard of, is the 2.4GHz frequency band and is commonly used for network connectivity.

This spectrum is occupied by both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 2.4GHz, which means that things on this band can get a bit over-crowded and thus cause electromagnetic interference. How do you know when this happens? Well, you might notice some of the following things on your connected devices:

Audio connections via Bluetooth cutting in and out
Pages that are slow to load, or don’t load at all
Your device telling you that there is an issue on your network

A connection as unreliable as this causes nothing but frustration – What you need is for your device to be able to communicate properly with the network. Unfortunately, these problems can be common when a frequency band is over-crowded and causing interference between devices and networks.

This is why we use ISM bands for telecommunication – The traditional radio frequencies were too populated. What you might not know, however, is that ISM bands were originally to transfer heat, not data! Hence why your microwave can cause interference issues with your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. They use the same technology, but radio waves at a different frequency. That’s why you are always told to not put your router or devices anywhere near your microwave! In fact, any device that gives off electromagnetic frequency could cause interference with your home network and lead to Wi-Fi issues.

If you’re struggling with slow signal strength, an unreliable signal that cuts in and out, Bluetooth audio problems or a lag between Bluetooth devices (e.g. keyboards or mouse) then you could be experiencing interference issues.

But is there anything you can do about the interference between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi?

Ways to Reduce Interference Between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi

If you think that your Wi-Fi or Bluetooth problems are down to interference then you’ll be pleased to know that there are a few straightforward things you can do to try and resolve the issues. One simple tweak could make a big difference!

Try connecting to a Lower Traffic Router Network

If you have a modern router, then it should have the option to operate on different channels, for example 2.4GHx and 5GHz. If you have this option, then try changing the channel on the router that you’re connected to. This should hopefully help to relieve any network congestion.

There’s unfortunately not an awful lot you can do if the interference is coming from outside your home, which is more common in densely populated areas like blocks of flats. You can see how dense your area is by looking at how many networks there are in the list when you try to connect.

Thankfully, as we said above, modern routers are trying to combat this problem by having the option to use a higher frequency band. Dual band routers are particularly useful for this.
Keep up-to-date with software updates

Modern devices compatible with Bluetooth will mostly have the ability to hop along the channels in the 2.4GHz bands, known as frequency hopping. This helps to alleviate any issues caused by interference. In order for your Bluetooth device to be able to do this, you need to make sure you have stayed up to date with software updates.

On the 2.4Ghz band, some routers can transmit on multiple channels. Couple this with the ability for newer Bluetooth devices to frequency hop and you’re unlikely to struggle with interference between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Any interference issues could then be down to physical barriers rather than frequency interference.

Can you remove any physical barriers?

You may or may not be aware that different materials can affect your signal differently; some will completely block it. If you have lots of glass, concrete, brick or walls in general then this can cause the signal to get weaker, thus affecting your connectivity. Keep this in mind when you place your router somewhere – Behind a concrete wall or in a solid wooden cabinet are not ideal places! You’ll be surprised where our Wi-Fi experts have found routers…

If you are using the 5GHz frequency band, then you need to be as close to your router as possible, with little physical barriers. Operating on a higher frequency means you are more susceptible to material interference.
Can you get closer to the router?

If certain materials are weakening your connection and you can’t easily remove that barriers, perhaps you can move either your router so it’s better located, or you and your device so you are closer to the router.
Forget all your networks

If the above solutions haven’t worked, then you might need to try forgetting all your networks on all your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices, unpair everything and then re-connect and re-pair. Yes, it’s a bit of a faff, but it can help remove old connections that are no longer needed that are crowding the network and causing interference problems.

Still having problems? Call the Experts

If you’ve tried the above ideas and you’re still struggling with an unreliable connection, dodgy audio and/or slow internet then it could be time to call in the experts and get the fault diagnosed.

Our Wi-Fi experts work out of Hampshire, London and Cardiff and can help solve your Wi-Fi woes and get you a more reliable connection. You can contact us here. You don’t have to put up with rubbish Wi-Fi!

You can also read more about Wi-Fi interference on our previous blogs.

Why Does My Wi-Fi Keep Dropping Out Even Though the Signal Is Strong?