WLAN optimization: How to get the most out of your wireless network

Do you know that? You sit in the living room, want to watch Netflix or start an important video meeting and suddenly everything jerks, the connection breaks off or at least loads painfully slowly.
Frustrating, isn't it?

The good news: In most cases, it is not your Internet connection itself, but a suboptimally set up WLAN. With the right settings and some know-how, you can massively improve the performance of your wireless network. In this guide, I'll show you step by step how to get your Wi-Fi up and running, with practical examples for FritzBox and Speedport routers.

1. The basis: Router position and wireless environment

Before we dive into technical settings, let's start with the physical basics. The position of your router is more important than many people think.

The perfect location for your router

Think of your router as a lighthouse: The higher and freer he stands, the better he can spread his signal. Here are the most important rules:

Central and Increased Placement: If possible, the router should be in the middle of your home, ideally on a shelf or closet, not on the floor or in a corner. Why? Wi-Fi signals propagate spherically. If the router is in a corner, give it half the range towards the wall or neighboring apartment.

Practical example: You live in an 80 sqm apartment with hallway in the middle? Perfect, puts the FritzBox on a shelf in the hallway, about 1.5 meters high. Thus, the signal reaches all rooms evenly.

Avoid obstacles: Wi-Fi waves don't like obstacles. Particularly problematic are:

• Thick walls (especially concrete and reinforced concrete)
• Large metallic objects (radiators, refrigerators, filing cabinets)
• Watery objects (aquariums, large houseplants)
• Microwaves and wireless speakers (actively jamming to 2.4 GHz)

Practical example: Your FritzBox is behind the TV in the living room cabinet? It's a bad idea! The metal frame of the TV and the cabinet walls swallow massive signal. Better: Place the router next to the TV or on the closet.

Align antennas correctly (if available)

Many routers have external antennas, and their alignment makes a difference. The topic is very complex, but in principle one can state the following:

• Vertical (90°): Ideal for supplying rooms on the same floor
  
• Horizontal (0°): Better for supplying other floors (e.g. ground floor → upper floor)

Professional tip: Do you have multiple antennas? Aligns them to different angles (e.g. one perpendicular, one oblique), which improves spatial coverage through diversity.

If you want to take some money in your hand, you can also order suitable antennas for your FritzBox at Frixtender

Analyze the radio environment

Now it's exciting: With free tools, you can see how your Wi-Fi is spreading and where problems are lurking.

Recommended apps:

• WiFi Analyzer (Android)
• NetSpot or WiFi Explorer (Windows/Mac)
• Heatmapper (Windows) creates a visual heatmap of your home

Here's how it works: Install one of these apps on your smartphone or laptop and run through your apartment. The app shows you the signal strength (in dBm) in real time. Anything above -70 dBm is good, from -80 dBm it becomes critical.

Also interesting is the analysis of how far your own signal reaches and whether other radio networks overlay your own or at least interfere so far that the connection becomes unstable. To do this, we look at the problematic places in the house / apartment with the mobile phone app, who still radios around in the area and then choose appropriate (ideally free) channels.

2. The 2.4 GHz band: The overcrowded highway

The 2.4 GHz frequency band is like a busy highway: Everyone is on the road, so it's full. In multi-family homes, your devices often receive 20-30 neighboring Wi-Fis on this band. This leads to massive interference and loss of speed.

Understanding the Channel Problem

Here is the crux: In the 2.4 GHz band, there are 13 channels (in Europe), but only Three of them don't overlap.: Channel 1, 6 and 11. All other channels are interfering with each other.

An illustrative example: Imagine channel 1 is like a radio station on 100.0 MHz. Channel 2, however, sends at 100.5 MHz – too close. Both are disturbed. Channel 6 transmits at 105.0 MHz – far enough away, no interference.

Manual channel selection in the FritzBox

Here's how to do it step by step:

1. Opens in the browser fritz.box or 192.168.178.1 and sign up
2. Navigate to WLAN → Radio channel
3. You will see the option ‘Automatically set radio channel settings’. These deactivated you first
4. Open parallel WiFi Analyzer on your smartphone
5. See what channels your neighbors use
6. Selects the channel (1, 6 or 11) that is least occupied
7. With the FritzBox, you set the selected channel under ‘2.4 GHz band’
8. Click on "Apply"

Practical example from everyday life: In an apartment building, for example, the other day it looked like this:

• Channel 1: 8 networks
• Channel 6: 12 networks
• Channel 11: 4 networks

The choice was clear: Channel 11. After the changeover, the WLAN speed in the 2.4 GHz band improved from 15 Mbit/s to 40 Mbit/s without changing the Internet contract!

FritzBox Instructions for channel selection

For speedport routers

Telekom Speedport routers run similarly:

1. Opens in the browser speedport.ip or 192.168.2.1
2. Enter your router password (it's on the back)
3. Navigate to WLAN → Radio channel
4. Select "Manual" and set channel 1, 6 or 11
5. Saves the setting

3. The 5 GHz band: Using the fast lane

The 5 GHz band is less crowded, has shorter range, but significantly more capacity. There are more non-overlapping channels and thus less interference.

Why manual channel selection also makes sense here

Many routers set the 5 GHz channels automatically and often land on so-called DFS channels (Dynamic frequency selection). The problem: These channels are also used by weather radars and military radar systems. If your router detects a radar signal, it must immediately change the channel, your WLAN is at worst dead for 60 seconds or at least transmit/receive power drops when changing bands. Annoys especially when playing games or in video calls.

The safe solution: Lower band channels

At the FritzBox:

1. Go to WLAN → Radio channel
2. Disables "Automatically set radio channel settings" for the 5 GHz band
3. Manually selects a channel from the range 36 to 48
4. These channels are DFS-free and do not interfere with each other

Recommendation: Channel 36 or 40 are usually good choices, as they are, at least in my experience, the least used.

For speedport routers:

The Speedport Smart 4 also offers manual channel selection:

1. Under WLAN → Radio channel → 5 GHz
2. Manually selects channel 36, 40, 44 or 48
3. Don't forget to save

Practical experience: Since I switched to channel 40 (5 GHz) with my FritzBox 7590, I haven't had a single unexpected Wi-Fi interruption. Previously, there were on average several times a week to short dropouts by DFS radar. By the way, in the Fritz.Box Log you can find this as an entry under WLAN with the following or similar text:

Temporary channel change to channel 36 (frequency 5,180 GHz) until the test for privileged users (e.g. radar) on the set frequency 5,260 GHz is completed (Zero Wait DFS).

4. Band steering: The automatic track selection

Modern routers can automatically direct your devices to the best frequency band, called band steering. A device that is close to the router is sent to 5 GHz (faster), a device further away to 2.4 GHz (larger range).

Prerequisite: Same SSID for both bands

Important: Band Steering only works if your 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks have the same name (SSID).

At the FritzBox:

1. Go to WLAN → wireless network
2. Ensures that both bands are activated
3. Give both the same name, e.g. ‘My Wi-Fi’
4. Important: Enables the option "Enroll supported Wi-Fi devices also over this wireless network" for both bands
5. Under WLAN → Wireless network → Other settings verifies that ‘Hide the name of the wireless network’ deactivated is

Why not hide? A hidden WLAN (Hidden SSID) prevents the mesh steering of the FritzBox from working optimally. In terms of safety, there are hardly any advantages.

SSID without special characters

Avoid special characters such as umlauts (ä, ö, ü), € characters or exotic symbols in your Wi-Fi name. Some older devices (IoT devices, smart home gadgets) cannot cope with this.

Good: ‘Familie-Mueller-WLAN’, ‘Heimnetz2024’, ‘MeinZuhause’
Problematic: ‘Müller’s WiFi’, ‘N3tzwerk@Hom€’

5. Mesh networks: Intelligently extend Wi-Fi range

Isn't the signal from your router enough to reach all corners of the apartment or upstairs? Then you need reinforcements. But be careful: Not every solution is equally good.

The various expansion options

Option 1: WLAN repeater (radio bridge) A repeater receives the Wi-Fi signal and sends it on. The problem: It must simultaneously receive and send what the bandwidth is about. halved. If the repeater is too close to the router, it brings little. If it is too far away, the connection is weak. In addition, it can also be said that an already weak signal becomes even worse at worst due to a set-up repeater. So finding the SweetSpot here can be difficult.

Here, too, there is (in the example of FritzBox) a nice instruction

Option 2: Repeater via LAN cable (LAN bridge) is the best solution If you can put a network cable from the router to the repeater (or even better: Using existing network sockets), this is the absolute royal solution. The repeater is connected by cable and functions as a full-fledged access point. No halving of speed, but maximum stability.

At the FritzBox:

1. Connects the FRITZ!Repeater to the FRITZ!Box via LAN cable
2. Opens the user interface of the repeater (e.g. fritz.repeater)
3. Navigate to Home network → Home network access
4. Selects ‘Connection via LAN bridge to FRITZ!Box’
5. The repeater automatically takes over all WLAN settings

Practical example: The study is located in the back of the booth, one floor above the FritzBox. I laid a LAN cable along the baseboard up to a corner and then at the top of the ceiling cladding to get to the next floor and at the end connected a FRITZ!Repeater 1200 AX. Result: Full gigabit speed not only in the entire room but on the entire floor, no significant radio losses.

Option 3: Tri-band mesh systems Modern mesh systems (e.g. FRITZ!Box with FRITZ!Repeater 6000, or systems such as Google Nest WiFi Pro) use a third wireless band exclusively for communication between the mesh nodes. It's called Dedicated backhaul. This keeps the full bandwidth for your devices.

FRITZ! Configure and check mesh

Go to Mesh Overview:

1. Goes to the FritzBox Home net → Mesh
2. Here you can see a graphical overview of all connected devices
3. All FRITZ! products (repeater, powerline adapter with WLAN) should Mesh icon Show (networked circles)

Enable setting adoption:

In order for all mesh devices to be controlled centrally via the FritzBox (channel selection, band steering, etc.), the setting takeover must be active:

1. Opens the surface of the repeater
2. Go to Home net → Mesh (or for older models: Home network access)
3. Enables the option ‘Employment takeover active’
4. Now you can make all WLAN settings centrally on the FritzBox

6. Optimum positioning of repeaters

The position of your repeater is also crucial. The rule of thumb: The repeater should Halfway between the router and the problem zone, where it receives at least a good signal from the router.

Here's how you test it:

1. Sets up the repeater on a trial basis in different places
2. Check the mesh overview of the FritzBox for signal quality
3. Green beams: perfect
   Yellow bars: acceptable
   Red bars: Too far away, closer!

Practical example: Your bedroom has poor reception. You put the repeater directly in the bedroom → bad idea, because the repeater itself has poor reception from the router. Better: Place it in the hallway in front of it, where 3-4 out of 5 beams still arrive. From there, he supplies the bedroom with a strong signal.

7. Client optimization: The overlooked adjustment screws

Your devices themselves can also cause problems, even if the Wi-Fi is perfectly set up.

Keep drivers and firmware up-to-date

On the PC/Laptop:

• Opens the Device Manager (Windows key + X → Device Manager)
• Folds "Network adapter"
• Right-click on your Wi-Fi adapter (usually from Intel, Realtek or Qualcomm)
• ‘Update driver’ → let it search automatically
• Or even better: Download the latest drivers from the manufacturer's site

FritzBox update:

1. Go to System → update
2. Enables "Automatic Updates" for maximum stability
3. Click on "Find a new FRITZ!OS"

Practical experience: I had disconnections on my laptop for months. The culprit? An outdated Intel Wi-Fi driver from 2019. After updating to the current version: Problem solved.

Customize Power Management on Windows

Windows sometimes switches off the Wi-Fi adapter for energy-saving reasons – especially after standby or when laptops are running on battery. This leads to disconnections.

Here's how to disable it:

1. Open Device Manager
2. Network adapter → Your Wi-Fi adapter with right-click → Features
3. Energy management tab
4. Disabled "Computer can turn off the device to save energy"
5. Click OK

Smartphones and tablets

There are also energy-saving modes on smartphones that throttle or switch off the WLAN:

Android:

• Settings → Wi-Fi → Advanced → ‘Leave Wi-Fi enabled in standby mode’: Always
• Disable battery optimization for Wi-Fi-related apps

iOS:

• Settings → Wi-Fi → ‘Automatically access Wi-Fi networks’: Activated
• ‘Private Wi-Fi address’ can cause problems for some routers – if in doubt, disable it for your home network

8. Quality of Service (QoS): Prioritize important things

You gamble online while your roommates watch Netflix and someone uploads large files? Without prioritisation, it becomes chaotic. With QoS you can determine which applications get right of way.

Setting up QoS in the FritzBox

Prioritize real-time applications:

1. Navigate to Internet → filtering → prioritization
2. Activated ‘Prioritisation of applications’
3. Selects "Real Time" for applications such as:
   • Video calls (Zoom, Teams, Skype)
   • Online gaming (Steam, PlayStation, Xbox)
   • VoIP telephony
4. Selects ‘High priority’ for:
   • Streaming services (Netflix, YouTube)
5. ‘Background’ for:
   • Downloads, updates, cloud backups

Prioritize devices:

You can also specifically prefer individual devices:

1. In the case of: Home network → Network click on the desired device (e.g. your game console)
2. Click on the pen icon
3. Under "Prioritisation" → select "Real time"

Practical example: PlayStation 5 runs on ‘real time’ to keep online gaming fluid. The backup server in the basement runs on ‘background’ because the backups can be left all the time in the world.

9. Security and Network Separation

Finally, a few important points about safety.

Set up guest Wi-Fi

When visiting and asking for Wi-Fi, don't give out your main password. Set up a guest Wi-Fi instead.

At the FritzBox:

1. WLAN → Guest access
2. Activated "Guest access active"
3. Forgive your own name (e.g. ‘My Wi-Fi guest’) and a simple password
4. Important: ‘Allow access to the home network’ should: deactivated his
5. You can optionally set a time limit (e.g. 24 hours)

Why this is important: Guests get Internet access, but can't access your private devices (NAS, printers, smart home).

Client isolation for increased security

In households with many devices or roommates, it may also make sense that Wi-Fi devices cannot communicate directly with each other.

At the FritzBox:

1. WLAN → Security → Other security settings
2. Disabled ‘Active Wi-Fi devices shown below may communicate with each other’

When it makes sense:

• WG with many residents
• Children's devices should not access parental devices
• IoT devices (smart TV, vacuum cleaner robots) should be insulated

Attention: When you enable client isolation, some features no longer work:

• AirPlay to Apple TV
• Chromecast to Google Devices
• DLNA streaming to smart TVs
• Printing via Wi-Fi printer

So think carefully about whether you need it.

Summary: Your Wi-Fi optimization schedule

Wow, that was a lot of input! Here are the most important steps in the right order:

Immediate implementation:

• Set up router centrally and elevated

• Manually set the 2.4 GHz channel to 1, 6 or 11 (the one with the fewest neighbors)

• Manually set the 5 GHz channel to 36-48 (DFS-free)

• Activate Band Steering (both bands of the same name)

• Make SSID visible (do not hide)

For range problems:

• Connect the mesh repeater via LAN cable (if possible)

• Enable setting takeover for repeaters

• Test repeater position halfway

Fine tuning for professionals:

• Update Wi-Fi drivers on all devices

• Disable power management on Wi-Fi adapters

• Set up QoS for important applications/devices

• Activate guest Wi-Fi for visitors

With these measures, you should have a much more stable, faster and more reliable Wi-Fi. Try the tips and give your network the attention it deserves, it will pay off!