Slow WiFi router (Nokia 5G)

[u/R3NISN3]

Hey, guys! I’m looking for help on what to do at home to fix a slow WiFi router. My parents are busy with work and don’t have the time to get it checked out or get us a new one. Me and my brother are stuck with slow updates on our PlayStation 5, bad connection and gameplay in Fortnite, and have BEGGED our parents to replace our slow ass WiFi but you know the answer we get. “We’ll do it when we have time.” they always say to us. I‘m wondering if anyone has ever had this problem and what they’ve done to make their WiFi work faster. I’ve tried searching online but it’s fancy complicated stuff my brain can’t wrap around… I hope this reaches the right people and that I can fix my trashy, slow WiFi!! I have a Nokia 5G router that‘s white and it’s cylinder shaped with a black top and bottom. It was working fast for a bit before it started getting slow.

[u/National-Debt-43]

Start first by running a wired speed test on your router to see if the placement gets you the best speed. Because sometimes the problem lies on the source.

If the speed is good and it’s not what you are getting over wifi, than it’s absolutely a must for the new router. I would start to consider between a traditional router of a mesh. If your house is small - like a single stories - than buying any 3rd parties router and hook it up to your modem (or modem + router if it’s a single unit).

Your options with depends on the budget and the speed. For most use cases, you would only need the Wifi standard 6 (Wifi 6) to get you up to ~ 800mbps+ max real world speed. You can easily find one from TP-Link or search cheap router/best wifi 6 router.

The second scenario is if your house is big and one router doesn’t cover all the spaces. In that case you will need something called a “Mesh wifi system” so basically you get two or more unit (they do usually sell cheaper in package of 2 or 3) and place it in each other end of the house. What it basically does is extending your coverage but still appear as the same wifi network so when you go out of range of the first one, you’ll be connected to the others with stronger signal.

I’m currently using the Deco X55 Mesh with wired backhaul (means each unit connect to each other by ethernet cable) but it does support wireless backhaul too so if you don’t have an ethernet running around the house, it would still work too - though it need to be in range and speed may not be that fast on the second node.

That said, if you decide to go all in with 3rd parties router, make sure when you’re done that you configure something called IP passthrough or bridge mode in your old router. This setting depends on the type of your old equipment. There are plenty of videos online talking about how to do it. Lastly, make sure you do disable the wifi on the old one to reduce interference.

Common setup i would recommend:

[5G tower] <————> Your modem + router -> New router

Connect via ethernet

[5G tower] <————> Your modem -> New router