Honestly, we’ve all been there. You’re in the middle of a video call, everything looks fine… and boom. Frozen screen. Robotic voice. Wi-Fi drops again. You restart the router (for the third time today), you sigh, you blame the internet provider. But here’s the thing nobody really tells you : sometimes, the real problem isn’t the box. It’s your house. Yeah, the walls. And even the electricity running inside them.
Electricity issues can quietly mess with your network
I realized this the hard way in a small apartment in the suburbs. Every time the washing machine started, my Wi-Fi went crazy. Coincidence ? Not really. Poor electrical grounding, old cables, micro power cuts… all of that creates interference. Routers hate unstable power. They don’t always crash, they just become… flaky. Slow, unpredictable, annoying. If your place hasn’t been renovated in years, it might be worth looking beyond the tech side. Sometimes a proper electrical upgrade fixes more than any fancy mesh system. I even stumbled on [https://entreprise-renovation-paris.com](https://entreprise-renovation-paris.com) while digging into renovation topics, and yeah, it made me rethink how much the building itself matters.
Walls are the silent Wi-Fi killers
Let’s talk walls. Thick concrete, brick, old stone, metal beams hidden inside… Wi-Fi signals really struggle with that stuff. I once tested this in a house where the router was in the hallway. Bedroom door closed ? Speed divided by three. Move one room further ? Almost no signal. It’s not black magic, it’s physics. 5 GHz Wi-Fi is fast, sure, but it hates obstacles. And older houses are basically obstacle factories.
How to know if your walls are the problem
Quick test. Stand next to your router, run a speed test. Then walk to the room where the connection sucks. Big drop ? Like from 300 Mbps to 20? That’s not normal. That’s your walls laughing at your router. Another clue : Wi-Fi works fine late at night but poorly during the day. That can mean electrical noise from appliances, neighbors, or even old wiring heating up.
What you can actually do (without going crazy)
Let’s be practical. You don’t need to tear everything down tomorrow.
- Try moving the router higher. Chest height or above, not hidden behind the TV.
- Switch Wi-Fi channels. Sometimes it helps more than you’d think.
- Use wired connections for fixed devices. A cable is boring, but wow, it works.
- Consider Wi-Fi access points with Ethernet backhaul, not just repeaters.
And if your electricity is clearly unstable ? Random reboots, buzzing sounds, lights flickering slightly ? That’s a red flag. Network gear is sensitive. Way more than people think.
When tech fixes aren’t enough
This is the part people don’t like hearing. Sometimes, buying another router won’t fix it. If the electrical network is outdated or the walls are too dense, tech solutions hit a wall (literally). I’ve seen homes where a simple electrical renovation stabilized the network overnight. No speed boost miracle, just consistency. And consistency is gold.
Final thought, straight up
If your home network feels unstable, don’t just fight the symptoms. Look at the environment. Electricity, walls, layout. It’s not sexy, it’s not fun, but it’s often the missing piece. And once it’s fixed ? Suddenly, your “bad Wi-Fi” feels… normal. Fast. Reliable. And honestly, that’s a relief.