Wi-fi and Modems

5 ways to optimise your home internet setup for speed

Learn how to set up your Wi-Fi router to improve your internet speed.

August 12, 2026

Saidul Hoque, SEO & Content Specialist

It’s a bad time to be putting up with bad Wi-Fi.

Why? There's a new little luxury Australians are indulging in. The luxury of staying in. We're swapping crowded bars for couches, Friday night espresso martinis for a glass of something nice at home and our ‘seshes’ are reserved for good TV and nowhere to be. The one thing that ruins it is needing to search up ‘how to fix slow internet’.

But there is some light at the end of this tunnel. Most slow Wi-Fi isn't a plan problem. It's a setup problem, especially if you’re paying for a higher-tier plan. And it's almost always fixable.

TLDR

Modem placement is responsible for more ‘how to fix slow internet speed’ searches than anything else. High, central and away from obstacles is the golden rule.
Knowing when to use your 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band can make a real difference to your connection experience. These days, some devices are “band steering” or “dynamic” and can automatically switch between them.
Mesh systems (like eero 7) are more evolved than plug-in extenders. Is that a controversial thing to say?
If a device has an Ethernet port, plug it in. This way, you can “free up” your Wi-Fi for anything else.

Modem placement: The golden rule

If your modem is tucked behind a TV, stuffed in a cupboard behind your forgotten crochet project or sitting on the floor in a dusty back corner, you’re really cutting its potential in half. Kind of like what Thanos did to the universe. This is a great place to start if you’re looking up ‘how to fix slow internet?’:

Wi-Fi travels in waves

And like the ocean-kind, a wave can lose strength too. As it rolls over long distances, it can also get absorbed or deflected by all the objects in its path.

The closer you are to the modem, the stronger the signal. The more walls, floors and furniture between you and it, the weaker the wave is.

The golden rule: elevated and away from obstructions

Elevated means placing your modem high up. The signal radiates outward (2026 studies actually show it’s an elliptical shape!), so if the router is on the floor, the bottom half of the ellipse might be blocked by the floor.
Away from obstructions means not behind the TV cabinet, not inside a cupboard, and definitely not next to the microwave (more on that shortly).

A few specific nemesis to Wi-Fi waves

Thick brick or concrete walls — Wi-Fi does not like these. At all.
Large mirrors and fish tanks — Sure, fish are pretty, but water is actually a strong signal absorber.
Metal appliances and radiators — reflect the signal in unhelpful directions.
Other modems and electronics — especially in apartments where every neighbour has their own setup broadcasting on the same frequencies.

If your house layout makes "central and high" genuinely impossible, that leads us to fix number four below. But start here first.

Frequency bands

Your modem is almost certainly broadcasting on two frequencies, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. The numbers are not the same (Captain Obvious, over here) and knowing when to use them can really help you improve your internet speed.

An overview of your frequency bands

Feature	2.4GHz	5GHz
Speed	Lower	Higher
Range	Longer	Shorter
Obstacle penetration	Better	Worse
Interference	More (microwaves, baby monitors, your neighbour's everything)	Less
Best for	Moving devices, far rooms	Stationary devices, close to

When to use 5 GHz

Use 5 GHz when you're close to the modem. It’s great for bandwidth-heavy activities like gaming, video chatting or streaming The Kardashians in 4K.

Yes, it’s fast and efficient, but it can’t travel through walls as well, so to speak.

When to use 2.4 GHz

Use 2.4 GHz for devices that roam, such as smartphones moving room to room, smart home gadgets, anything in a far corner of the house. The range is better and it punches through walls more effectively.

The congestion point is worth taking seriously

Microwaves, baby monitors, security cameras and garage door openers… they’re all there chilling on the 2.4 GHz frequency. If you're in an apartment building where every unit has its own modem, you can think of it like jamming all your clothing into one drawer.

Moving bandwidth-hungry devices to 5 GHz clears the lane considerably.

1. Mesh vs Extenders

If your home has rooms where the Wi-Fi seems to just all out ghost you, you've probably considered a plug-in Wi-Fi extender. They're cheap. And everywhere. What’s not to like?

But, just because it’s easy doesn’t make it good:

	Mesh system	Plug-in Extender
How it works	Multiple nodes that act as one unified network	Rebroadcasts the existing signal
Speed impact	Minimal — dedicated backhaul	Cuts available bandwidth by up to 50%
Roaming	Seamless — one network name	Often creates a second network you have to manually switch to
Setup	App-based, straightforward	Simple but limited
Best for	Whole-home coverage	Small, contained dead zones only

What’s the problem with extenders?

The most glaring issue with extenders is that they rebroadcast the signal they receive. In doing so, they use half the bandwidth just to repeat the broadcast. You're essentially getting a weaker version of an already weak signal and calling it a solution.

How does mesh work?

Mesh systems work differently. Multiple nodes communicate with each other (and with your modem) to create a single, seamless network across your entire home. Your phone moves between rooms without dropping or switching networks. The experience is genuinely different.

2. Hardwire anything you can

If a device has an Ethernet port, plug it in.

Your TV. Your gaming console. Your desktop. Your work laptop, if it lives on a desk. Every device you pull off Wi-Fi is one less thing competing for airtime.

Wired connections are also inherently more stable and lower latency than wireless. For gaming or video calls, the difference is noticeable.

3. Know when it's the setup vs. the plan

Before you assume your internet plan isn't delivering, run a speed test with your laptop or phone plugged directly into the modem via Ethernet. If the speeds are close to what you're paying for, you need to figure out if it’s your setup or check if you need to upgrade your modem, not the connection coming in.

If the wired speed is also slow, that's a different conversation. Superloop's support team can run line diagnostics and check what's happening on the network side.

Either way, knowing which problem you're actually solving saves a lot of time.

Get mesh-ed up with eero pro 7

From plan speeds to mesh Wi-Fi hardware, Superloop has the pieces to make your home internet perform the way it should.

Check out our 2 Gbps nbn® plan bundled with the Amazon eero Pro 7 for that sweet, sweet whole-home Wi-Fi 7 coverage that helps you binge episodes of Grey’s Anatomy to your heart’s content.

FAQ

Yes, especially if it’s cosying up to the modem. It’s because they both use the 2.4 GHz band. That’s right. Who knew your popcorn popper was the saboteur of your Grey’s Anatomy sesh or COD campaign?

Even when the microwave (did you pronounce that the Nigella way?) is properly shielded, the magnetron emits radiation at a similar frequency.

They both connect via Ethernet, so can be up to 100m away if you have cabling in your walls. Anything over that and you’re going to need a fibre connection situation to make your Wi-Fi faster.

Your bedroom is probably too far away from your modem. Walls block signals, especially if it’s made of thick brick or concrete. Metal radiators or thick underfloor heating might also block or reflect the signal. It might just be a sign that the bedroom is for relaxation and not for going on the internet…or that you need a mesh unit to increase the footprint of your Wi-Fi network.

It doesn’t hurt to try. The idea comes from the theory that rebooting can return a system to its initial “start state,” which is typically the most stable configuration.

If you’re not sure whether the issue is your home setup or something on the network, you can also use Refreshify in the Superloop App to run a quick health check on your connection and help pinpoint what’s going on before you start troubleshooting further.

Written by

Saidul Hoque

SEO & Content Specialist

With three years in the telco industry, I work to make sure Superloop customers find the right information at the right time, so they can get the best value and experience from their internet service.