Guide
How to fix wifi at home
Every guide says turn it off and on again, but no one tells you what to check when that does not work.
Updated 6 July 20267 min readBy AngusPart of WiFi not working
Most of the time, learning how to fix wifi at home is about working through a short checklist in the right order, rather than any single magic trick. The cause is usually one of three things: your modem needs a proper restart, the signal is too weak to reach where you are sitting, or the fault is out on your provider's network and not yours to fix at all.
Work down this list from the top. Each step takes a couple of minutes, and by the end you will either be back online or know exactly what to tell your internet provider.
Restart the modem the right way
- Switch the modem off at the power point, do not just unplug the network cable.
- Wait a full 30 seconds so it fully powers down.
- Switch it back on and wait two to three minutes for all the lights to settle.
- Try a website again once the internet or online light is solid.
Good to know
- A proper power-off restart clears more faults than a quick unplug, because it resets the connection to your provider.
- If the internet light stays red or off after restarting, the fault is probably on the network, skip to calling your provider.
Check whether it is your device or the whole network
Try a second device on the same wifi. If everything is offline, the problem is the modem or the connection. If only one device fails, the fix is on that device: turn its wifi off and on, forget the network and reconnect, or restart it.
Fix weak signal and dead spots
If wifi works near the modem but drops out in other rooms, that is coverage, not speed. Where the modem sits makes a surprising difference.
Good to know
- Raise the modem off the floor and out of cupboards, ideally central and up high.
- Keep it away from microwaves, cordless phones and large metal objects.
- For a large or double-storey home, a mesh wifi system beats a cheap single extender.
Rule out common speed killers
Slow but working wifi often has a simple cause. Too many devices streaming at once, a big update downloading in the background, or an old modem struggling with modern speeds. Pause large downloads and see if it recovers before assuming a fault.
Know when to call your provider
If the internet light will not come on, or the whole connection drops repeatedly at the same times each day, the issue is likely with your provider or the NBN. Before you call, note when the problem started, whether the internet light is on, and whether a restart helped, those are the first questions they will ask.