Singtel Optimize Your Wireless Router Orientation and Location User Guide
- June 6, 2024
- Singtel
Table of Contents
Singtel Optimize Your Wireless Router Orientation and Location
WiFi signals weaken when transmitting over distance and through obstacles.
WiFi coverage area is limited and may be further reduced by bad positioning.
To get stronger WiFi signals, check your:
Router Orientation
Your wireless router should stand upright so the built-in antenna is properly
oriented.
Do not stack your wireless router together with other electronic device or put
it in small enclosed spaces to avoid overheating and damaging. 
Put your router on an elevated platform such as a table or shelf with an open
view, because WiFi signals transmit better downwards. 
Router location
The wireless router is the source of your WiFi signal. Place it in a central
location or close to where you always use WiFi to optimise coverage.
Optimal placement: Centre of the house, on an elevated surface, with an open
view as much as possible.
Bad router position: Next to heavy walls/mirrors, at the corners of the house.
Strongly recommend to install access points or WiFi mesh at the location of
the red dot to improve coverage in the house. 
Structured cabling can give you the fastest and most stable connectivity
around your home. With structured cabling, you can relocate your router to a
central location in your home if a data point is available there.
If you have data points installed in rooms, it means your home is already
equipped with structured cabling.
WiFi Mesh
Place your WiFi mesh devices to locations in between your main router to the
furthest point within your home, preferably within line of sight or 1 wall
between at most.
Obstructions between you and the wireless router
Locate spots in your house with the strongest WiFi signal, and work there
instead of at far corners of the house.
Minimise obstructions that block WiFi signal transmissions towards your common
usage locations. Note that different materials have varying impacts on signal
strength:
Is your WiFi channel congested?
Channel congestion may result from signal transmitting devices and home
electrical appliances interfering with the WiFi strength.
Keep interfering devices such as cordless phones, Bluetooth devices, baby
monitors, video cameras and microwave ovens at least 1m away from your router.
How can you improve your WiFi channel condition?
Make sure your Singtel wireless router channel selection mode is set to “Auto”
(watch this video for a step-by-step guide). Restart your wireless router by
turning it off and on again to automatically switch to the best available
channel.
Alternatively, you can make use of the Dual-band WiFi solution detailed below.
Avoid overloading your WiFi bandwidth
Curb heavy internet activities (Eg. Large file downloads, file sharing) which
utilise higher bandwidths as that will slow down your surfing experience.
Focus on what matters
Use fewer work apps on your device and minimise the use of non-work related
gadgets to achieve reduce WiFi congestion.
Dual-band WiFi
A dual-band wireless router is able to emit both 2.4GHz and 5GHz signals simultaneously. The 5GHz band offers a lot more WiFi channels and is less vulnerable to channel congestion.
How do I connect to the 5GHz band?
To determine your 5GHz connection details, locate the SSID and WiFi keyat the
side of your router. Open the WiFi setting page on your device. If the WiFi
SSID shows SINGTEL(5G)-XXXX, it means that your device can connect to 5GHz
band.
Due to its higher frequency, 5GHz band has a smaller coverage area than the
2.4GHz band and works best with no physical obstructions in between,
preferably within the same room the router is placed. We recommend connecting
to both 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands so your mobile devices can automatically select
and switch to the optimal band.
If you are using a WiFi mesh, you may not see a (5G) SSID as your mesh is
automatically steering you to the 5G band.
Check out this video to learn how to connect to the 5GHz band on your devices.
Power cycle your wireless router & installed devices
The router may slow down after running for a long time as it becomes
overloaded. WiFi channels may also become congested over time.
To remedy these issues, simply switch your wireless router off and on again to
refresh the connection.
If connection loss or instability persists, turn off all installed devices
such as the Optical Network Terminal/Router (ONT), the Singtel wireless
router/mesh, and the Singtel TV set-top box (if applicable) and observe the
connectivity.
If you are still having issues, reboot your connected devices (PC, laptop,
smartphone or tablet).