Wifi dodgy since lockdown

I noticed that since the COVID lockdown my wifi has been less stable, to the point weekly i have to reboot my router as no device will connect to it wirelessly. I have a fair old router so cant use the 5ghz frequency.

Is it possibly more people being home, with more devices attached to their network is clogging up the 2.4ghz wifi frequency and causing instability?

Edited by bobble_bob (Fri 17-Apr-20 17:44:24)

Congested wifi spectrum in 2.4 GHz band will make things more difficult

Consider changing router or adding a more modem wireless access point with dual band and turning off wifi on the old router.

In reply to a post by bobble_bob:

Is it possibly more people being home, with more devices attached to their network is clogging up the 2.4ghz wifi frequency and causing instability?

Yes, in my block of flats 2.4 GHz is unusable most weekends, and now with everyone home, its always unusable. 5GHz works fine.

Speeds are spot on when i connect. Just now and again it will refuse any device with an authentication error

Edited by bobble_bob (Fri 17-Apr-20 18:12:51)

Bit of an update. Its been regularly doing this, and ive noticed its always within a few minutes of a Facetime call starting.

Looked online and it seems a few people have had similar issues to mine many years ago (but then my router is also old). Decided to use Whatsapp for video chats see if that helps

Odd how an app can break the wifi for any device but seems it could be

Friends have the same problem, so many devices around them that they fill the screen display. Low-tech solution was to plug in an ethernet cable. Slightly faster but no more interference especially on Skype etc.