The 2.4 GHz frequency is used for various "unlicensed" transmissions, including microwaves particularly, as it is the frequency that water molecules absoorb the radiation most readily.

Basically that means that 2.4 GHz WiFi and the other sources don't travel very far, unless special efforts are made, such as Yagi/Beam aerials etc.

Also if anything with a lot of water in it, such as the bodies of humans etc, intervene in the path, the signal can be attenuated. Humans walk around indoors!

I am at present informally monitoring a WiFi repeater in my lounge, as it seems to have problems maintaining the router connection in very humid weather.

There is a waste basket near it; and if an metalised packet such as a crisp bag is dropped in the basket, the link is broken.

There may be problems from the vehicles; but I suspect that this unlikely, except for those with ignition and similar problems.

Another aspect might be if any of the occupants use folding beds of any sort, again unusual, but one never knows what might crop up when trouble-shooting.

Are any of the doors metal/metallic?

On the water absorption side - showers?

The more substantial the walls, the greater the absorbency and attenuation, particularly if concrete.

Plasterboard often is clad on the hidden side with metal foil as a moisture barrier, particularly on the outer walls; but that does not prevent its use on simple partition walls.

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WiFi is at an extremely low power level, think of trying to light up a room/building with a single, small LED.

It may also be affected by the way the router is set up, if it is capable of having several SSIDs, with various allocations of bandwidth and priority.

There are 1000 reasons the WiFi signal varies and it is pointless you trying to figure out why. The key point is that the signal is weak, therefore sometimes it's ok, other times it's too weak to use. The fix here is to get the signal strong enough that even during the worst periods it is working fine.

Reasons which may cause the WiFi speeds to change include but are not limited to:
Bluetooth devices being used ie wireless headphones, bluetooth speakers etc
nearby baby monitors
people walking around
microwaves in use
wireless doorbells in use
wireless mouse in use
keyboards in use
cordless landlines in use at 2.4ghz
wireless audio video transmitters ie sky in bedroom from living room tv
slight movement of router or client
router in use automatically changing the wireless channel
showers in use between the AP and client

The possibilities are almost endless and as I already stated it really does not matter, ultimately if the signal was good it would probably be fine at all times.

Theres a shower/toilet room right besdies where my friend lives which has a extractor fan in it, the disance between room and router is 20-25 feet in a almost straight line as the router is literally at foot of stairs and friends room literally at top of stairs (bar a few feet)

However even the people downstairs who would be about 8-10 feet from router struggle to keep a good connection.

My friend generally has a permanent connection it just doesnt get any speed to it

As ukhardy07 indicates, there are so many possible causes.

I have experimentally used a spare router as a repeater - it was quite easy to set up; but needs an Ethernet cable to do so.

I*t looks as though some form of repeater/extender is the only option open to your friend.

However, has your friend tried the laptop temporarily in close proximity to the router, to establish that the router itself is OK?

I brought my laptop down once which cost me £2000 3 years ago so top end one and apart from an initial connection issue it worked, I got between half and full line speed (so about 1.4-3.6 megaBYTES a second)

The ip profile is 38 meg, but even on the laptop it rarely downloaded that but this was being used in friends room.

But the tenants downstairs, one of which bedroom is about 2 feet from router (and his desk another 4 or 5 feet) says at best he gets "slow" speeds as of course he doesnt know about speedtests to him slow just means webpages taking a few seconds to load and a lot of buffering on internet.

So his solution which frustrates me and my friend, move the router a foot closer to his bedroom door meaning middle of floor next to main entrance and a tripping hazard, but the housemate says that point he gets zero buffering.

I have been thinking router problem as when initially connected the internet kept dropping every few minutes for the whole house and Openreach arrived (the first time I was visiting friend) and I was discussing with him and he told me there was a cabinet fault, line fault and the builders who just modernised the property had put on new faceplates and wired them the wrong way.

What also frustrates my friend is his housemates are refusing to chip in for homeplugs or a wifi extender saying it works therefore its fine and ignoring how my friend can't connect at all and often gets dial up quality at best.

It is frustrating how his flatmates expect my friend to pay for everything when hes the one on least income.

On the original plan thing, either way hes getting the new wifi card with that movable aerial but wanted homeplugs also to get the maximum speed, we were thinking of getting one of those kits that would mean the main router can be moved back into living room which means friend gets a good/strong signal in his room again and means living room and kitchen have a signal, then having a homeplug with the built in wifi in main hall so theres no cables to trip over, then upstiars outside 2 bedrooms and on same floor as friend have another homeplug and the spare router as a range extender.

This however I expect to be costly, I see a TP Link kit for around the £60 mark at Argos that seems perfect but again means my friend is the one paying for everything.

And that means he has no homeplug in his bedroom and relies on wifi.

Plus assuming its a router problem or just building materials would one of those homeplugs with wifi have a lower range than a router? Problem being where it is now theres only 1 socket against wall and its next to front door so any cables would be an issue.

In reply to a post by mittenkrust:

So his solution which frustrates me and my friend, move the router a foot closer to his bedroom door meaning middle of floor next to main entrance and a tripping hazard, but the housemate says that point he gets zero buffering.

What happens when you raise the router (i.e. off the floor)? Perhaps wall-mounting it would give a better signal.

Does your friend need full speeds, can he not live with 10Mbps? A cheap wifi extender for 15 quid should give him a good enough signal to make it usable. It will not be full speed but stable enough to use.

Bear in mind netflix can work with 2Mbps just fine and 5Mbps for HD.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Belkin-Mounted-Universal-Ex...

If the house is a "HMO" (recognised and licensed by the Local Authority as a House of Multiple Occupancy) the router on the floor etc; and any other Wi Fi Range extender connected to it by a cable, may contravene particularly the Fire Hazards and Exits conditions; apart from any direct conditions imposed by the owner/landlord.

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It may be that your friend should investigate the various Mobile/Cell dongles, so that he is completely independent - but these are dependent on the strength and reliability of the local Mobile signals.

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The price you paid for your laptop is not necessarily a good guide to its WiFi facilities. The various laptops and netbooks that I have taken apart, all had apparently the same or very similar WiFi Modules.

Also as in effect you have found out, the WiFi signal strength varies considerably in the one room, even with the router present. I have surveyed most of the rooms in my house, including cloakroom, bathroom, kitchen etc; and typically 5 positions in each of the other rooms and garden, finding significant variations.

It was also important that the the top of the LCD screen with the WiFi aerials was towards the router, that could give reasonably strong connections, whilst if I simply rotated 180 degrees so that my body intervened, the signal strength dropped considerably.

Hi.
Sorry, I haven't read all messages and replies here. All I understood is that you have weak signal. Sorry again, maybe my answer is absolutely not relative, but still, I will leave my comment.

I had weak mobile signal at my home. Not only voice signal was bad. my 3g was terrible too. So I've made some research and found out that there are some special devices that are used for signal improving. They are called mobile phone signal boosters. I will not name companies as it will sound like some advertisement. All I want to say is this device did really help me with 3g improving.

If this info is iirrelevant, then sorry

The difference with the laptop was that it it was on thet desk next to window and beside 2 large built in wardrobes (same as desktop) but still for the most part was able to get full 38 meg though it fluctated, never below about 15 meg

Yet the tenants downstairs have laptops and abour 6 feet from router (though goes through a wall which had a bed behind it, can barely connect though they have cheap old laptops.

I did try moving the router back and forth on the ground with no real difference, though router is literally besides a radiator which I assume will affect it.

He did in the end recieve that Gigabyte wifi card and it has helped, when I first installed it, I was getting 12-20 meg even with pc pushed back against wall so not taking up space around floor, though I had to move the desk a few inches to the left as his dual monitors didnt fit on desk so pc was moved a few inches to and it went down to about 5-8 meg, still impressive compared to what he did have but nowhere near as good as he should get.

He and I am more annoyed because the other tenants want to squeeze as much speed as possible out when my friend actually needs higher speeds as his course requires a lot of software downloads, and also video streaming and he feels like he is being forced to spend money and they just can;t be bothered and they are the ones who have money to waste and he is poor.

Im still unsure on homepluigs, but I reckon his flatmates will go crazy if they notice router moved even if signal is the same for them