Wi-Fi that keeps
dropping out
Intermittent Wi-Fi is one of the most frustrating faults to live with and one of the most fixable. The cause is usually placement, interference, or hardware that has quietly aged out.
Why it actually happens
Ordered by how often each turns out to be the culprit.
Router placement
In a basement, a cabinet, or a corner of the house. Signal radiates outward — a central, elevated, open position transforms coverage more than any purchase.
Interference
Microwaves, cordless phones, baby monitors and your neighbours' networks all compete on 2.4GHz. Dense neighbourhoods make this worse.
An aging router
Four to six years is realistic. Older units drop connections under load and stop getting firmware updates.
Too many devices
Phones, TVs, thermostats, cameras, consoles. Budget routers struggle well before you would expect.
Building materials
Plaster and lath, brick, stone and foil-backed insulation all block signal. Common in older Saratoga County houses.
Overheating
Routers in enclosed spaces overheat and reset themselves. If yours drops predictably in the evening, check whether it is hot.
What to check yourself
Free, and often enough on its own.
Move the router
Central, elevated, out in the open. Not in a cupboard, not behind the TV. Often the whole fix.
Restart it properly
Unplug for thirty seconds, then back in. Clears a surprising number of faults.
Test with a cable
Plug a laptop into the router with ethernet. Stable means it is a Wi-Fi problem. Still dropping means it is the connection itself.
Check the 5GHz band
Faster and far less congested than 2.4GHz, though it does not travel as far through walls.
Note when it drops
Same time daily? During a specific activity? Only in one room? Patterns point straight at causes.
Quick answers
Why does my Wi-Fi drop only in certain rooms?
That is a coverage problem rather than an internet problem. Walls, especially plaster with metal lath common in older Saratoga homes, absorb the signal. A mesh system or a better-placed access point usually resolves it.
Is it my internet provider or my router?
If a device connected by ethernet cable stays stable while Wi-Fi devices drop, the problem is your Wi-Fi, not your provider. If everything drops simultaneously, including wired devices, it is the provider or the modem.
How long should a router last?
Roughly four to six years. Beyond that they become unreliable, stop receiving security updates, and lack the capacity for the number of devices in a typical modern home.
Will a Wi-Fi extender fix dead zones?
Sometimes, but extenders halve bandwidth and often create a second network your devices cling to at the wrong moment. A mesh system is usually the better answer, and not much more expensive.