Where your broadband speed goes between the street and the sofa
Your provider delivers speed to the box on the wall. Everything after that is down to your router, your walls and the device in your hand. In a typical home, Wi-Fi in the same room keeps most of the speed, one wall away keeps about half, and the far bedroom two walls away keeps a quarter. If a cable test looks fine but Wi-Fi does not, the broadband is not the problem.
What it means for you
- Where the router lives makes the biggest difference. Up high, in the open, near the middle of the home beats behind the TV in the corner.
- A cable to the router gives full speed anywhere. Mesh Wi-Fi is the next best thing for bigger homes.
- Test once on Wi-Fi and once on a cable; the gap tells you where the speed is going.
RouterMap, free from BroadbandSwitch.uk, takes about a minute.
Open RouterMapThe numbers behind the chart
| Location | Typical share of full speed on Wi-Fi |
|---|---|
| At the router (cable) | 100% |
| Same room, Wi-Fi | About 90% |
| Bedroom above | About 60% |
| Kitchen, one wall | About 50% |
| Far bedroom, two walls | About 25% |
| Garden office | About 10% |
Questions people ask
Why is my Wi-Fi slower than my broadband?
Walls, distance, interference from neighbours and older routers all take a slice. The line can be perfect and the far bedroom still slow.
Where should I put my router?
Central, high, out of cupboards and away from metal and fish tanks. RouterMap, a free BroadbandSwitch.uk tool, works it out for your home.
Use this infographic
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Cite as: UKSpeedTest.co.uk (2026). Where your broadband speed goes between the street and the sofa. BroadbandSwitch.uk. https://ukspeedtest.co.uk/infographics/where-your-broadband-speed-goes-between-the-street-and-the-sofa/
Related
Sources
- UKSpeedTest.co.uk. (2026). Why is my Wi-Fi slow? ukspeedtest.co.uk
- Ofcom. (n.d.). Practical tips for improving your broadband speed. www.ofcom.org.uk