When office Wi-Fi starts misbehaving, two things usually happen immediately: someone calls the internet provider, or someone buys a new router. Often neither fixes anything, because that was not where the problem was.
These four things turn up most often on small office networks — and all of them can be checked without special equipment.
1. The access point is in the wrong place
Routers commonly end up in a corner, inside a cabinet, or on the floor — usually because that is where the provider's cable enters. But Wi-Fi radiates outward in every direction, so putting it in a corner throws half the coverage into an exterior wall.
What to try: move it somewhere more central and higher up, at least desk height. Keep it away from metal objects, aquariums, and microwaves — all three interfere far more than people expect.
2. Channel collisions with the neighbours
In office buildings or terraced shophouses, dozens of Wi-Fi networks compete for the same channels. If your office and three neighbours all sit on channel 6 at 2.4 GHz, everyone gets slow.
What to try: install a Wi-Fi analyser app on an Android phone to see which channel is least crowded, then set the router to it. At 2.4 GHz, only channels 1, 6, and 11 genuinely do not overlap.
3. More devices than the router can handle
A consumer-grade router comfortably serves around 15–20 active devices. An office of 20 staff is not 20 devices — each person typically has a laptop and a phone, plus printers, CCTV, and an attendance terminal. The count passes 50 very quickly.
What to try: count everything actually connected. Past 25, a consumer router genuinely is not adequate — what you need is business-grade access points, not a more expensive router.
4. The hardware is overheating
A router running continuously for years without ever being cleaned fills with dust and runs hot. The classic symptom: fine in the morning, dropping out by midday, back to normal after being switched off for a while.
What to try: touch the casing. If it is uncomfortably hot, clear the ventilation slots and move it somewhere more open.
If all four are handled and it still misbehaves
Then the problem sits deeper: network device configuration, cable quality, or the internet plan's actual capacity. At that point, taking measurements on site is far more useful than guessing.