Wi-Fi in every room: mesh, extender, powerline or access points?

The router your internet provider gave you sits in one corner, and thick walls and several floors do the rest: many homes in Malta have a room or a floor where the Wi-Fi drops. There are four ways to fix it.

1. A Wi-Fi extender: the quick fix for one room

An extender plugs into a socket between the router and the weak room and repeats the signal. It's the cheapest fix, but it halves the speed it repeats, and your devices may stay on the weak network. Good for one room close to the router.

2. Mesh Wi-Fi: one network for the whole house

A mesh system (like TP-Link Deco) is two or three units that work as one network with one name: your phone moves between them by itself as you walk around. Put one by the router and the others where the signal gets weak. The best choice for most houses, maisonettes and flats on more than one floor.

3. Powerline: through the electric wiring

Powerline adapters send the internet through the house's electric cables, and the second adapter gives Wi-Fi or a cable socket in the far room. They help where walls are too thick for Wi-Fi, such as a room upstairs or a garage. Speed depends on the wiring, so it varies from house to house.

4. Access points with cables: the strongest

Where you can run a network cable, an access point on the ceiling or wall (like Ubiquiti UniFi) gives full speed in that room. It's what offices, shops and larger homes use, and it can cover outdoor areas and roofs too. With several access points and a switch you get one fast network everywhere.

Which one for you?

• One weak room near the router: an extender.
• A house or flat on two or three floors: mesh.
• Thick walls, a room far away, no way to run a cable: powerline.
• An office, a shop, a large house or outdoors: access points with cables.

Will a new router fix it?

Sometimes, if your router is old. But in most homes the problem is the distance and the walls, and a second unit (mesh, powerline or an access point) helps more than a stronger router.

Does it work with my internet provider?

Yes. Mesh, extenders, powerline and access points work with any provider's router in Malta: they connect to it with a cable or over Wi-Fi.

Not sure which one?

Tell us how many floors and rooms, where the router is, and what the walls are like, in the shop or on WhatsApp, and we'll tell you what fits.