“Am I frozen?” Four words no one wants to say (or hear) on a video call. If your connection drops at the worst possible moment, your first instinct might be to blame your laptop or your company VPN. But most of the time, the real culprit is much simpler: a poor physical connection to your home router.
The good news? You can usually fix it in under ten minutes, for free.
Why Your Wi-Fi Drops In The First Place
Wi-Fi signals travel through the air, and they hate obstacles. Walls, floors, metal objects, and even large furniture absorb and deflect the signal before it reaches your device. The further you are from your router and the more things are in the way, the weaker your connection gets. This is why your video calls run perfectly in one room but stutter the moment you move to another. It’s not your laptop. It’s physics.
Step 1: Find out where your signal is strongest
Before you rearrange your home office, run a free speed test to find the best spot in your house.
Open a browser and search “speed test” on Google
Click Run Speed Test
Note your download and upload speeds
Now walk to a different room and repeat. Try a few spots, especially where you tend to work. You’re looking for the highest upload speed, as that’s what drives how well others see and hear you on calls.
Most people are surprised to find a significant difference between rooms. A spot five metres closer to the router, or with an open door rather than a closed one, can make a real difference.
Step 2: Make simple changes that actually help
Once you know where the signal is strongest, here’s what you can do.
Move your workspace closer to the router if you have flexibility in where you set up, position yourself in or near the room with the best signal. Even moving from one side of a room to the other can help.
Open the door: A closed door absorbs more signal than you’d think. If you can work with your door open, do it. Especially during important calls.
Raise your router off the floor: Routers broadcast signal outward and slightly downward. If yours is sitting behind the sofa, tucked inside a cabinet, or on the floor, it’s working against itself. Move it to a shelf or desk, ideally in a central part of your home, away from walls and metal objects.
The most reliable fix: use a cable
If you have a critical meeting (a pitch, a board call, a job interview), skip Wi-Fi entirely and plug your laptop directly into your router with an ethernet cable.
Ethernet gives you a stable, fast, uninterrupted connection. No signal drops, no stuttering, no frozen faces. Most routers have spare ports on the back, and ethernet cables are inexpensive and widely available.
It’s not the most elegant solution, but it’s the one that works every time.
When the problem goes deeper
If you’ve tried all of the above and your connection is still unreliable, the issue might be with your broadband service itself, not your home setup. Signs of this include slow speeds even when you’re sitting right next to the router, or speeds that vary dramatically at different times of day.
In that case, it’s worth contacting your internet service provider to check the line, or considering a router upgrade if your current one is several years old.
If you’re working from home as part of a business and IT issues are affecting your productivity, that’s something we can help with. We support London businesses, including remote and hybrid teams, with practical IT advice and hands-on support. No jargon, just solutions.
The quick version
Test your speed in a few spots around your home. Move your workspace to the strongest signal area. Raise your router. Open the door. And for the meetings that really matter, plug in with a cable.
Two minutes of prep can save you from a very awkward “can you hear me now?” moment.
Need reliable IT support for your team, wherever they’re working?
Get in touch with Lucidica and we’ll make sure technology never gets in the way of your business.
