Better Wi-Fi when you rent: no drilling, no rewiring

Most Wi-Fi advice assumes you own the walls. If you rent, the internet socket is where it is, drilling is off the table, and whatever you buy should leave with you. That still leaves plenty to do.

Start with what costs nothing

1. Use every centimetre of cable you have. The router doesn't have to sit on the socket. A longer cable between socket and router lets it move out of the hallway corner: see internet line in the wrong corner.
2. Get it up and into the open. On a shelf, not on the floor, not inside the unit: see router height.
3. Ask the provider for a newer router. Often free, always removable: see is the provider's router the problem.

Cables without holes

A cable is still the best link between two points, and it doesn't need a drill:

• Flat Ethernet cable runs under doors and along skirting boards, held with removable adhesive clips.
• Powerline adapters use the electrical wiring that's already there: see powerline adapters.
• The TV coax, if rooms have antenna sockets: see Ethernet over coax.

All three come out in ten minutes on moving day.

Things you can plug in and take away

• A mesh system or a single extra node, placed halfway, not in the dead room: see where to put a mesh node.
• Your old router as an access point at the end of one of the cables above: see using an old router as an access point.

Before buying, run through the checklist before a mesh system: renters often need one well-placed box, not three.

What to check before signing the next lease

Coverage problems are mostly about the building: wall materials, where the line enters, the shape of the flat. Ten minutes during a viewing tells you more than any listing: see checking Wi-Fi before renting.

Decide with a map, not a hunch

In a rented flat every purchase has to earn its place. Map the rooms with WiFi Heatmap before you change anything, move the router along its cable, and map again. You'll know whether the free fix was enough, and exactly which room still needs help.