How far does Wi-Fi reach indoors?

Router packaging loves big numbers: coverage for "up to 3,000 sq ft" or "up to 150 m". Those numbers aren't lies, exactly. They're measured in conditions that don't exist in your home.

Why the number on the box doesn't apply

• Open space vs walls. Range figures come from open areas or ideal layouts. Every wall, floor and piece of furniture shortens the real range.
• Connected vs usable. At the edge of the stated range a device may still connect, with one bar and a crawl. What you care about is where the connection is still good.
• One direction. The router is loud; your phone isn't. The phone may hear the router at a distance where the router can no longer hear the phone well.

A realistic picture for a home

Rough rules of thumb, for one router with no extra units:

• Same room and open-plan spaces: excellent on every band.
• Through one or two light internal walls: still good, especially on 5 GHz at moderate distance.
• Through masonry or concrete, or one floor away: often the edge of good 5 GHz; 2.4 GHz goes further.
• Two floors away, or behind several masonry walls: usually weak for any band.

The numbers change a lot from home to home. A timber-framed house can be covered by one router placed centrally; a flat of the same size with reinforced concrete walls may need two units. See what walls do to Wi-Fi.

Bands have different reach

• 2.4 GHz reaches the furthest and passes walls best.
• 5 GHz is faster and cleaner, with noticeably shorter reach through walls.
• 6 GHz (Wi-Fi 6E and 7) is faster again, with the shortest reach.

So "how far does it reach" really depends on which band you need at the far end. See 2.4 GHz vs 5 GHz by room.

Distance isn't the only thing that shrinks

Even inside the range, performance fades gradually: first you lose top speed, then stability, then the connection. That's why a far room can "have Wi-Fi" and still be poor for calls or streaming.

Find your own range

The only range that matters is the one in your home, with your walls and your router in its actual spot. WiFi Heatmap maps it room by room, showing where the connection is excellent, where it's just connected, and where it gives up. That's your real range, and it tells you whether to move the router or add a node. See also how to find dead zones.