How to test Wi-Fi before and after a change

You moved the router, tilted an antenna or plugged in a new node. The bedroom feels faster. Maybe it is. Or maybe it's evening now and the neighbors went to bed, or you're sitting on the other side of the bed. Without a method, a Wi-Fi change is almost impossible to judge.

Why "it feels better" isn't enough

• Wi-Fi changes by the minute. Neighbors, other devices at home and interference come and go.
• A meter changes the result. Standing by the door and sitting at the desk are different measurements.
• Devices take time to settle. After a change, phones and laptops may stay on an old connection until they reconnect.
• We want the change to have worked. That's human, and it colors every impression.

A method that works

1. Pick your spots before changing anything. The desk, the bed, the sofa, the kitchen table, the far corner. Five to eight spots that matter to you, marked so you'll stand in the same place both times.

2. Measure before. Same phone, same band, checking each spot for long enough to see how steady it is, not a single quick reading.

3. Change one thing. Move the router or add the node or change a setting. Two changes at once and you won't know which one helped.

4. Let it settle. Wait a few minutes. Turn Wi-Fi off and on again on the test phone so it picks the best connection.

5. Measure after, at a similar time of day, in the same spots, in the same order.

6. Compare spot by spot. Some rooms will improve, others may get worse. Moving a router toward one end of the house takes coverage away from the other.

What to compare

Speed alone is misleading, because a single burst can look great on a poor connection. Look at:

• response time (lower is better);
• how much it varies (steadier is better);
• lost requests (none is the goal).

These are what you feel in calls, games and video. See full bars but slow Wi-Fi.

Make it a map, not a list

A list of numbers per spot works. A map works better, because it shows the areas between your spots too. WiFi Heatmap keeps a history of surveys for each floor plan, so you map once before the change and once after, and compare the two side by side. It's the fastest way to see whether moving the router out of the cabinet was worth it. See what a Wi-Fi heatmap is and how to find dead zones.