Wi-Fi on the balcony: why it stops at the door

Two steps outside and the video stalls. The balcony is a meter away from a room with perfect Wi-Fi, and everything between the two is bad for radio.

Published · 2 min read

In this guide
  1. What's between you and the router
  2. What helps
  3. For plants, cameras and lights
  4. Check the chair, not the doorway

A balcony is the shortest trip out of the house, and often the sharpest drop in signal. You're two meters from the living room, and the connection behaves like you walked down the street.

What's between you and the router

  • The glass door. Modern energy-efficient glazing usually carries an invisible metallic coating. It keeps heat in and Wi-Fi in, and it's often the largest "wall" on that side of the room.
  • The railing. Glass panels in metal frames, or solid metal balustrades, sit right where you sit.
  • The slab above. The balcony of the flat upstairs is a reinforced concrete lid over your head, blocking anything that might arrive from above and reflecting little back.
  • The building itself. On a balcony you are outside the structure, so nothing bounces the signal around corners the way indoor walls do.

What helps

  1. Open the door. It sounds trivial, but an open glass door is often the difference between a usable and an unusable balcony.
  2. Move the router to that side of the apartment. If you use the balcony daily, it deserves consideration in the router's position. See where to put the router in an apartment.
  3. Put a node in the room that opens onto the balcony, near the door, high up. It covers both the room and the outside space. See where to put a mesh node.
  4. Use 2.4 GHz outside if the balcony is at the far end of the flat: slower, but it passes the door frame and railing better. See 2.4 GHz vs 5 GHz by room.
  5. Don't put indoor equipment outside, even under cover. Humidity and temperature swings kill it.

For plants, cameras and lights

Smart irrigation, outdoor cameras and lights on the balcony are usually 2.4 GHz devices with small antennas, in exactly the worst spot. Mount them as close to the door as their purpose allows, and check the signal where they will live, not where you stand. See smart home devices dropping off Wi-Fi.

Check the chair, not the doorway

The useful test is where you actually sit, with the door in its usual position. WiFi Heatmap lets you run the connection test right there, and map the room behind the balcony to see how much signal reaches the doorway in the first place. If the room itself is weak, fix the room and the balcony follows. See also Wi-Fi in the garden.

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