The signal maps
Green is great, yellow is fine, orange is sluggish, red is "why won't this video load". Signal strength is measured in dBm — closer to −30 is better, below −70 gets painful.
Ground floor
Strong near the top-right, weak in the left wing and the bottom room.
Top floor
One strong pocket at the bottom-centre, fading badly towards the top-left rooms.
What the maps tell us
The pattern is clear: all three nodes are clustered towards one side of the house. The far ends are relying on signal that has punched through several walls.
Nodes are clustered
Both strong zones (ground-floor top-right, top-floor bottom-centre) are on the same side of the house. The red zones are simply the rooms furthest from any node.
Walls eat signal
Every wall costs signal, and thick or brick internal walls cost a lot. The left wing is red because the signal crosses 3–4 walls to reach it.
Distance matters less than obstacles
A room close to a node can still be weak if the signal path goes through brick, metal, or a chimney breast. The heatmap shows real-world quality, not straight-line distance.
Placement fixes — the big wins
Settings tweaks buy a few dB. Moving a node buys 20+. This is where the real improvement comes from.
Spread the nodes out
Move one node towards the ground-floor left wing — roughly halfway between the main node and the dead zone, not in the dead zone. A node placed in a dead spot just rebroadcasts a bad connection.
Keep nodes within ~15 m
With wireless linking, nodes should be no more than ~50 ft / 15 m apart, elevated (shelf height or higher), and in the open — not in cupboards, on the floor, behind the TV, or next to radiators and fridges.
Check the link between nodes
In the Deco app, tap each satellite node on the network map and check its signal source. You want a solid 2–3 bar link back to the main node.
Avoid daisy-chains
Each wireless hop halves speed. If a far node can only reach the network through another satellite, the far rooms pay double. "Connection Preference" in the app can pin which node it links to.
Best upgrade: run a cable
An Ethernet cable (or powerline adapter) to the far node is the single biggest upgrade — distance stops mattering and that node runs at full quality. Cable goes from the satellite to the main node's LAN port.
Maybe a fourth node
If the left wing is still orange after moving things, a fourth node may genuinely be needed — our AC1200-class units have modest radios.
Settings worth changing in the Deco app
All of these live in the TP-Link Deco app on the phone that manages the network.
Network Optimization
Rescans the airwaves and picks the least-congested channels for every node. Run it after any node is moved.
More → Network OptimizationChannel & width
On newer firmware you can set channels manually: 20 MHz on 2.4 GHz if the neighbours are noisy, 80 MHz on 5 GHz for speed. Older firmware picks automatically.
More → Wi-Fi Settings → AdvancedFast Roaming
Helps phones and laptops hop to the nearest node instead of clinging to a weak one. If a smart doorbell or old gadget starts dropping, switch it back off.
More → Advanced → Fast RoamingBeamforming
Focuses signal towards your devices instead of spraying it evenly. Usually on by default — worth confirming.
More → Advanced → BeamformingFirmware updates
Newer firmware has performance fixes and unlocks the manual channel controls. Update all nodes when prompted.
More → Update DecoQoS for laggy devices
If one device matters most (work laptop, games console), give it priority so it wins when the network is busy.
More → QoSThe plan — in order
Tap a step to tick it off. Progress is saved on this device.
Free quick wins
Update firmware on all nodes, then run Network Optimization.
⏱ ~10 minutes · costs nothing
Move a node towards the left wing
Shift the node nearest the strong zone towards the ground-floor left wing — halfway to the dead zone, elevated and in the open. Re-run the heatmap survey and compare.
⏱ ~30 minutes · costs nothing
Enable Fast Roaming, confirm Beamforming
Watch the smart-home gadgets for a day or two afterwards — if something drops, turn Fast Roaming back off.
⏱ ~5 minutes · costs nothing
Still red? Cable it or add a node
Run Ethernet or a powerline kit to the far node, or add a fourth unit for the left wing.
⏱ an afternoon · powerline kit ~£30, extra node ~£40