Most Irish homes need one Wi-Fi access point per floor at the very least, and a larger detached house usually needs three to six Wi-Fi access points to cover every room, the garden and any outbuildings. The real number depends less on floor area than on what the house is built from, because block walls, concrete floors, foil backed insulation and modern glazing all stop the signal.
We design and install home networks across Dublin, Cork and the rest of the country, and the most common call we get is not about broadband speed at all. The broadband is fine; it is the Wi-Fi inside the house that cannot carry it to the rooms where people are. This guide is for homes that are already built, from a semi detached house to a large one off property. If you are still building, our free Wi-Fi design for self builders is the place to start.
A starting point: Wi-Fi access points by type of house
Use this table as a first estimate, not a design. It assumes ceiling mounted access points, each on its own data cable, in a typical Irish house of block or cavity wall construction.
| Type of house | Usual starting point | What often adds one more |
|---|---|---|
| Apartment or two bed terrace | 1 or 2 | A bedroom at the far end of a long corridor |
| Three or four bed semi detached | 2 (one per floor) | An attic conversion or a kitchen extension at the back |
| Four or five bed detached | 3 or 4 | A home office, a utility wing or a large open plan kitchen |
| Large one off house | 5 or more | A separate wing, a cinema room or a basement |
| Any house with a garden room, garage or patio | Add 1 for each area you want covered | Outdoor access points for the garden itself |
Two houses of the same size can need very different numbers. A timber frame bungalow with plasterboard walls may manage with fewer access points than the table suggests, while a solid block two storey house with an extension and a rear garden room may need more.
Why Irish houses are hard on Wi-Fi
The building methods that make a modern Irish home warm and quiet are exactly the ones that block a wireless signal.
- Block walls. Internal block walls and concrete floors absorb far more signal than stud partitions. One router in the hall rarely reaches through two of them.
- Insulation with foil facing. The foil on rigid insulation boards reflects the signal, which is why Wi-Fi can drop sharply in an attic room or an insulated extension.
- Modern glazing. Low emissivity coatings on double and triple glazing reflect the signal too, so the patio and the garden room are often the first places to lose coverage.
- Extensions and conversions. The new kitchen at the back is often built from different materials to the original house, and sits behind what used to be an external wall.
That is why we count Wi-Fi access points room by room, not by square metre.
Where Wi-Fi access points should go
Placement matters as much as the number. A few rules we follow on every job:
- On the ceiling, in the open. Access points are designed to cover the space below them. Hidden in a press, behind a TV or on a shelf, they lose much of their range.
- Close to where people use their devices. The living room, the kitchen, the home office and the main bedrooms come first. Hallways are rarely the best spot, even though they are the easiest to reach.
- One cable to each. Each access point should have its own data cable back to a network switch, which also powers it (Power over Ethernet). A wired access point gives its full speed to the room it serves.
- The same network name throughout. Properly set up access points hand your phone from one to the next as you move around the house, with one network name and one password.
Mesh, extenders or wired Wi-Fi access points?
Mesh systems and plug in extenders are the usual first fix for poor Wi-Fi, and in a smaller house they can be enough. Their weakness is that each wireless hop shares the same airwaves, so the unit furthest from the router is usually the slowest. Every extra box is also one more thing to reset when it stops working.
Wired Wi-Fi access points avoid both problems. Where a cable cannot be run to every position, we combine the two: cabled access points where we can reach, and a wireless link to the one or two places we cannot. Our Wi-Fi and network page explains the brands we use and our good, better and best options.
Newer Wi-Fi standards and the number you need
Newer access points handle busy homes better. The Wi-Fi Alliance, which certifies Wi-Fi products, explains on its Wi-Fi 6 page that the standard lets access points handle more devices at the same time and added a third band, 6 GHz, alongside 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.
What a newer standard does not do is push a signal through more walls. The higher bands carry the most data but travel the shortest distance through solid walls, so a modern system in a block built house often needs the same number of access points, or one more, to give every room the full benefit. Before recommending a full replacement, we check whether the existing equipment can be improved first.
Signs your current Wi-Fi needs rethinking
- Video calls drop in one room but not another.
- Your phone stays connected to a weak signal instead of moving to a nearer one.
- You have more than one network name in the house, or names you do not recognise.
- Smart home devices, cameras or the TV lose their connection several times a week.
- There are old access points or extenders that nobody remembers fitting.
The last one is more common than you might think. In a Galway house with Control4 network problems, part of the fix was removing old access points that were broadcasting the same Wi-Fi name without being connected to the network.
Questions we are often asked
Can I add Wi-Fi access points without new cables?
Sometimes. Existing data points, a cable from a TV position or a route through the attic can often be reused. Where nothing can be reached, a wireless link to the access point is the fallback.
Is one powerful router enough for a big house?
Rarely. A stronger router helps the rooms near it, but it cannot push a signal through several block walls and floors, and your phone still has to send its own signal back.
Do outdoor areas need their own access point?
Usually, yes. Glazing and external walls stop most of the signal from inside, so the patio, the garden room and the garage normally need their own access point, fed by a cable or a duct.
Will more access points interfere with each other?
Not when they are set up properly. Channels and power levels are planned so neighbouring access points work together rather than compete.
How do you work out the right number for my house?
We survey the house, note what it is built from and where you use your devices, and mark each access point on a plan. A survey visit is €440 plus VAT, covering up to 4 hours, as set out on our smart home cost page.
Every network we install is documented and can be looked after through 1Install Care, and the same cabling can later carry home automation, cameras and music. See smart homes across Ireland for everything else we install, and our engineers in Dublin and Cork.
Book a consultation or call Dublin on 01 906 9326 or Cork on 021 202 8107.
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