Oh to have possible cable access

My rule is if the device doesn’t move much (or at all), it should have a wired connection.

Basically my phone and my watch are the only devices in the house on WiFi.

Perhaps it would help if you studied the actual exam material instead?

I’ve been doing that for 6 years when I didn’t have internet connection. I was 8 when I got a first smart device, Android tablet. One of the first things I tried was connecting to Wi-Fi of all neighbors. 2 of them had the ultra-secure password “12345678”. I remember the first website I visited was Wikipedia.
However, I have tried to not spend too much data. I only watched videos in low quality (240p) and browsed the web. For downloading large files (which I considered anything above 50MB at the time) I’ve used public networks. Usually at the bus station or a nearby pub.
Sometime later I got access to even more Wi-Fi networks using the convenient “WPS WPA Tester” app. Like a third of all networks used one of the default PINs.

A list of advice and solutions I’ve had to come up with in the past:

Use ethernet where possible for the best results.

Put the router in a better spot for better reception. Use better insulation so the neighbour’s AliExpress baby monitor doesn’t wipe out your WiFi signal. Use 5GHz WiFi when possible for better speeds, sometimes even at lower signal to noise ratios.

Do not place WiFi routers behind metal objects or reinforced concrete if possible. Same for plants, not because WiFi causes some kind of cancer, but because plants contain water and water absorbs a lot of radiation.

Don’t buy WiFi hardware that sells itself as “high power” because WiFi that reaches four houses over is useless if your energy efficient phone doesn’t have enough power to actually send data back.

Look for WiFi 6, 6E, or 7 labels on boxes. MIMO is also very useful; it helps with network throughput. Higher AxB numbers are better (i.e. 3x3 is better than 2x1) but beyond 2x2 you’ll need multiple devices at the same time to make use of all that bandwidth. Do not use range extenders wirelessly, plug them into an ethernet cable. If you do use range extenders or mesh networks, don’t place them somewhere where you don’t get any signal, place them at the furthest point where the WiFi is still usable.

Never trust anything measuring in bars. Phones will overestimate the number of bars, WiFi drivers will lie about them to make it sound like their reception is better, and there is no standard indicator for “how well reception is” that translates into the bars in your status icon. Measure dBm if you have to measure something (a negative number, closer to 0 is better).

Disable software that spams your entire WiFi network, such as the software for certain Logitech mice. These things will interrupt WiFi streams to push packets through, waking up the WiFi chip in all of your device’s, draining the battery faster.

If your internet connection is slow, no amount of WiFi improvements will speed it up. Make sure your incoming connection and the cables to your WiFi equipment are good before you try to fix the WiFi signal.

For the best signal, buy decent WiFi access points and don’t rely on a router in a closet somewhere. If you’re somewhat technical, Ubiquity is a decent balance between user friendliness versus WiFi performance. Attach them to your ceiling and hook them up with ethernet for the best results.

Mesh WiFi can help, but if you get it, don’t mix brands. Like with range extenders, put up mesh devices where they can still reach each other well. Mesh WiFi is much better than range extenders, even if the technology seems to be the same, because of differences in how well they’re integrated and how many WiFi antennae are contained within devices.

If you get multiple routers, try to configure the as access points and hook them up with ethernet. Make sure you don’t chain routers behind each other in standard router mode, unless you know what the downsides of double NAT are, or you’ll have all kinds of stupid issues (“only some computers can see the printer”, “my game only works on this WiFi network”, “why does the PlayStation report different”).

Sometimes people blame IPv6 for their issues. IPv6 is very very rarely the cause and disabling it will hide the problem from you but cause issues in the background. If you disable IPv6 on your device, you’ll run into very weird errors (the “my photos app doesn’t start on Tuesdays” kind of weird, because apps don’t expect it to be off), so only do so on the network level. If you disable IPv6 on your network, make sure you (know how to) use an IPv4-only capable DNS server or you’ll get tons of error messages.

Another IPv6 thing: don’t disable IPv6 privacy extensions on your devices, and never disable the IPv6 firewall on your router entirely (you may want to disable it for specific devices, but that’s optional). I highly recommend learning about IPv6 if you haven’t already, because it’s inevitable but there’s still a huge lack of understanding even among the supposed experts.

Today is the day to wish no longer

i mean this isn’t really a networking thing, it’s just waves being blocked or reflected such that different areas have different coverage.

it’s like trying to read an optician’s letter poster in a house made of glass of varying opacity.

It’s not, it’s just a stupid meme I stole from somewhere else.

That’s what I have. My house is quite long, so I’m guessing my landlord ran a cable from the front wall in the lounge through to the office/bedroom at the back upstairs. As a result, we have two mesh nodes hardwired to the router, then a wireless one in the middle to just fill in any gaps. I’ve never had better wifi.