Laptop Wi-Fi issues

Hello. I am experiencing an issue with my laptop's internet connection. When I am in the same room as the router, I have full access and a strong signal. However, if I move just five meters away, the signal drops to a single bar or even a single dot. My phone and another laptop maintain a perfect connection in that same spot. What could be causing this discrepancy?

The antenna inside your laptop might just be poorly positioned—there’s a slim chance the antenna connector popped off the module, but that’s probably overthinking it.
Either try moving your router to get better coverage, set up an old router as an access point, or just grab a USB Wi-Fi dongle when you're working at that distance. With a dongle, the antenna is outside the laptop casing, which usually helps catch a much better signal.

First, grab a Wi-Fi analyzer app on your phone and walk around the place. Get a feel for how the signal spreads out against all those obstacles—walls, wiring, plumbing, you name it. See what kind of signal strength you're actually getting in the spots where you need it most.

Sent from my iPhone 11 using Reddit

Has it always been like that, or did this just start? Maybe it’s because the laptop was recently opened up—like Michael Jackson10 mentioned, maybe the antenna isn't plugged back in properly, or someone swapped the cables for the main and secondary antennas.

The laptop is brand new; I picked it up just a few days ago 😁

Maybe try booting a live Unix distro from a USB stick just to see if it's a driver issue. If it acts up there too, you should probably just file a return.

Which specific model are we talking about? I'm just trying to figure out which antenna they actually packed into it 😁