I wanted to work from my back deck last summer. The WiFi signal from my living room router made it about 15 feet past the back door before it gave up entirely. Two bars if I held my laptop at a specific angle near the grill. One bar everywhere else. Zero bars in the hammock — which was the whole point.

I looked into mesh systems. $200 minimum. Outdoor-rated access points? More. The solution I landed on cost $28 and has worked flawlessly for over a year.

Option 1: Move Your Router (Free)

Before spending money, try the obvious thing. WiFi signals travel better through open air than through walls. Every wall between your router and your device cuts the signal roughly in half. A router in the center of your house, on the main floor, away from large metal objects (refrigerators, filing cabinets, mirrors) will reach further than a router tucked in a corner office.

Even moving the router three feet — from behind the TV stand to on top of it — can make a measurable difference. Elevation matters too. Routers on the floor lose signal to furniture and human bodies. Shoulder height or higher is ideal.

Option 2: The Window Trick (Free)

Glass is more transparent to WiFi than walls. If your router is near a window that faces your backyard, put it right in the windowsill. The signal passes through glass with minimal loss. I gained two bars on my deck just by moving my router from a shelf to the window facing the yard.

Option 3: The $30 WiFi Extender (What I Use)

A WiFi range extender plugs into a wall outlet, picks up your existing WiFi signal, and rebroadcasts it. It is not as fast as a mesh system — extenders typically cut bandwidth in half because they use the same radio to talk to both the router and your devices. But for web browsing, email, and streaming music, half of modern WiFi speeds is still more than enough.

Key placement tip: the extender needs to be where it can still get a decent signal from the router. Do not put it at the edge of your current WiFi range — put it roughly halfway between your router and where you need coverage. If you put it at the edge, it will rebroadcast a weak, unreliable signal.

I put mine in the kitchen — the room closest to the backyard with a wall outlet near the window. It gets three bars from the living room router and broadcasts two solid bars to the deck. Good enough for Spotify and Slack.

Option 4: Powerline Adapter (If Extender Fails)

If your house has thick walls — brick, plaster, concrete — a WiFi extender might not cut it. Next step up is a powerline adapter with built-in WiFi. $50-70. You plug one unit into an outlet near your router and connect it via Ethernet. You plug the second unit into an outlet near the backyard. It sends the internet signal through your home’s electrical wiring, then broadcasts WiFi from the second unit.

Powerline adapters do not work on every house’s wiring, but when they work, they are much more reliable than extenders.