Wifi internet drops when switching rooms despite signal strength staying strong

Question

Im trying to use the internet from both my phone and laptop. In the room where the router is located, both my devices can use the internet. When I go to the next room over, both my devices are able to use the internet although my phone loses a bar of signal strength. When I finally get to the room where I want to use the internet, my phone only has 1 or 2 bars of signal strength while my laptop still has full signal strength. However, I cannot access the internet at all in this room.

I'm two rooms away going through two solid wooden doors. Why is it that my laptop can still register a full signal strength and still get no internet? Can I fix this issue without a wifi extender?

UPDATE: When I am one floor below the room, my devices also get full signal strength to the router, however still cannot get internet access.

Answer 1

Are you in an apartment building, or are other houses very close to yours? When you move to the other rooms you may be picking up increased interference from other people's WiFi setups. The "signal strength" indicator in your laptop or phone usually doesn't show signal quality, just a "raw" signal strength, which doesn't take interference into account.

There are WiFi survey apps that you can get for your phone that will show all of the nearby WiFi networks, which channels they're on , and their relative signal strengths. These may suggest a different channel to use. Moving from 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz may help if you can do it. (Yes, 5 GHz doesn't penetrate walls very well - but far fewer people are using it.)