Will upgrading my internet plan fix the dropouts?

Usually not. Dropouts with lots of devices are a WiFi capacity problem, not an internet-speed problem. A faster NBN plan makes a single download quicker, but it does nothing for the number of devices fighting over the air. If a speed test on a cabled connection looks fine but WiFi drops out, the plan is not your problem.

Is a mesh system or a WiFi extender better?

A proper mesh or wired access points, every time. A cheap plug-in extender repeats the signal on the same channel and roughly halves throughput, and devices cling to it instead of roaming. It treats the symptom and adds congestion. Mesh (ideally with a wired link back to the modem) gives one network that devices move across cleanly.

How many WiFi devices is too many for a home router?

The free all-in-one modem from an NBN provider starts struggling somewhere around 20 to 30 active devices, and a modern home easily has 30 to 40 once you count phones, TVs, speakers, plugs, cameras, the doorbell and the fridge. It is not a hard number, it is the point where the radio runs out of airtime.

Will moving the router help?

It can help coverage, not capacity. Get it central, up high and out of the cabinet, away from the TV and the microwave. But if the dropouts are a device-count problem, a better-placed weak router is still a weak router.

Do I have to run cables?

Not always, but one cable to a second access point is the single biggest upgrade most homes can make. Wireless mesh works; wired-backhaul mesh works far better. If running a cable is impractical, a good wireless mesh is still a big step up from one tired router.

Why does it only drop out at night?

Two reasons stack up after dark: everyone is home streaming at once, and every neighbour's WiFi is busy on the same handful of channels. Daytime has spare airtime; 8pm does not. If your dropouts are worst in the evening, that is congestion, not a fault.

Too many WiFi devices? Why your home keeps dropping out

If your WiFi was fine a couple of years ago and now everything stutters at dinnertime, you didn't break it — you outgrew it. A normal home now runs 30 to 40 connected things: phones, TVs, speakers, plugs, lights, cameras, a doorbell, a watch, maybe the fridge. The free modem that came in the NBN box was never built to referee that crowd. It isn't your internet plan, and the "WiFi booster" from the supermarket usually makes it worse. Here's what's actually going on, and the order I'd fix it in — the same order I've used untangling hundreds of these.

It's not your speed. It's airtime.

The thing nobody tells you: WiFi is one conversation at a time. Every device on a radio has to take turns talking, and only one gets the air at any instant. Add more devices and they don't get a smaller slice of a fast pipe — they get put in a longer queue. That's "airtime," and it's the real currency of a home network.

Smart devices are the quiet problem here. A phone streaming Netflix is actually a polite guest: it grabs the air, pulls a chunk, and shuts up. A bargain smart plug or an old camera is the opposite — it wakes up constantly, chatters on the slow 2.4GHz band, and holds the air far longer than the tiny amount of data it sends. Twenty of those in the walls and you've got a room full of people clearing their throats every few seconds. Your laptop is just waiting for a gap.

The free modem is the bottleneck

The all-in-one box from your provider has one job: be cheap enough to give away. It's a modem, router, switch and WiFi radio crammed into one warm plastic shell, and the WiFi half is the weakest part. Underpowered radios, a small connection table that fills up when too many devices check in, and antennas designed to pass a lab test, not to cover a double-brick Aussie home. It'll happily run a couple of laptops. It falls over at a houseful.

Why 2.4GHz is where it falls apart

Your WiFi runs on two main bands. 5GHz is fast and short-range. 2.4GHz is slower but travels further and through walls — which is exactly why nearly every cheap smart device only uses it. So all your chattiest, oldest, least efficient gadgets pile onto the one slow band, and that band is also shared with every neighbour, every Bluetooth gadget and, genuinely, your microwave. In a unit block, 2.4GHz is a shouting match. That's why the dropouts cluster at night: everyone's home, every channel's busy, and there's simply no spare air.

Why "boosters" and extenders make it worse

A plug-in extender feels like the obvious fix and it's usually a downgrade. Most repeat the signal on the same channel they receive it on, which roughly halves throughput, and they add another loud voice to a band that's already full. Worse, your phone grabs onto the extender and refuses to let go as you walk through the house, so you get one bar three metres from a perfectly good router. You haven't added capacity — you've added confusion.

The fix, in the order I'd do it

You don't need to spend big to get most of the way back. Work down this list and stop when it's solved.

Reboot the modem and actually place it well. Central, up high, out of the cabinet, away from the TV and microwave. Free, and sometimes enough on its own.
Split your devices up. If your router lets you, give 2.4GHz and 5GHz their own names and put phones, laptops and TVs on 5GHz. Even better, make a separate network for the smart gear so the chatty stuff can't crowd the things you care about. This is the highest-value free change most people never make.
Add a real access point — ideally wired. One network cable to a proper access point (or a wired-backhaul mesh node) at the far end of the house does more than any extender ever will. This is the step that actually fixes capacity.
Tidy the channels. Lock 2.4GHz to channel 1, 6 or 11 and don't run it at a silly-wide channel width. On a congested street this alone can settle the evening dropouts.
Know when it's worth a hand. If you've done the above and it still drops, the answer is usually proper access points sized to the home and the device count — not another gadget. That's a couple of hours, not a renovation.

What "enough" actually looks like

A home that copes isn't an expensive home — it's a designed one. One network name that your phone roams across without you noticing. Access points sized to the place, wired back where it's practical. The smart-home clutter on its own lane so a misbehaving plug can't take down your video call. Set up like that, "too many devices" stops being a phrase you ever think about — you just add the next thing and it works.

Done all this and it still drops out? That's what we do. We'll work out whether it's placement, congestion or just a tired router, and fix it properly — no lock-in, no upsell to gear you don't need. Tell us what's dropping out and we'll point you straight.