How to Improve Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Signals for Yale Wi-Fi Bridges
The placement of your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge can greatly impact its performance. Since Bluetooth has a shorter range than Wi-Fi, your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge will likely need to be positioned much closer to your Yale Smart Lock than to your Wi-Fi router. It depends on the model you have what range we recommend:
We recommend placing the Yale Connect Wi-Fi Bridge within 4 meters of your Yale Smart Lock for best performance.
We recommend placing the Yale ConnectX Wi-Fi Bridge within 10 meters of your Yale Smart Lock for best performance.
The required distance from your wireless router depends on many variables, including the model of the router, its distance from the Yale Wi-Fi Bridge, the overall speed of your internet connection, physical obstacles, etc. A good rule of thumb is to make sure your smartphone shows a full set of Wi-Fi “bars” at the location of the Yale Wi-Fi Bridge.
Check the signal levels of your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge
In order to get an accurate picture of your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge current performance, you can check the signal levels of both the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections. These level readings are located in your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge’s settings.
How to check the signal levels of your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge:
iOS
From the Lock tab screen, tap the “Settings” gear icon and select “Settings” from the list. Here, you can view the signal levels of your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge. The two items to take note of are “Wi-Fi RSSI” for Wi-Fi signal, and “BLE RSSI” for Bluetooth signal.
Android
Tap the top-left menu icon and select “Settings”. Choose “Settings” for the house your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge is attached to. Select “Signal Strength” from the list. You should see a list of signal readings, the two items to take note of are “Wi-Fi RSSI” for Wi-Fi signal, and “Bluetooth RSSI” for Bluetooth signal.
Both signal strengths should read either “Good” or “Excellent” for optimal performance. If they indicate a poor signal for either reading, moving your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge to a different AC power socket may improve performance.
The signal levels are listed in the app in the event that you are experiencing an issue with your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge. If everything in your system is working fine, but the signal levels in your app are poor, disregard the signal levels.
Move your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge to a different power socket
Since Yale Wi-Fi Bridges can be positioned wherever there is a working AC socket, there may be locations in your home that facilitate better connectivity.
If functionality is poor and one or both of your Bridge’s signal levels are poor, you can move the Bridge to another working AC power socket closer to the weaker signal. The goal is to find a position that gives the Bridge both a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection strength of “Good” or “Excellent”. (Occasionally a socket slightly further away will work better - for best performance, try more than one nearby socket and compare the performance).
When moving your Bridge to a new location, unplug the unit from its AC socket and plug it into a new one. Make sure NOT to press the button on the front of the Yale Bridge while plugged in - this will factory reset the device and you will have to set it up again to work with your Smart Lock. Once the Bridge is plugged into a new socket and the green LED has stopped blinking, check the signal levels. You may repeat this process with a new AC socket until your bridge’s signal levels are improved.
If you can’t find a position that has a good signal to both connections, make sure to position the Bridge so that Bluetooth has a good connection. There are further steps you can take to improve the strength of your Wi-Fi connection.
If the Bridge fails connecting to the network at setup, find the closest socket to your router and try setting up the Bridge there. If you are able to get your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge online when it’s closer to your router, this indicates a network issue.
Yale Wi-Fi Bridge placement tips
- Whenever possible, plug the Yale Wi-Fi Bridge into your socket right-side up. The top and sides of the Bridge provide the strongest bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals.
- While the location closest to you lock and/or router will usually result in the best signal, this may not always be the case. If your signal needs improvement, try several sockets in the general area and compare the best signal results.
Consider moving your wireless router
Depending on your current setup, moving the location of your home wireless router closer to the location of your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge may dramatically increase its connection strength.
Try moving your router as close to your Wi-Fi Bridge as possible. You can then check the Wi-Fi connection strength in the Wi-Fi Bridhe Settings, and adjust your router’s position if necessary. If you are unable to position your router to sufficiently raise the Wi-Fi connection, installing a Wi-Fi extender may greatly improve performance.
Install Wi-Fi network extender
You can improve the performance of your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge by extending your Wi-Fi network’s range. We've tested a few Wi-Fi extenders that work well:
Connect the device to the correct frequency
Yale Wi-Fi Bridge only connects to a 2.4GHz frequency network. If you are having issues connecting to the home Wi-Fi and you have more than one Wi-Fi band in your network, ensure that you are connected to the 2.4GHz one. One of your networks may be 5GHz and the Yale WiFi Bridge will not work if connected to a 5GHz network. Go to your router network settings to update your network frequency.
If you are trying to connect to a 2.4GHz frequency and you continue experiencing issues, try resetting your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge as well as rebooting the network. To reset your Yale Wi-Fi Bridge, leave the unit plugged in and hold the round button on the face down for 5 seconds. Next, ensure your phone is connected to the same 2.4GHz network you are attempting to set up the Yale Wi-Fi Bridge with.