This is understandable if you want to store your Wi-Fi router behind the sofa, under a shelf or (panting) even inside a cabinet. These are not always the most beautiful devices to look at.
Although these hidden positions keep the gadget of awkward appearance out of sight, they will also make much more difficult for your Wi-Fi router to do its job.
“The main factor you need to consider is that Wi-Fi moves very well outdoors, and it moves very badly through hard equipment,” said Julian, technician at Thosetechguys in Renton, Washington. “The best place to put a router is located in the center of the opening of all the cabinets, kitchen, plumbing, walls, things like that.”
In general, you need to put your router in a central location of your house where you can see it. Less obstructions are less than the router, the higher your signal. Here is what should not do when you configure your router.
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Error 1: on the ground
Putting your router on the ground will not completely kill your signal, but you will not maximize it either. Think of your router like a bulb. You want it to turn on as many as possible. Put a lamp on the floor will always provide lighting, but not as much as put it on a table.
The radio waves generally send their strongest signals downwards, so place your router in a high position will maximize your cover. You can find wall supports On Amazon, but I would not recommend them – attach your router to a wall will block a good part of its signal. Instead, try to place it on a table or shelf, ideally with a foot or two of the wall.
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Error 2: Behind the sofa
If you look around the living room for the best place to put your router, the sofa can jump like a practical hiding place. But this is a bad idea for the same reason that you do not want to put it directly against a wall or a floor.
“You want to avoid as much hard materials as the Wi-Fi signal must cross as much as possible,” said Julian.
A sofa or an armchair may not be as oversized by an obstacle as a wall, but it will always weaken your Wi-Fi signal.
Error 3: in the basement
Some people do not like the appearance of their router so much that they hide it in the basement. But that violates one of the fundamental rules of domestic networking: put your router where you use it the most – and it is probably not in the basement. The basements also tend to have a lot of things that can interfere with a Wi-Fi signal.
“There is also much more noise in the basement,” said David Maxey, principal technician of the computer support company Nerdstogo in Bellevue, Washington. “If you have fluorescent lighting, wiring or copper piping on the ground floor, this will certainly have an effect.”
Error 4: Interior cabinets
A wardrobe may seem an intelligent solution to a unsightly router, but it is one of the few errors you can make that could actually damage your router. In addition to blocking the signal, keeping a router in a closed space could overheat. A woman in Florida recently lost her house in a fire which, she said, was launched by her Wi-Fi router.
It is an extreme and worse scenario. What is more likely is that your router degrades over time with an inadequate air flow, with occasional periods of complete stop.
Error 5: near another Wi-Fi router
“The Wi-Fi works on its own spectrum of radio waves, so any device that broadcasts on the same spectrum will interfere with it. This includes other Wi-Fi devices, ”Julian told me.
Receiving devices like your TV or smart speaker will not spoil your Wi-Fi, but it will be a problem if you have other equipment such as routers or bridges. This does not include mesh systems, which use several tandem routers to broadcast a Wi-Fi signal throughout the house.
Why would anyone have several routers if they are not part of a mesh system? It’s more common than you think, says Julian.
“People just don’t know. You start with a device, like a router, then your internet does not work as well as you want. So you’re going to buy another device, ”says Julian. “It’s just a lack of knowledge that devices should be in the same family, in the same system.”
Where should you put your router?
The best place to put your router is a place where you can see it, like a room in the center. Ideally, it must be raised at least a few meters from the ground, with an open space between it and all the walls or thick furniture.
This can be a new importance for those of us with routers for routers, but you can always hide your router inside a wicker basket or a plastic crate. Just make sure that the container is not metal, which can interfere with a Wi-Fi signal.
