You can move your Wi-Fi router away from six items in your home to make sure that your internet speeds instantly improve. The placement of your Wi-Fi router is extremely important. Where you put your router can seriously impact how your internet performs and how far it can reach. Different materials can actually absorb or disturb your connection, leading to difficulties streaming, making calls or working from home.
One of those materials is metal, such as steel. You might not realise how many items in your home are made of metal, such as appliances, devices and fixtures. For the best Wi-Fi signal, you should keep your router away from these six items. Before you call your provider or even pay for a more expensive package, it’s important to try moving your router to see if its placement is the issue. That way, you could save quite a bit of money.
The metal objects you should keep your Wi-Fi router away from are:
- Metal bed frames
- Metal and steel fixtures (this can include oven units, metal beams and lighting fixtures)
- Fridges and microwaves
- Metal cabinets and shelves
- Metal doors and frames
- Mirrors with metal or steel built into them
According to the experts at Signal Boosters, metal is one of the few materials that can block your Wi-Fi signal. They actually call it one of the “worst offenders”. This is because it reflects electromagnetic waves that your Wi-Fi router emits.
In turn, it makes it nearly impossible for Wi-Fi signals to get through metal materials, and many household appliances, pieces of furniture and fixtures are made of or contain significant amounts of metal.
For the best results, keep your Wi-Fi router away from these metal objects as much as you can. Additionally, metal laths are in the walls in many homes, which can also cause problems with the Wi-Fi signal. Therefore, you should keep your router away from any thick walls.
Other materials that can cause your internet speeds to slow down or your signal to drop are thick concrete and ceramic tiles. Meanwhile, devices such as microwaves, smart speakers and baby monitors can absord Wi-Fi signal because they use the same radio waves.
The best place for your Wi-Fi router is as central in the room as possible, elevated off the floor and away from thick walls, especially corners.