Frustrated by sluggish downloads, choppy streaming, or dead zones in your home WiFi? You’re not alone! Often, the culprit isn’t your internet plan, but the placement of your WiFi router or internet gateway. Surprisingly, many people unknowingly sabotage their signal by putting their equipment in less-than-ideal locations. This post will reveal the worst places to put your router, so you can finally unlock a stronger and more reliable wireless connection.
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I have seen a number of product reviews of people putting their routers and internet gateways in some weird places. You need to place these in locations that can maximize your WiFi signal strength to get the best performance. Otherwise, you run into problems from bad router placement.
The Pitfalls of Furniture: Sofas and Signal Blocking
One video that was a product review had the modem place behind a sofa. Remember you want to not obstruct the signal. Therefore, keep in mind that furniture can block signals. Especially a sofa with a lot of metal like a reclining sofa is something you don’t want to keep your router near.
You may want to hide this stuff and decide to place these in a cabinet as a tempting option. However, you always want to limit physical barriers and try and have a clear and open space for optimal signal distribution.
The Floor is Not Your Friend: Height Matters for WiFi Reach
Putting them on the floor may get them out of your site, but WiFi radiate outwards and downwards. When they are on the floor, this limits its reach and you will see this really impact a multistory home. Also, the floor may not provide the best way to dissipate heat. Routers and gateways can get hot. The floor may just provide a warm place for insects to migrate to. You don’t want to have an electronic roach motel! If out of site, you may never notice the visitors! Try placing them higher such as maybe wall mounting or sticking them on a shelf can be a better solution.
Think Central: Finding the Ideal WiFi Router Placement in Your Home
Get them in a central location to all the areas in your home to give as many areas of your home a decent shot of getting a good signal.
Avoid putting these in a corner. This is just forcing the equipment to push signals immediately though walls which are just going to impact the signal’s strength.
You need to also avoid interference from equipment like appliances, microwave ovens, televisions, bluetooth speakers, baby monitors or anything that can emit electronic signals as these will impact the WiFi as well.
Even placing them near water sources like washing machines and aquariums, which could force the signal to have to travel through it can degrade signal strength. Furthermore, remember if the signal needs to pass through a thick wall or some heavy or some metal barrier, even a mirror (remember a mirror’s silver back is metal) will hurt signal strength!
Put them in a higher location free of clutter with a clear view of where you want the signal to get to should be your goal. And if your equipment comes with antennas then play with them to get the best signal coverage. Just keep this thought in mind, but you want these devices to throw off their heat to lengthen the equipment’s life and performance.
By avoiding these critical WiFi router placement errors, you’re one step closer to a smoother, faster online experience. Take a look around your home and make the necessary adjustments. I would love to hear about the improvements you see – share your success stories in the comments!
