Anything from building materials such as steel and concrete to aquariums and electronics can get in the way of wifi signals in a home. This may lead to signal coverage issues.
Signal Disturbances and Interference
When choosing new equipment that supports the 5 GHz and possibly 6 GHz frequency bands, you get wifi signals that have a shorter range and are less susceptible to noise and interference from other networks than older equipment that has to use 2.4 GHz.
1. Your Neighbor’s Network
When many networks are located closely together, such as in apartment buildings, this will affect wireless capacity. For equipment on the 2.4 GHz band, neighboring networks are the largest source of noise on the wireless network.
See also:
2. Separate Wireless Networks in Your Own Home
If you have multiple wireless networks at home that are set up on different equipment – this can be even more disruptive than your neighbor’s network. If you need to log in to wifi with different access levels, we recommend setting up a guest network with its own network name (SSID) on the same router or access point as the primary network.
3. Bluetooth
Wireless devices such as headsets, keyboards, and mice can interfere with the Wi-Fi signals. Bluetooth uses a technology called frequency hopping, which means it hops around the 2.4 GHz band, up to 1600 times per second(!)
When equipment that uses Bluetooth jumps into the frequency range of equipment that uses wifi, it can disrupt wifi traffic and cause delays. As it jumps so often, actual impact on wifi will be highly variable, making such scenarios rather hard to troubleshoot.
In the worst case, your wifi access point will automatically change channels to avoid the disruption – a failed strategy, since Bluetooth hops over all the channels used for wifi anyway, which in turn can cause you to lose more wifi traffic. Old devices and computers in particular will need several seconds to reconnect if the access point changes to a different channel.
4. Baby Monitors, Walkie-Talkies and Other Radios
Do you have baby monitors, walkie talkies, or maybe a radio locator to keep track of your pets or keys? Such equipment most often runs on the same frequency as the older wifi standards 802.11b/g/n and will thus interfere with the 2.4 GHz band.
Traditionally, this type of equipment does not use wifi and uses the entire frequency band without any regard to other communication on the same frequency.
5. Microwave Oven
Microwave ovens use electromagnetic waves at 2.4 GHz to heat food. Unfortunately, the older wifi standards, 802.11 b, g and n also use electromagnetic waves at 2.4 GHz, but with much weaker transmission power.
Although all microwave ovens are well covered, there will always be some degree of “leakage” of waves – a slight leak is not dangerous to humans, but:
- Most microwave ovens are at about 1000 W.
- Most Wi-Fi access points can transmit a maximum of 0.1 W.
This means that it doesn’t take much leakage before the 2.4 GHz band in the area is unusable.
Physical Obstacles to the Wi-Fi Signals
With shorter range, equipment on the 5 GHz band is more dependent on a clear line of sight between the wireless access point/router and the gadgets and machines that will connect to the network.
Some obstacles can be removed or moved away from the access point, while building materials in the home are more difficult to deal with. The solution we recommend to ensure coverage in such cases is a network of multiple wireless access points; a mesh network. See also Mesh Wi-Fi: What is it and when do you need it?
6. Concrete and Masonry Walls
Different building materials block wireless signals to very different degrees. Wi-Fi signals are most weakened by having to go through thick walls, especially reinforced concrete.
See also: Wi-Fi Signal Loss by Building Material.
7. Thick Timber Walls
Regular wooden walls cause some signal loss, but not a great deal, as you can see in Wi-Fi Signal Loss by Building Material. However, timber walls have proved to be a significant obstacle to wireless signals.
8. Metal and Floor Heating
When signals need to travel across multiple floors, underfloor heating cables can create problems for wireless signals.
And is your router or other wireless access point placed inside a metal cabinet? Get it out of there if you can!
9. Water
Do you use hydronics for heating in your home? Or do you have a really big aquarium? The signals will also struggle to penetrate that.
10. The TV
Perhaps the most common cause of weakened wifi signals – don’t put routers or other wireless access points behind the TV !
Article by Geir Arne Rimala and Jorunn Danielsen