Where is Your Router?

It's tempting to banish that blinking box to the shadows – tucked behind the sofa, shoved under a shelf, or even imprisoned inside a cabinet. After all, let's face it, routers aren't winning any beauty contests. But this desire for a clutter-free aesthetic could be the very reason your streaming stutters and your downloads drag. Obstructing your router's signal with everyday household items and enclosed spaces creates a barrier, weakening your connection and significantly slowing down your internet speeds, especially in rooms further away.

"The main factor you have to consider is that Wi-Fi travels very well over open air, and it travels very poorly through hard material. The best place to put a router is centrally located out in the open away from any cabinets, kitchen, plumbing, walls, things like that."
​
5 worst places:

1. Down on the Floor: Losing Elevation, Losing Signal

2. Trapped Behind the Couch: Soft Obstructions Still Matter

3. Banished to the Basement: Out of Sight, Out of Range

4. Locked Inside Cabinets: A Recipe for Overheating and Weak Signals

5. Nestled Near Another Router: Wi-Fi Interference Wars

The Simple Solution: Open and Elevated

Move it around and run a speedtest to see what the results are like.

Ep326

Image created by AI