▾How to choose the best place for a router
You can have the best wifi router for high-speed internet transmission, but with poor placement, you will still encounter poor signal quality. Finding a suitable place for the router installation is a basic prerequisite for quality wireless internet connection. If you also want to cover multiple rooms with the signal or connect over a larger distance, you must really pay attention to the placement of the router. By following a few basic rules, you will get the most out of your router.
Router in the center of the room ensures ideal coverage
Electromagnetic radiation spreads best in open spaces. If you want to ensure wifi signal coverage over the largest area of an apartment or house, try to find a suitable place in the center of the room. From there, the signal will freely radiate in all directions. Do not place the router on the ground; the minimum installation height should be at least 0.5 meters.
An elegant solution is to mount the device behind a suspended ceiling. Polystyrene boards cause only minimal attenuation, while the router remains hidden from view and does not disrupt the interior aesthetics. Generally, to achieve maximum signal, you should be able to see the router when connecting to a wireless device. Mounting the router in corners, various nooks, or remote rooms will deprive you of a large part of the signal, and in many places in the apartment or house, you probably won't be able to connect at all.
Thick walls significantly worsen signal quality
If you want to use wireless internet connection in multiple rooms, you may encounter significant attenuation caused by thick walls. Electromagnetic radiation penetrates obstacles only with great difficulty. While drywall walls only slightly degrade signal quality, concrete walls, thick brick fills, or metal constructions often do not let the signal through at all.
In this case, consider from which location the signal transmission will be least disrupted. Remember — the fewer obstacles, the better the signal quality. If the router is equipped with one or more transmitting antennas, point them in the desired direction.
Beware of placing near electrical appliances
You can reliably "kill" the signal from the wifi router by placing the device near appliances that emit additional electromagnetic radiation. The most significant problems are caused by microwave ovens, but even desktop computers, televisions, powerful speakers, or refrigerators can degrade quality. If you have the router placed in an open area without significant obstacles but still experience poor signal quality, try to identify large sources of interference.
Use an app to measure wifi signal
Don't be afraid to experiment with the placement of your wifi router and move it around the rooms until you achieve satisfactory results in all the areas where you need internet connection. The testing process will be significantly easier with mobile apps that determine the signal quality in a given location.
If you use a mobile phone with Android, install, for example, the Wifi Analyzer app, which immediately informs you about the signal quality and the level of interference in individual bands. The signal strength value is given in dBm. Note that the value relates to the power of 1mW, so it is displayed in negative numbers. The closer the result is to zero, the higher the level of electromagnetic radiation in the tested area. For instance, a value of -50 dBm indicates a stronger signal than -80 dBm. For illustration, when measuring the signal directly at the router, you usually get a result around -30 dBm.
Of course, the more powerful the wifi router you use, the better its ability to transmit signals over greater distances and through obstacles. However, do not underestimate the placement of the router even when using the best device, as you unnecessarily deprive yourself of transmission power and ultimately of the quality and speed of the connection.
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