Move your router to the middle: The simple shift for faster home internet

You’re snuggled on the couch, enjoying a film that’s playing without any buffering problems. But once you move out into other parts of your home, the movie stops and begins to buffer. You get the feeling that your internet plays favourites by delivering fast internet only in certain areas of your home. You pick up the phone right away to call the company, or even think that it may be your equipment, because it’s outdated. However, this isn’t really an issue in your hardware but rather one that’s physical. Just like an audio wave, you place the source in a corner of the room and only get a faint sound.Surprisingly, wireless signals are very delicate. They are required to pass through walls, reflect off shiny objects, and even go around some pieces of furniture before reaching your mobile device. When the wireless transmitter is placed inside an enclosed space, like a closet or placed in one corner of the house, it will require additional effort to reach you. This will eventually result in areas that cannot get signals. Knowing how these invisible waves behave will enable you to optimise your connection without having to spend any money.The big difference from room to roomA common misconception is that if you have full bars near your router, you should get acceptable strength after a few meters. What many people do not know is that the reduction is greater than they think. According to research conducted in Measurement, signal strengths can vary by up to 62 decibels depending on the room. What this means is that you might experience a variation of thousands in signal strengths from room to room.It was discovered that the problem did not depend on the distance between the router and the receiver. The cause lay somewhere else and was determined by the network activity level. Interestingly, the research proved that such tasks as P2P file transfers significantly increased not only the radiation level but also the variability of electromagnetic emissions compared to simply surfing the web. Thus, when somebody in the flat downloads some huge game, it provokes signal fluctuations up to 10 dB at your location. This is why the architecture of your house is a kind of filter for the Wi-Fi signal. Concrete walls, metal equipment, large shelves with books, etc., absorb or reflect the signals. According to the research, one of the core reasons for the differences between the speed levels is precisely these “temporal and spatial changes.”The proper place for all your devicesNow the question arises – where should the Wi-Fi router be located? In a scientific context, placing everything in the centre proves to be the most effective method for equalising speed in all rooms. Optimising AP and Beacon Placement in WiFi and BLE hybrid localization research states that determining optimal placement is a difficult issue and requires some serious calculations. It is not necessary to solve any mathematical problems in your life to increase speed; however, the idea is still the same – the more coverage you have, the better.If you want the best reception from your router, place it in an elevated position, centrally located. An example would be placing the router on a high shelf in the hallway or on a mantelpiece. It is recommended that you elevate your router to ensure that the Wi-Fi waves pass over your furniture rather than penetrate it. You should not locate your router near any large metallic objects, such as refrigerators or filing cabinets. Metal simply absorbs Wi-Fi signals. If your home has two stories, it may help if the router is positioned on the upper story.For large houses, those with complicated configurations, brick, and stone, a single router might not be enough. To solve this problem, it is recommended to incorporate additional access points and/or extenders to cover the dead zones. The principles of proper placement will also apply: the devices will be placed in such a way as to provide coverage to the dead areas identified during the survey process. It will only require making small changes to the initial router location to eliminate the unseen barriers within the house.