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The 4 finest and worst locations to place your Wi-Fi router

Abstract

  • The perfect place for a Wi-Fi router might be a desk in your lounge, or another central location that ensures a large attain.
  • Keep away from inserting routers in cupboards or closets, or behind TVs and audio methods, since this creates critical interference earlier than a sign can get wherever.
  • Placing a router in your workplace desk might guarantee peak efficiency for work and gaming, and simpler troubleshooting. Be conscious of whole-home protection, although.

To an extent, I perceive not placing a lot effort into positioning a Wi-Fi router. Usually, placement is dictated by the place you may put your modem, which in flip is predicated on the place the lively co-ax ports are situated. In case you’ve solely acquired a single internet-ready port within the nook of your living room, it could be less complicated to go away your router on the ground than determine a method of propping it up. Many individuals don’t love the concept of getting a router out within the open, anyway — they see it as an eyesore taking over helpful actual property.

Placement may be completely very important to the well being of a Wi-Fi community, nevertheless. I will clarify extra as I’m going alongside, however consider it this manner — simply as you would not anticipate clear music from a radio tower blocked by the mountains, or 500 miles away, you should not anticipate the quickest web from a router affected by sign points. That is all of the extra necessary if you happen to put money into a mesh Wi-Fi system — your routers have to speak with one another, not simply together with your units.

Right here, then, is a small assortment of a number of the finest and worst spots for a router. There are different potentialities, however hopefully these ought to offer you some meals for thought.

Protection

2500 sq ft

Variety of Units Supported

200+

Velocity

9.4 Gbps (wired), 4.3 Gbps (wi-fi)

Wi-Fi Protocols

Wi-Fi 7

The Eero Max 7 is Amazon’s first mesh Wi-Fi system using Wi-Fi 7 know-how, delivering spectacular speeds of as much as 9.4 Gbps wired and 4.3 Gbps wirelessly, whereas supporting over 200 related units and overlaying houses as much as 7,500 sq. toes with a three-pack setup. Moreover, the Eero Max 7 serves as a sensible house hub appropriate with Thread, Matter, and Zigbee units.


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1

The perfect: A desk in your lounge

Stable and equal attain

An Eero Pro 6E next to a Lego bonsai tree.

At any time when potential, it is best to place a router within the heart of your house, and sometimes that is the lounge. With a lone router, this could present most attain, leaving few if any useless zones. In a mesh system, a central unit is vital to a strong backhaul community, particularly if you cannot hyperlink the routers immediately to one another through Ethernet cables. Personally, I do not know anybody who’s tried the wired route — that is a variety of Cat 6 to string round stairways and furnishings.

I particularly talked about placing the router on a desk. For the very best sign, a router ought to at all times be off the ground, and away from partitions, cabinets, and different objects that may create interference. It is not possible to eradicate interference totally — however returning to the radio station analogy, you will get a wider broadcast from a tower overlooking a valley than one wedged on the base of the Rockies.

As a bonus, there’s a minimum of one co-ax port in any lounge, and that is normally the place we go to take pleasure in motion pictures, exhibits, and console video games. It is laborious to think about a greater place to place a router exterior of particular use circumstances.

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2

The worst: On the backside of a cupboard or closet

Out of sight, however not out of thoughts

Various gadgets in a drawer.

For individuals who deeply dislike the concept of getting a router out within the open — a lot much less a nest of energy and networking cables — it might sound pure to stash one in a closet, a cupboard, or perhaps a drawer. We do, in any case, conceal different electronics that method. There’s little hurt in sticking your PlayStation in an leisure heart, or a PC in a desk enclosure, so long as there’s nonetheless airflow, and you may entry issues whenever you want them.

With a router, nevertheless, you are mechanically limiting bandwidth, since indicators are going to decrease earlier than they attain open air, by no means thoughts particular person units. And that is assuming the router is surrounded by wooden. If there is a substantial quantity of steel round, the scenario might be far worse. Hypothetically, you could possibly even create an unintentional Faraday cage and block indicators totally, though that is unlikely.

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3

The perfect: Your workplace desk

Most bandwidth, quick access

An Eero 7 Wi-Fi 7 router on a desk.

Eero

Eero

Your workplace area might or is probably not central in your house, however even when it is not, there’s a minimum of one benefit to having a router there — peak bandwidth for work and gaming. In my own residence, I take advantage of an Eero Professional 6E system, and one of many routers is inches away from the laptop computer I am penning this on. The one bandwidth considerations I’ve are about how effectively my workplace unit connects to the web gateway router.

For on-line gaming and different high-bandwidth actions, placing a router in your workplace makes it simpler to hardwire essential units utilizing Ethernet, enhancing lag and reliability. It additionally makes troubleshooting less complicated more often than not — you may verify standing lights at a look, and rapidly power-cycle your router if software program tips aren’t serving to. In case your modem is in the identical room, you may power-cycle that as effectively.

Remember the fact that if you happen to’ve solely acquired one router, and your workplace is situated on the highest ground or within the basement, you will want a way of extending protection. Meaning a devoted Wi-Fi extender, manually linking a second router, or upgrading to a mesh system.

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4

The worst: Behind your TV or stereo

A literal wall of interference

People sitting in a living room looking at a TV with a Sonos Ray.

Sonos

Sonos

A TV can cowl a mess of sins, by which I imply a tangle of video and audio cables, and generally consoles and streaming add-ons. By extension, the again of a TV might look like a pure place to place a router, all of the extra so if you happen to intend to attach as many units as potential through Ethernet.

A TV isn’t solely a wall of steel, plastic, and glass, however a supply of electromagnetic indicators in its personal proper.

The problem is how effectively indicators can attain the remainder of your house. A TV isn’t solely a wall of steel, plastic, and glass, however a supply of electromagnetic indicators in its personal proper. That is going to create some extent of interference, even when it is not essentially deadly to your Wi-Fi connections. If there’s little alternative however to put a router close to your TV, it ought to a minimum of sit in one of many corners of your leisure heart, not on the very rear. Do not stick it inside a cupboard or immediately below your TV, both.

Related conditions would possibly come up with elaborate AV methods, say if you happen to’ve stacked audio system, a receiver, and a Blu-ray participant. They should not be as a lot of an issue as a TV, although, simply because few stereos or receivers are 50 inches lengthy.

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