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

Abstract

The very best 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 techniques, since this creates severe interference earlier than a sign can get anyplace.
Placing a router in your workplace desk could guarantee peak efficiency for work and gaming, and simpler troubleshooting. Be aware of whole-home protection, although.

To an extent, I perceive not placing a lot effort into positioning a Wi-Fi router. Typically, placement is dictated by the place you’ll be able to put your modem, which in flip is predicated on the place the energetic co-ax ports are situated. For those who’ve solely bought a single internet-ready port within the nook of your living room, it might be less complicated to depart your router on the ground than determine a method of propping it up. Many individuals do not like the thought of getting a router out within the open, anyway — they see it as an eyesore taking on helpful actual property.

Placement will 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 fashion — simply as you would not count on clear music from a radio tower blocked by the mountains, or 500 miles away, you should not count on the quickest web from a router affected by sign points. That is all of the extra vital should you put money into a mesh Wi-Fi system — your routers have to speak with one another, not simply along with your gadgets.

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 provide you with some meals for thought.

Protection: 2500 sq ft
Variety of Gadgets 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 gadgets and overlaying properties as much as 7,500 sq. ft with a three-pack setup. Moreover, the Eero Max 7 serves as a wise dwelling hub appropriate with Thread, Matter, and Zigbee gadgets.

What Is A Mesh Network And How Can It Dramatically Improve Your Home Wi-fi image 1

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The very best: A desk in your lounge

Stable and equal attain

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

Every time potential, it is best to place a router within the heart of your property, and usually 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 straight to one another through Ethernet cables. Personally, I do not know anybody who’s tried the wired route — that is numerous Cat 6 to string round stairways and furnishings.

I particularly talked about placing the router on a desk. For the perfect sign, a router ought to all the time be off the ground, and away from partitions, cabinets, and different objects that may create interference. It is unimaginable to remove interference solely — 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 at the least one co-ax port in any lounge, and that is often the place we go to take pleasure in films, exhibits, and console video games. It is arduous to think about a greater place to place a router exterior of particular use instances.

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2

The worst: On the backside of a cupboard or closet

Out of sight, however not out of thoughts

For individuals who deeply dislike the thought of getting a router out within the open — a lot much less a nest of energy and networking cables — it may appear 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’ll entry issues whenever you want them.

With a router, nevertheless, you are mechanically limiting bandwidth, since alerts are going to decrease earlier than they attain open air, by no means thoughts particular person gadgets. And that is assuming the router is surrounded by wooden. If there is a substantial quantity of steel round, the state of affairs may very well be far worse. Hypothetically, you may even create an unintentional Faraday cage and block alerts solely, though that is unlikely.

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3

The very best: Your workplace desk

Most bandwidth, easy accessibility

Eero

Your workplace area could or is probably not central in your house, however even when it is not, there’s at the least one benefit to having a router there — peak bandwidth for work and gaming. In my own residence, I exploit 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 gadgets utilizing Ethernet, bettering lag and reliability. It additionally makes troubleshooting less complicated more often than not — you’ll be able to examine standing lights at a look, and rapidly power-cycle your router if software program methods aren’t serving to. In case your modem is in the identical room, you’ll be able to power-cycle that as effectively.

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

A person playing the game Stray on a MacBook Air.

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4

The worst: Behind your TV or stereo

A literal wall of interference

Sonos

A TV can cowl a mess of sins, by which I imply a tangle of video and audio cables, and typically consoles and streaming add-ons. By extension, the again of a TV could appear to be a pure place to place a router, all of the extra so should you intend to attach as many gadgets as potential through Ethernet.

A TV is just not solely a wall of steel, plastic, and glass, however a supply of electromagnetic alerts in its personal proper.

The difficulty is how effectively alerts can attain the remainder of your property. A TV is just not solely a wall of steel, plastic, and glass, however a supply of electromagnetic alerts in its personal proper. That is going to create a point of interference, even when it is not essentially deadly to your Wi-Fi connections. If there’s little selection however to position a router close to your TV, it ought to at the least sit in one of many corners of your leisure heart, not on the very rear. Do not stick it inside a cupboard or straight below your TV, both.

Related conditions may come up with elaborate AV techniques, say should you’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.