WebUser – 04 April 2018

50 4-17April 2018

Microwaveoven

If youownamicrowave oven, youmay

have noticedthatyourwirelesssignal

dropsconsiderablywheneveryou’re

usingittocook,reheat or defrostfood.

That’s because microwaveovens leak

interference in the2.4GHzband–one

of thetwobandsthatWi-Fi transmits

on (5GHzbeing theother). Tests

performedsomeyearsago by the

FarpointGroup (bit.ly/farpoint446)

suggested that wirelessdata

throughputcould drop by 64%within

eightmetresofamicrowave.

To avoidthis particular problem, make

sure your router is nowherenearyour

microwaveand,whenit’s beingused

forcooking, standwell away when you

access theinternet. Even better,switch

your router anddevices to work on

the5GHzbandandtrychangingthe

wirelesschannelyou connect through.

Youcan performboth of thesetweaks

viayourrouter’ssettingspage in your

browser.

Killer rating

Bluetooth

Devicesthatuse Bluetoothto

communicate,suchasphones and

smartspeakers, canalsointerferewith

your wirelesssignal,

butcontrarytosome

articles youmay read

online, it’s notlikely

to causeyou any

majorproblems.

Bluetoothtransmits

overthe 2.4GHz radio

frequency(between

2.402GHz and

2.480GHz,tobeexact), which–as

we’vealready mentioned –isone of

thebandsusedbyWi-Fi.However,

this doesn’tposeaserious problem

because,unlikeWi-Fi,Bluetooth sends

outsignals overashortrange.

Additionally,Bluetooth technology

uses somethingcalledspread-spectrum

frequencyhoppingtorotatebetween

79 randomlychosenfrequencies,

changing1,600times asecond.

Youcan reduce theinterference

problemfurther –ifyou are

experiencing issues,thatis–byusing

the5GHzbandforWi-Fi wherever

possible andminimising thenumber

of active Bluetoothdevices nearby.

Killer rating

Mirrors

Mirrorswork by reflecting photons –

rays of light –which bounceoff the

smooth surfaceofthe mirror at the

sameangle.Mirrorsdon’t onlyreflect

light,however, they also reflectwireless

signals,sendingthemback theway they

came.This reflectedsignalthen

interferes withthe signalcomingfrom

your router,degradingit before it

reachesyourdevice. This onlybecomes

aproblemifyou have alarge mirror

(atleast onemetre in height or width)

Your homeWi-Fican be sloweddown

by allkinds of householdobjects.

WayneWilliamsrevealsthe items

that couldbeaffecting thespeed

of your wirelessconnection

in closeproximity to your router.

Smallmirrorssomedistanceaway

will have very little effect.

Clearly,the easiestway to fixthis

problemistonot have anylarge mirrors

facing your signal. Onarelated note,

youcan actually usealarge mirror to

redirectyourwirelesssignalaround

objectsthatmight be gettinginthe way

of your Wi-Fi, such as wall columns.

However, it will take alot of

experimentation to getthisright.

Killer rating

Solidwallsandfurniture

Anything that awirelesssignalhas

to passthrough,beitwalls,floors,

doors or heavyfurniture,can degrade

itsstrength.Somematerials areworse

than others: wood,glass,and synthetic

material don’t putuptoo much

resistance, butbricks, marble,and –

surprise! –water have greaterimpact.

Plaster andconcrete provideahigh

levelofinterference, buteventhese are

topped by metal,which canreallymess

What’s

secretly killing

your Wi-Fi?