Causes of wireless network interference and how to avoid them

There are several obvious and not so obvious causes of wireless interference. This article should help you identify the causes of interference in your wireless network and understand what to do about it. Obvious reasons Of course, any fixed object will cause some difficulties to the radio signal. Objects such as plaster, plaster and wood typically have little influence on wireless radio signals. On the other hand, objects such as metal, concrete and glass can have a great effect on your wireless signal. The human body, made primarily of water, can greatly interfere with a wireless signal. The worst place to install a wireless router is an area full of metal objects, such as a kitchen or laundry. Oddly enough, some wireless routers installed as part of the house during construction are surrounded by metal objects and generally become useless. An interesting fact to remember is that the angle at which a router is located and its access point relative to a wall can also make a big difference. For a router and access point located at a 90 degree angle with a wall 6 inches thick, it appears to be 6 inches thick. Change the angle to 45 degrees and the same wall appears to be a foot thick. Therefore, moving an access point a few meters in one direction or another can be a big difference. The general rule is to place your access point as close as possible to the center of your home and give us some walls as possible between your access point and your wireless pods devices.rnNot so obvious reasons There are other types of wireless interference that are not so obvious. If you live in an apartment building and are surrounded by neighbors who also have wireless devices in their apartments, there is a good chance that your wireless signals may be interfering with yours. An easy solution to this is to adjust the channel your wireless router is on. Wireless G routers usually have 11 channels to choose from. Most of these channels overlap with adjacent channels, so if your neighbor uses channel 6, it is better to go with channel 1 or channel 11 on your wireless router. Many new wireless N routers and some G routers have an automatic switching feature that automatically detects the channel that is most open and switches to it. A wireless G router basically lives in the 2.4 GHz frequency band. Unfortunately, many of its other wireless devices also record this frequency band. Microwaves, baby monitors, garage door openers and cordless phones also operate in the 2.4 GHz frequency band and can cause many interference problems with your wireless router. It is better to keep your access point and your wireless devices at least 6 to 10 feet away from these devices. As wireless technology becomes more mature, interference becomes a growing problem. We now have wireless N routers that allow us to use the 5 GHZ frequency band and avoid most of these interference issues. Most wireless N routers and some wireless G routers use something called MIMO that sends and receives multiple signals at once and almost floods the entire area with a wireless signal. This provides multiple routes for the wireless signal to be followed, making it less susceptible to interference. If your wireless signal seems to work well in some areas of the home and not in others, you are likely to experience interference issues. Be sure to check not only the most obvious and visible causes of interference, but also the invisible, not-so-obvious causes.