The location of your router is crucial if you want to enjoy a fast and reliable WiFi connection throughout your home. It must be positioned in a central and visible location within your home so the signal can travel without obstruction. The fewer obstacles surrounding the router, the stronger the signal will be.
Positioning your router behind large furniture, under shelving units, or enclosed within cabinets can substantially degrade its performance. Such physical obstructions interfere with the WiFi signal and often result in reduced signal strength and lower data throughput, particularly in areas that are geographically distant or separated by multiple structural barriers from the router.
Here are some common router placement mistakes to avoid.
Steer clear of bulky barriers or obstructions
Large furniture like your couch and shelves in your living room acts like a physical barrier, reducing the range and overall strength of your WiFi. Thick or bulky materials—like wood, fabric, or metal—can absorb or reflect these signals. When the router is hidden behind these objects, the signal has a harder time reaching other parts of the room or house, which can lead to slower speeds or dropped connections.
Water is another major obstacle. Fish tanks, washing machines, or even water heaters— especially in basements—can interfere with signal strength, since WiFi doesn’t pass well through water.
Placing the router inside a cabinet might make your space look neater, but enclosed spaces block and weaken the wireless signal, especially if they’re made of wood, metal, or thick materials. This results in slower speeds, lower signal strength, and poor performance, especially in rooms farther from the router.
Cabinets also restrict airflow, which can cause the router to overheat over time. Routers generate heat during operation; if that heat gets trapped, it can affect performance and reduce the router’s lifespan.
The basement, the lowest point in your house, is the worst place to put your router. Thick walls, concrete, and other dense building materials can absorb or block WiFi signals. This makes it much harder for the signal to reach the upper floor effectively.
When the router is placed on the floor, much of the signal goes into the ground or is absorbed by the floor, instead of spreading through your space. Also, objects near the floor—like furniture, metal, or even carpets—can interfere with the signal.
Placing your WiFi router near another router can interfere with each other’s signals; they’ll compete for signal space, reducing performance for both networks. Routers broadcast on similar frequencies (mainly 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz), and when two routers are close together, their signals can overlap or clash. This is called wireless interference, and it can cause slower internet speeds, dropped connections, or increased latency if both routers are using the same or nearby channels.
If you received a router from your ISP but don’t plan to use its WiFi, check if you can disable its wireless function entirely to prevent it from unnecessarily broadcasting. Or if it is placed in close proximity with your primary router, configure it to operate on a different wireless channel to minimize interference.
If you must use multiple routers, it’s better to use a mesh system and configure them properly to spread the WiFi signal throughout the home. The mesh system allows you to install the parent router in the main area of your home and add child nodes or routers. You can then spread the child routers across different rooms to spread the WiFi signal, eliminating dead spots and weak connections.
Check out these Linksys Velop with Cognitive™ Mesh technology.
