Where Should I Put My Wi-Fi Router?

[@SciShow]

The first 77 viewers to sign up at brilliant.org/scishow will get 20% off their annual premium subscription AND support SciShow.

[@ItzRia358]

SciShow why do dogs and cats like getting belly rubs

[@lsedanolg]

Big T. Larrity and

[@GilesBathgate]

Important tip, Wifi travels much better through flooring plasterboard and wood than it does through solid walls made of brick. Consequently, it works better if the transmitter is placed downstairs in the room below your device than it would be placed in the room next door to your device as it may be separated by a brick wall. A bit obvious, but worth bearing in mind.

[@The__Creeper]

Or I could not sign up and get 100% off.

[@Delayeed9]

dont fall for this scam guys xd

[@EngineeringExplained]

All this wifi talk is making me blush, rad shirt!! 🙌🙌

[@lahsiv]

Nice lol

[@ComedicTantrum]

I flipped when I saw the shirt! Your content is amazing!

[@3wGaming]

I knew it the t shirt looks familiar!!!

[@Dann0343]

EE made it yo

[@F22C1]

I'd be ecstatic! I imagine you share the same sentiments? 😉

[@Master_Therion]

Hmmm. I would check the placement of the router, but that would mean breaking into my neighbor's house.

[@Master_Therion]

Gavin I'm in a secret love affair with my neighbor's wifi.

[@ResortDog]

Its OK! They bought 5 more homes with the stolen identities from the unlocked router hacking program.

[@wertywerty6]

Master Therion Im starting to think that your sense of humor is way better than I expected since you are everywhere around (but not from my anus) with your well thougth jokes. Congrats mate!

[@MadameRaven1]

Werty Werty he is everywhere!

[@Dyslexic-Artist-Theory-on-Time]

:)

[@chrisladouceur4093]

Some tips: 1. If your router has external antenna(s) (recommended), put the first one vertical and second one at 45 degreees. If 3 then third horizontal. 2. If your router is dual band: The 2.4GHz network travels through objects better and will have better range but 5GHz is faster. So use the 5GHz on all your devices that can, but if one has a bad signal or keeps dropping out, than try using it on the 2.4GHz. 3. As mentioned in the video, the 2.4GHz band is crowded and subject to interference. Many high end modern routers will detect the best channel to use to avoid interference, but there are also tools you can use to analyze traffic and see which channel is best to set your router to, alternatively just try switching channels if you're suspecting problems. Channels 1,6,11 are very common but also tend to work well with all devices because of reduced crossover, try those first and in that order. 4. You can usually increase wireless signal power in your router settings. As long as you have a secure network, feel free to set this up to 100%, unless you're using a more advanced home setup(rare) where it could interfere with other networking equipment in other locations. This setting can often be called TX Power. 5. Different wireless standards exist, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ad/ax, your device needs to support the same standard as your router to use that method. Routers usually support multiple standards. A and B are essentially obsolete and only used by ancient devices on the 5 and 2.4 respectively. G is very common and the most commonly used method for 2.4GHz. N uses the 5GHz network and is supported by most devices in the past 5-10 years. AC is relatively new and many devices and routers do not support it, except new equipment from the past few years. AC is essentially an improvement on N, standardizing beamforming, to increase range/signal strength to devices and supporting higher speeds. AC-Wave2 also exists which some devices support, and it allows multiple simultaneous streams to device, essentially improving bandwidth when many devices are connected. Then there is AD, with blazing fast speeds BUT if using AD be aware that it is VERY VERY susceptible to interference from objects because it uses a 60GHz band. In some cases even a thick piece of cardboard or your body could block the signal, so only use it with devices that will be in direct sight of each other. AX is a new improved version of AC but is hardly supported by any device on the market right now. Ensure you are using the best standard for your usage and pay attention when buying devices. 6. Your router needs to breathe. It generates heat and has vents. Do not cover these vents or put objects on top of your router. Ensure it has good access to fresh air/airflow and isn't in a closed off space. Hope this helped someone!

[@MmeHyraelle]

So you basically made this video, correctly. Because this video did nothing to tip us right. It's explicative, yes, but not helpful. also 7 : Do not put any other electronics devices around the routeur (like two feet for high powered and 6 inches for low powered ), even the modem can interfere electrically with the wifi signal. Because yes, smart meter make the electricity dirty in your walls and transfers wireless signals over the copper wires.

[@overwrite_oversweet]

9 overlaps with 6. Unless you're sure all the WiFi nearby uses 1/5/9/13 and not 1/6/11/(14), please don't use 9 if you want to live. Also, ac has standardised beamforming and therefore should actually have better range than n when using the 5 GHz band. It's just that dual band operation is specified only by n and not ac.

[@chrisladouceur4093]

Tim Tian Sorry, I meant to put 11, not 9. You're right, thanks! I'll edit that :) As for beamforming, there were many routers that used it with wireless N also, but AC did standardize it. AC should have a greater range than its wireless N non-beamforming counterpart.

[@iota-09]

i've had probably a dozen modem/routers in 17 years, never once have i seen a wifi power setting of any kind, only bands.

[@donloder1]

Great advises! Though it's all but naught when your ISP or internet in general is worse than dial-up.

[@General12th]

*THAT'S NOT EXPONENTIAL DECREASE!* That's _quadratic_ decrease. Terms matter!

[@Donar23]

Isn't all quadratic decrease exponential but not all exponential decrease quadratic? After all ² is an exponent too. #AllExponentsMatter

[@thomaswijgerse723]

but exponential means that the exponent is variable!

[@MathAndComputers]

Indeed! People seem to refer to everything as "exponential" these days. It really gets on my nerves. -_- I suppose if one put the router in water, the signal would decay exponentially with respect to distance within the water, but not in the air, (except possibly by the tiny amount that air scatters/absorbs the signal).

[@Donar23]

Thomas Wijgerse OK that makes sense, thx ;)

[@thicknavyrain]

Ironically the exponential labelling IS correct, it's the inverse square diagram that's wrong! If you look at equation 3.2.17 in this document ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-661-receivers-antennas-and-signals-spring-2003/readings/ch3new.pdf you'll see the electric field for a dipole antenna source (like that of a wifi router) DOES have an exponential dependence on radius!

[@JesseLewis314]

I had very vague ideas about how Wi-Fi routers worked. Thanks for keeping it simple and practical!

[@ChaosPootato]

Engineering Explained shirt! That's cool

[@alveolate]

it's a great channel! scishow should just straight up recommend it.

[@Tobbzn]

Exponentially? What you described was quadratic decay, not exponential decay.

[@sciencegirl4687]

Uh oh, rumbled.

[@spec14lk]

It's logarithmic

[@notkamara]

inverse square law...

[@thicknavyrain]

Hi Tobbzn! I may or may not have been involved with this episode's production. Yes, the generic weakness for an electromagnetic source goes as inverse square, as (somewhat incorrectly!) described in the diagram. Under that description, it should be described as a /power law/ but the actual DIPOLE equation, which describes the electromagnetic wave intensity as a function of the distance from the dipole antenna as found in most routers DOES go as an exponential from the radius of the antenna! See ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-661-receivers-antennas-and-signals-spring-2003/readings/ch3new.pdf equation 3.1.17 for the electric field strength. Sorry for the confusion.

[@Clayvicle]

NEEERRRRRRDDDSSSS

[@offthedeepend1375]

As someone who works in IT. THANK YOU! Everyone who has access to wifi should watch this before service is installed.

[@jcortese3300]

Pedant Alert: inverse square, not exponential.

[@thicknavyrain]

Yes, the generic weakness for an electromagnetic source goes as inverse square, as (somewhat incorrectly!) described in the diagram. Under that description, it should be described as a /power law/ but the actual DIPOLE equation, which describes the electromagnetic wave intensity as a function of the distance from the dipole antenna as found in most routers DOES go as an exponential from the radius of the antenna! See ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-661-receivers-antennas-and-signals-spring-2003/readings/ch3new.pdf equation 3.1.17 for the electric field strength. Sorry for the confusion.

[@avimohan6594]

There's nothing pedantic about that, Janis. It quite a serious error. d^-2 is hardly the same as (something)^-d!!!

[@jcortese3300]

It is, but I had made one as well. Point source radiation goes down as inverse square, but dipole radiation goes down much faster as the previous reply states, so I suppose it's plus-one-minus-one. Been a while since grad school for me. :-)

[@thicknavyrain]

Mistake! The j is following engineering convention, so it's a phase, not an actual decay! My bad.

[@jcortese3300]

NP -- it still goes down faster than inverse square. IIRC, dipole radiation is an inverse cube?

[@UltimaJC]

This actually kind of answers a question I had the other day why my wifi signal is worse in the bathroom than any other room in the house.

[@momerathe]

That's not what "exponential" means. It's a geometric decrease in signal strength (the famous "inverse square law"); if it really was exponential then in your example it would be 1/16th at 3m.

[@joseandresmontoyacabrera1835]

momerathe Would you like to explain that one for me, please

[@KGODSMACKC]

😄😄😄😄 😄😄. 😄😄😄 😄😄😄😄? - 😄 😄😄😄

[@AthAthanasius]

Yes, for it to be exponential it would be "1 / (2 ^ x)", which would mean 1/8th at 3m, rather than "1 / (x ^ 2)" for the 1/9th they cited. But that means 1/8th at 3m, not 1/16th ;).

[@joseandresmontoyacabrera1835]

Ath Athanasius Thanks. It was the 1/16th part that got me thinking.

[@bartz0rt928]

"exponential" means "by a fixed ratio", which this is.

[@observingrogue7652]

I wasn't expecting an Engineering Explained shirt. Nice. And thank you for this video. I thought about just putting it in the middle of where I live. But I think I will do that, but build and set up things around it, to optimize it, get the most out of my router.

[@AtrumNuntius]

I remember the metal thing from when I had a computer case on the desk and a laptop across the apartment couldn't get a signal at all. The wood walls couldn't really block the signal, but the metal case completely blocks the signal from getting there. I guess for extra security you could put your router on top of a sheet of metal if your neighbors are below you to stop the signal from reaching. Even something like aluminum foil. Well on top of a secure password if you're also worrying about being hacked.

[@bostash8442]

big respect to this awesome channel

[@luismijangos7844]

Dear people of SciShow: Love your channel. Minor observation: at 0:49 you said "exponential" but the explanation is about something with "inverse square" tendency. If it really were exponential, when you duplicate the distance you will get 13.5% and if you tiple it will be 5% instead of the 50% (1/2) and 11.1% (1/9) described.

[@Fazupala]

Is it really exponential decrease? The examples he gave and geometry indicates quadratic decrease.

[@MmeHyraelle]

Most says quadatric decrease too. I never heard of it be anything other than an inversed square root. But it seems quadratic is the correct one.

[@3800S1]

I had a setup once running wifi over 3.5Km on a commercial grade 802.11G radio. I had it running at 1mW and it was capable of 100mW and the antennas can do about 50-100Km obviously depending on elevation due to the curvature of the earth blocking the path. This was so I could share an ADSL connection from a guy much closer to town as I wasn't even able to get dial up it was that bad in Australia in 2005. I don't use my setup anymore as I have fixed wireless broadband now that runs of a dedicated internet tower based on some modified version of 3G. It is 5 times faster than the ADSL2 I was sharing off and plans are much cheaper too with more data. Was a welcome upgrade for sure. I have wifi in the house but its only used for guests and phones when needed. Everything else is by Ethernet as I wired the whole house on Gb ethernet about 15 years ago when cat6 was still pretty new. I just wish 10Gb was common by now, been damn slow for the standard to be adopted.

[@lahsiv]

Engineering Explained lol

[@charleshu5752]

The first time i saw

[@MsAssking]

I know my guy

[@rnelson1415]

I knew I wasn't the only one to notice

[@Dyslexic-Artist-Theory-on-Time]

:)

[@0Freguenedy0]

That channel has too many common sense or non based statements, so.. lol

[@TheChipmunk2008]

Assuming a seperate router, your info is correct. If it's a combined modem/router, nearest to the network interface of the phoneline, to minimize line loss.

[@busystudying6711]

You should do a video on trichotillomania. It would really inform people

[@massimookissed1023]

Joey Moursalian I've been pulling my hair out waiting for a video like that.

[@agentorange313]

Engineering Explained for the win! Knowing how things work is important. Thanks SciShow

[@chroma1080]

Or an Ethernet cable, that works too

[@fireriffs]

But that wouldn't be wifi and defeats the purpose of wifi. Granted, it does provide a faster and more reliable connection.

[@nopenope7184]

If you are so "mobile" then why don't you just go next to the router?

[@emachine003]

Hell, it works better.

[@basketballuce3704]

Phones don't have an ethernet port

[@Neo2266.]

I’d tape it to my phone If i could

[@bartz0rt928]

Signal is usually strongest between 1 and 2 meters from the device (due to how the fields from different antennae overlap), so that would actually make the signal worse. I wonder if you could get an ethernet adapter for phones though.

[@andrewrivera4029]

As a WiFi installer here are a few tips for both 2.4G and 5G WiFi signals: 5G is highest speed connection when close to the router 2.4G is stronger as u move farther from the router Better to install router higher up. 2 floor house centrally located on second floor. (Signal seems to travel down easier than up) Yes, install router closest to area u do most of your internet. Kitchens, I beam steel construction, old plaster walls, brick/stone chimneys due to rebar are notoriously good WiFi blockers Sometimes u need a booster, there are apps that let u measure WiFi strength through the House

[@vivekanandkamath1638]

Thanks buddies.i just love the scientific explanations you guys give.Keep it up.

[@PandoraDaFoxx]

*Sips my tea as I watch with my mesh Wi-Fi system*

[@Donar23]

Well, I figured that the best spot for my router would be near the internet outlet in the wall ...

[@maskedshinobi4314]

Donar ive got that and its kinda eh for me its on one side of my house and my room is on thw other side and there is a wall where the wifi is

[@ajax4801]

I have wire less wifi so I'm good lol

[@AidanRatnage]

At 0:14 promoting Vsauce?

[@guydht1]

Only if you watch his old videos from 2-3 years ago..... You know.... Cause there's no new ones today.

[@AidanRatnage]

There was a pretty good Mathematical Love one recently, I was also referring to all 4 channels.

[@gamefreak974]

Hm could they possibly be referring to their OWN science focused channel? uau uwu

[@AidanRatnage]

Duh, of course they are.

[@maattthhhh]

guy hircshorn back when Vsauce was free to watch XD

[@lifereporter8456]

Many people don’t think router placement matters much, it does. Also noticed putting on a shelf up high creates a better signal

[@fartonaut2291]

Ad ends at 0:01

[@jorgerivera6703]

Gotta show this to my mom, since she likes putting metal decorations and water plants around the router

[@damagecontrol7]

Great job Stefan!

[@Mcornish86]

Also Sci Show, you forget to mention to place wifi router in Centralized location rather than on people floors on next to other devices because of RFI and EMI. Those two types of interference can degrad signal too. Attenuation is a mention too. I see people have wifi router on floor in corner of house or apartment rather then in central location so signal can reach devices better.

[@AlexandreFoley]

EM signals do not decay exponentially, but as the square of the distance. The number you gave, at two meter it is 1/4 of at one meter and at three meter the power is 1/9 is correct, but that's not exponential.

[@RaindropsBleeding]

I knew about the expotential decay and the radio waves. I did not know about the water thing.

[@bartz0rt928]

I would also suggest that you connect any device by cable that's always in the same place anyway (like a tv). More reliable signal at that device, and fewer devices competing for frequency bands overall.

[@brock232]

Ty for making this

[@kd1s]

If I'm not mistaken RF power falls off by the square of the distance. So yes, at the shorter wavelengths that gets to be kind of critical.

[@BladeScraper]

Yes, it's inverse square, not exponential.

[@kylemwalker]

Don't forget that plaster walls have metal mesh imbedded inside to hold up the plaster. That acts as a faraday cage. Old houses are great at blocking wifi

[@Michael18599]

The series in 0:51 is : 1, 1/4, 1/9, so 1/x^2. That means the signal is not dropping exponentially, but quadratically.

[@williamballing2478]

Good Episode, but I use Homeplug, so where should I plug my Homeplug , and what devices should not be on the same breaker?

[@fizyk1101]

You can also set up a metal 'mirror' behind your router to boost the signal your way.

[@marilynlucero9363]

*Lays in bed watching SciShow -learning things before sleeping*

[@ayushraut2005]

What should be the height of the router while wall mounting?

[@unholysaint1987]

great information... and i really like the engineering explained shirt

[@jay9308]

If you have poor WiFi signal, consider installing a wireless access point. Access points are a simple inexpensive way to connect to the same WiFi network from multiple locations. There are usually several of them on each floor of a hotel. Signal boosters can amplify unwanted noise to the WiFi signal. Try to avoid them if possible. Also, don't think that your cable guy installed your WiFi in the ideal location for best range. They usually just put it wherever is closest to the signal cable and power outlet.

[@3800S1]

Don't forget the polarization of your router antenna verse the devices. That's just as important as having good line of sight. Some antenna/devices use horizontal polarization while some vertical and then there is other angles depending on antenna/device ordination. If you have 2 devices connected (or trying to) having opposite or very misaligned polarizations it will attenuate the signal greatly. This effects the reception to such a point that keeping antennas at the same plane is more important than line of sight if say a base station/tower is at a different elevation and you have no ability to change the angle or elevation to suit.

[@stellarfirefly]

Many microwaves also have a small amount of interference. (A little bit is leakage, but not enough to actually harm people nearby. Hopefully.) It's quite common that weak wifi signals near a microwave can actually drop altogether when the microwave oven is turned on. It happens to me in my kitchen quite often, because it's so far from the router.

[@RedwoodGeorge]

Fun fact: I live in a house built in 1947 and instead of using plaster they coated the interior walls with stucco (!). To support the stucco there's a wire mesh similar to chicken wire - two layers per surface so there are actually four layers of wire mesh for each interior wall of the house. (!!) I'm essentially living in a connected series of Faraday cages that eat Wi-Fi signals for breakfast. That's why my modestly sized (1500 sq ft) home has four Wi-Fi access points!

[@spec14lk]

Same situation as you. Ideally you'd have one in each room, and centrally managed, then they can dial the power back and work more efficiently.

[@massimookissed1023]

At least "the man" won't be able to beam voices into your head. You're lucky. I had to pull out all my fillings and make a tinfoil hat.

[@Reniconix]

A pretty important function of the antenna was left out. Yes, the signal radiates outward from the antenna in a circle, but all modern Wi-Fi enabled devices have what's called Beamforming- It can detect the direction the signal is coming from, and concentrate the power output in that direction to maximize the connection strength by not wasting power transmitting to the wall on the opposite side of the room. Basically, your devices know where each other device is at all times and can talk to the proper one directly instead of shouting into a room and hoping the right guy is there to hear it.

[@pandasaurus2874]

I’ve been guilty of pointing the antenna to my devices, but I was much younger when I did that. Thanks scishow.

[@musclehank6067]

placing Wi-Fi routers are for the weak!

[@BigT.Larrity]

Paragon Hank, is that you?

[@-wrsmith-2436]

I PAY FOR MY WIFI URHFNCDN

[@dmcpartlin17]

Muscle Hank call me feeble

[@leidenfrost3821]

reaching

[@randomrg4637]

Using WiFi is for the weak

[@bartix698]

How about mirrors. If they reflect light do they also affect higher frequency waves like wi-fi sygnal?

[@Steela100]

I live in a really long house, and my old room had a large solid pine bookshelf and a bathroom between it and the wifi router, so I had basically no internet connection. We bought an extender but the system still isn’t perfect

[@kb470]

Also, hardline connect your stationary devices - PC towers, Game consoles, smart TVs and all that. keep the wifi to a minimum amount of devices.

[@surajtiwari2614]

Nice video!

[@fecklar1905]

Also don't forget about cheeking the WI-FI router wireless signal power setting located in your Wireless Router Wireless Settings. This can be adjusted as well to increase or decrease the signal strength.

[@sun622]

What about height? I see some stores have their routers mounted on the ceiling. What if you mounted one on a pole outside approx 12' up. Better range?

[@The__Creeper]

Water absorbs everything really well.

[@jarencascino7604]

This is a great video. Like a PSA

[@invinciblenoodle]

What you described is a 1/n^2 decrease, not an exponential decrease

[@matthewzeller5026]

Thank you for including the part about antenna direction. If you have multiple on your router put them at 90 degree angles so you can still get good signal while laying down in bed.

[@LordOfHamy]

The intensity decrease of the WiFi signal is an inverse square law not an exponential decrease :)

[@m0uz3r22]

I heard that microwaves (Kitchen appliance) can also be a possible problem. Along with mirrors.

[@tommeng6522]

When I go to someones house: What's the wifi password?

[@nopenope7184]

12345

[@vickymc9695]

Yer, my friends always do that. I got so sick of having to find it out for them that it's now on a sticker in ever room.

[@legacysage]

Usually some amalgamation of pet names, birthdays, and addresses. Not many non-techies bother changing their routers administrator name/password though, so you could just look on the back of the router, connect to the router, and have control over the entire network. Some routers don't even come with a legitimate administrator password, which is even more fun. Usually it's just 0000 in those cases.

[@girlsdrinkfeck]

click on the WPS button ,its easier

[@ursaltydog]

My home has a full basement which holds my office, mancave, etc.. so I put my wireless router near the ceiling of the basement so that it can be used downstairs and upstairs.. It definitely doesn't do well near the water pipes at the door going outside for two reasons.. 1. the water/iron pipes and 2. any shaking of the device from entry or exit messes with it..

[@jonwilson7926]

Now that's something I never thought of!

[@alexlandherr]

Watching this on a 3 Mb/s network on Sal in Cape Verde; 570 km of the coast of West Africa. I love technology...

[@RileyHouston]

Related topic would be how mesh networks work. I know many home owners in my neighborhood have begun to switch to mesh networks with wired backhauls for excellent WiFi performance. Like how Google WiFi or Netgear Orbi or Linksys Velop work.

[@Kastor774]

Ah yes my favorite science based youtube channel. I have lots of fond memories about pbs space time

[@RobJD]

woah, metal's shiny because it's good at reflecting em waves. simple but astonishing

[@tonym3408]

I wish you would have mentioned hight, .i.e,, floor vs table vs top shelf,, thoughts?

[@davidprodigy5833]

I love the topic idea.

[@TheSeth]

This video is good, but it is missing a very important tip that can help a lot. Put your WiFi router on the ceiling! Yes, it's a bit more work, but the signal will more easily blanket your living space.

[@ghastlyguts]

wow the antenna should point up? what arcane knowledge!

[@ToniLovesSkateboarding]

I wasn’t sure if I was watching a wifi video or an episode of Scrubs 🤣

[@gaminawulfsdottir3253]

Correlating the shininess of metal with its reflectivity of electromagnetic waves is a good point. (But it's way easier to move your router than it is to move a fish tank.)

[@flaviusclaudius7510]

Is the decay exponential or quadratic? You say both within seconds of one another.

[@justinallen4903]

You forgot to mention the effect of microwave ovens. Especially cheap ones. They have a lot of leakage on 2.4 Ghz and can often cause problems with wifi connections when they are running. I once worked IT in a factory that had a bank of about 20 microwave ovens in the break room. During lunch time, some of the Raspberry Pi Kanban boards that were nearby would almost always disconnect and have to be rebooted after lunch. We eventually figured out it was caused by a particular model of microwave oven. Once the offending units were replaced with higher end units, the problem went away.

[@yaroslavsky]

I use mirrors to my advantage. I have my router sitting against a mirror on a wall. It greatly increases the strength in the direction I want.

[@maskedshinobi4314]

Gimli, Son of Glóin rlly

[@MooImABunny]

Guys! It's not exponential decrease!! Exponential would be a dropoff from say 1/4 to 1/16 to 1/64 (as an example). The signal drops *quadratically*, like 1/r²

[@ovaca16]

Nice shirt there homie

[@JerBoyd42]

The decrease of signal strength with radial distance is quadratic, not exponential. The term exponential is often misused to apply to polynomials of degree two or greater. Exponential relations have a the input variable in the exponent rather than the base. Spread math knowledge!

[@crumbworks]

I work for an ISP in things like this are helpful to customer education. They don't always realize that Wi-Fi isn't the be-all end-all, so you're always going to trade performance for convenience. Then again I've been a user of Ethernet ever since the 90s and will only use Wi-Fi on devices that don't support hardwiring such as phones, tablets, and e-readers.

[@MatthewStinar]

crumbworks In fact, it appears you can connect modern iPhones and Android phones to wired Ethernet using the appropriate adapters.

[@Jasonschulz10]

I have to note a mistake in the first minute of this video: You claim to get all ur furniture set up, store your clothes away, then set up the router, but in fact the first thing you must do when moving into your new home is set up the router!!!

[@Meelo_MX5]

AYEEEEE ANOTHER ENGINEERING EXPLAINED FAN!!!!! WASSSUPPP!!!!!

[@gabeguthrie9604]

I dig the Engineering Explained tee. @EngineeringExplained

[@gabeguthrie9604]

@SciShow

[@jaylittleton1]

You get bonus marks for the Engineering Explained shirt. Now, will my wi-fi do better if I convert to roller rocker arms?

[@AltayHunter]

0:35 X-rvays sound particularly exotic.

[@AaronKarper]

Also because many things in your apartment are on the floor, you can try putting the WiFi router higher up to avoid these obstacles

[@kyosukeplays]

Nice EE shirt.

[@yashraj7491]

What's the best floor to place among 3 floor house?

[@AFlyingMayMay]

Get yourself a gigabit home router and a gigabit home switch. Totally worth the investment. Use the router for wireless devices like your phone and tablets, while connecting the switch to the router and connecting your computers and gaming systems to the switch via CAT 5e or CAT 6 Ethernet Cables. Blazing fast

[@teknophyle1]

Brick, stone and concrete are also very bad for electromagnetic waves. There are a few good apps to help diagnose the wifi. I prefer WiFi Sweet Spots (iOS). It shows a graph of speed vs time. Slightly more helpful than just showing signal strength. For Android, wifi analyzer is good. It shows you a visual representation of channels and signal strength for all networks in the area.

[@Tfin]

1. Within a meter of the desktop PC that is actually wired into it for a better connection. 2. In the middle of the house rather than anywhere near there. 3. More than 2 meters from where you're sitting with your wireless headphones while using said PC, to avoid the interference that renders them useless. 4. How can I connect this cable? 5. Wait, I need to connect to THAT cable, too. 6. OK, now where's the outlet?

[@michaelbaker6789]

Math teacher here, you're not talking about an "exponential" decrease at all. Here's what "exponential decrease" literally means: For every x meters away you go, the drop in signal is reduced by a factor of n. x and n are arbitrary because you can do napkin math to figure out how far away you have to go for cutting signal in half for any signal source as long as you have two experimental values. What you're looking at is an inverse square relation. Instead of cutting in a half every 5 meters, the signal drops by the square of the distance. At 2m you have 1/4 of the signal than at 1, at 3, 1/9. At 10, 1/100th. If we chose exponential cutting in a half for each meter, it would be better for the first 3 meters. 2m->1/2, 3m->1/8, but at 10 you would have 1/1024, that's 10 times less signal, and it is an "exponentially" worse description from there out.

[@VOLKOV9]

That's not what exponential means. You're looking for "quadratic". Also, it's milder than quadratic indoors b/c of those reflections you mention.

[@AZOffRoadster]

Buy a router with external antennas and add aftermarket 5dB or 8dB antennas. TP-Link makes good ones.

[@LadyDewBuild]

With everyone having a wifi the spectrum is full particularly in rural neighborhoods. If the router and the device have a network port just use network cable and be done with it.