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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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).
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!
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.
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.
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. :-)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ;).
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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
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..
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!
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.
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
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.
I worked on the phone installation in a house where the central two storey living room, which divided it in two, was accidentally a Tempest Room because of the chicken wire in its plaster walls. Their portable phones were almost worthless.
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!
00:55 Too many devices being close to the router can bog the connection. I would suggest cabling any stationary devices directly to the Router with an Ethernet cable. 2:09 WiFi boosters can cause interference issues, I would suggest consulting with your ISP first.
Mounted in the ceiling - 1 per room. Get cheap 30-50 dollar 5ghz low power APs. Low range, but it don't mater because you covered your whole house in a High-speed low latency mesh network. WiFi should be thought of as light bulbs. Put at least 1 light in each room.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Placing the router as central to the floorplan and as high as possible is a great rule of thumb. Also don't put it near a microwave!
6 років тому+2
Yeah, at my mother's they have the router on the floor in the basement. I've been telling them to get it up from there for a good while, especially since they have issues with connectivity all the time. That their basement is having issues with moisture is further making the problem worse - concrete has the unfortunate property of absorbing moisture from the environment, and as mentioned in the video, water is good at absorbing microwaves.
The first 77 viewers to sign up at brilliant.org/scishow will get 20% off their annual premium subscription AND support SciShow.
SciShow why do dogs and cats like getting belly rubs
Big T. Larrity and
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.
Or I could not sign up and get 100% off.
dont fall for this scam guys xd
Hmmm. I would check the placement of the router, but that would mean breaking into my neighbor's house.
Gavin
I'm in a secret love affair with my neighbor's wifi.
Its OK! They bought 5 more homes with the stolen identities from the unlocked router hacking program.
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!
Werty Werty he is everywhere!
:)
All this wifi talk is making me blush, rad shirt!! 🙌🙌
Nice lol
I flipped when I saw the shirt! Your content is amazing!
I knew it the t shirt looks familiar!!!
EE made it yo
I'd be ecstatic! I imagine you share the same sentiments? 😉
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Great advises! Though it's all but naught when your ISP or internet in general is worse than dial-up.
Engineering Explained shirt! That's cool
it's a great channel! scishow should just straight up recommend it.
I had very vague ideas about how Wi-Fi routers worked. Thanks for keeping it simple and practical!
*THAT'S NOT EXPONENTIAL DECREASE!* That's _quadratic_ decrease.
Terms matter!
Isn't all quadratic decrease exponential but not all exponential decrease quadratic? After all ² is an exponent too. #AllExponentsMatter
but exponential means that the exponent is variable!
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).
Thomas Wijgerse OK that makes sense, thx ;)
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!
Engineering Explained lol
The first time i saw
I know my guy
I knew I wasn't the only one to notice
:)
That channel has too many common sense or non based statements, so.. lol
Exponentially? What you described was quadratic decay, not exponential decay.
Uh oh, rumbled.
It's logarithmic
inverse square law...
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.
NEEERRRRRRDDDSSSS
Pedant Alert: inverse square, not exponential.
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.
There's nothing pedantic about that, Janis. It quite a serious error. d^-2 is hardly the same as (something)^-d!!!
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. :-)
Mistake! The j is following engineering convention, so it's a phase, not an actual decay! My bad.
NP -- it still goes down faster than inverse square. IIRC, dipole radiation is an inverse cube?
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.
As someone who works in IT. THANK YOU! Everyone who has access to wifi should watch this before service is installed.
Engineering Explained for the win! Knowing how things work is important. Thanks SciShow
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.
Is it really exponential decrease? The examples he gave and geometry indicates quadratic decrease.
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.
big respect to this awesome channel
Well, I figured that the best spot for my router would be near the internet outlet in the wall ...
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
I have wire less wifi so I'm good lol
Thanks buddies.i just love the scientific explanations you guys give.Keep it up.
Or an Ethernet cable, that works too
But that wouldn't be wifi and defeats the purpose of wifi. Granted, it does provide a faster and more reliable connection.
If you are so "mobile" then why don't you just go next to the router?
Hell, it works better.
Phones don't have an ethernet port
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.
I’d tape it to my phone If i could
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.
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.
Gotta show this to my mom, since she likes putting metal decorations and water plants around the router
I wasn’t sure if I was watching a wifi video or an episode of Scrubs 🤣
Ty for making this
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.
momerathe Would you like to explain that one for me, please
😄😄😄😄 😄😄.
😄😄😄 😄😄😄😄?
- 😄
😄😄😄
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 ;).
Ath Athanasius Thanks. It was the 1/16th part that got me thinking.
"exponential" means "by a fixed ratio", which this is.
At 0:14 promoting Vsauce?
Only if you watch his old videos from 2-3 years ago..... You know.... Cause there's no new ones today.
There was a pretty good Mathematical Love one recently, I was also referring to all 4 channels.
Hm could they possibly be referring to their OWN science focused channel? uau uwu
Duh, of course they are.
guy hircshorn back when Vsauce was free to watch XD
You should do a video on trichotillomania. It would really inform people
Joey Moursalian
I've been pulling my hair out waiting for a video like that.
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.
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.
Yes, it's inverse square, not exponential.
great information... and i really like the engineering explained shirt
*Sips my tea as I watch with my mesh Wi-Fi system*
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
Many people don’t think router placement matters much, it does. Also noticed putting on a shelf up high creates a better signal
I knew about the expotential decay and the radio waves. I did not know about the water thing.
Nice video!
This is a great video. Like a PSA
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.
Great job Stefan!
Ha! I always set up my internet before moving in
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.
I’ve been guilty of pointing the antenna to my devices, but I was much younger when I did that. Thanks scishow.
Nice EE shirt.
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.
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.
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.
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
Now that's something I never thought of!
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.
Watching this on a 3 Mb/s network on Sal in Cape Verde; 570 km of the coast of West Africa.
I love technology...
You can also set up a metal 'mirror' behind your router to boost the signal your way.
Water absorbs everything really well.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I dig the Engineering Explained tee. @EngineeringExplained
@SciShow
I love the topic idea.
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.
When I go to someones house: What's the wifi password?
12345
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.
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.
click on the WPS button ,its easier
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.)
Good Episode, but I use Homeplug, so where should I plug my Homeplug , and what devices should not be on the same breaker?
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
I heard that microwaves (Kitchen appliance) can also be a possible problem. Along with mirrors.
What you described is a 1/n^2 decrease, not an exponential decrease
Ah yes my favorite science based youtube channel. I have lots of fond memories about pbs space time
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..
woah, metal's shiny because it's good at reflecting em waves. simple but astonishing
Also, hardline connect your stationary devices - PC towers, Game consoles, smart TVs and all that. keep the wifi to a minimum amount of devices.
Nice shirt there homie
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!
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.
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.
The intensity decrease of the WiFi signal is an inverse square law not an exponential decrease :)
wow the antenna should point up? what arcane knowledge!
Ad ends at 0:01
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.
Had problems with signal, bought booster, had it little better, dumped it, connected cable and enjoying it 150 %
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.
Gimli, Son of Glóin rlly
0:35 X-rvays sound particularly exotic.
*Lays in bed watching SciShow -learning things before sleeping*
AYEEEEE ANOTHER ENGINEERING EXPLAINED FAN!!!!! WASSSUPPP!!!!!
placing Wi-Fi routers are for the weak!
Paragon Hank, is that you?
I PAY FOR MY WIFI URHFNCDN
Muscle Hank call me feeble
reaching
Using WiFi is for the weak
I see that Engineering Explained merch
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
I like the shirt!
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.
I use one of those cables that always break so you have to tape it into your PC and router.
I worked on the phone installation in a house where the central two storey living room, which divided it in two, was accidentally a Tempest Room because of the chicken wire in its plaster walls. Their portable phones were almost worthless.
How about mirrors. If they reflect light do they also affect higher frequency waves like wi-fi sygnal?
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!
Meanwhile, LinusTechTips explains why we have butt hair.
00:55 Too many devices being close to the router can bog the connection. I would suggest cabling any stationary devices directly to the Router with an Ethernet cable.
2:09 WiFi boosters can cause interference issues, I would suggest consulting with your ISP first.
Great video
Mounted in the ceiling - 1 per room.
Get cheap 30-50 dollar 5ghz low power APs. Low range, but it don't mater because you covered your whole house in a High-speed low latency mesh network.
WiFi should be thought of as light bulbs. Put at least 1 light in each room.
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?
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.
Buy a router with external antennas and add aftermarket 5dB or 8dB antennas. TP-Link makes good ones.
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.
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.
crumbworks In fact, it appears you can connect modern iPhones and Android phones to wired Ethernet using the appropriate adapters.
Placing the router as central to the floorplan and as high as possible is a great rule of thumb. Also don't put it near a microwave!
Yeah, at my mother's they have the router on the floor in the basement. I've been telling them to get it up from there for a good while, especially since they have issues with connectivity all the time. That their basement is having issues with moisture is further making the problem worse - concrete has the unfortunate property of absorbing moisture from the environment, and as mentioned in the video, water is good at absorbing microwaves.
What should be the height of the router while wall mounting?
can it be higher than 6 or 7 feet?
@@ayushraut2005 the higher the better.
I have it in my room, it's in the second floor (technically third), but we live in a small place so reach isn't an issue.
Also because many things in your apartment are on the floor, you can try putting the WiFi router higher up to avoid these obstacles