Does Modem Location Affect Upload Speed?

What's the All-time Room for Your Router?

At a glance

Looking to set up upward internet in your new dwelling? The best place to put your Wi-Fi router is as shut to the center of your domicile as possible. Depending on your new home's layout, that may be a living room or an function, simply it most definitely isn't the basement or an out-of-the-fashion cupboard. Nobody puts Wi-Fi in the corner—or at least, you shouldn't.

Here are the basic steps for placing your router:

Aim for a central location
Avoid walls and other obstructions
Watch out for signal interference
Become rid of dead zones
Arrange the antennas

Keep reading to find the best identify in your new home for your router.

How do I choose a place for my router?

In general, y'all want your router to be in the middle of things so Wi-Fi can achieve as much of your domicile as possible. Simply a few factors impact where yous can and should put your wireless router—like where you have access to a network jack or appliances that may touch on your Wi-Fi signal strength.

Permit'south run through what you should do and things to avoid when choosing a home for your router.

Aim for a central location

Yes, we've said it twice already, just putting your router in the center of where you use the internet will give you the best chance of spreading Wi-Fi signals to your whole home and avoiding dreaded dead zones.

A "central location" doesn't necessarily hateful you should install your router in the dead center of your house. We mean that your router should be pretty close to the middle of the areas in your home where you utilize the internet.

For case, if y'all need cyberspace connections in your living room and dwelling house office, putting your router between those 2 spaces should work. And if you lot take a two-story home but primarily need Wi-Fi coverage on the first floor, make sure information technology's on the get-go floor.

Here'due south a quick list of places Not to put your router:

Kitchen
Bath
Basement
Attic
Cupboard
Garage

Avert walls and physical obstructions

Walls, ceilings, furniture, and other large stuff can weaken Wi-Fi signals. You want to place your router so that Wi-Fi signals tin follow the path of least resistance to necessary spots.

Put your router in an open infinite, preferably college upward (because Wi-Fi signals travel outwards and slightly downward). Brand sure there are as few obstructions as possible between the router and the areas where you lot demand the all-time internet speed and reliability.

Of course, Wi-Fi signals can work through drywall, doors, and the normal trappings of a home, just Wi-Fi is but then strong, and yous want to give information technology the best chance of reaching the corners of your habitation. Y'all don't want a dead spot in your bedchamber preventing you from watching YouTube videos in bed.

These are the worst concrete obstacles for Wi-Fi:

Water
Concrete
Brick
Metal

All these materials blot or block Wi-Fi signals more drywall and wood studs, then you lot want to avoid surrounding your Wi-Fi router with them. We mentioned earlier that the kitchen and bathroom aren't great places for a router—that'southward considering the amount of water, pipes, and appliances that are ordinarily in these areas tin can make it difficult for Wi-Fi to spread.

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Watch out for signal interference

Appliances and electronics similar microwaves, baby monitors, cordless phones, and Bluetooth speakers can mess with Wi-Fi signals because they use similar radio frequencies. Try to avert putting whatever of these things besides close to your router, or yous might get some signals crossed.

Actually information technology's a good idea to keep your router a chip of a distance from other electronics in general—they're just full of wires and things that can block your Wi-Fi.

Another possible cause of signal interference is other Wi-Fi networks. If y'all alive in shut quarters to your neighbors, their Wi-Fi network could crusade problems for yours (and vice versa). A set for this issue is to change your Wi-Fi band channel to one your neighbor isn't using. And as a courtesy, don't put your router right upwards against whatever common walls if you lot can help information technology.

FAQ

Does modem placement matter?

Your modem's location doesn't matter as much equally your router. A modem ordinarily hangs out near your main network jack. Near people keep their modem and router nigh each other for convenience, but that doesn't accept to be the case.

Even if you accept a 2-in-1 modem and router or a gateway, you could get your ain router and move it away from the modem if y'all demand better Wi-Fi range. You'd just have to put the gateway into bridge fashion using device settings so you don't accidentally end up with 2 competing Wi-Fi networks.

What can I do to get rid of dead zones?

Wi-Fi boosters are practiced for stretching your signal into one annoying dead infinite, and mesh routers create a blanket of Wi-Fi signals from multiple points, which can eliminate dead zones in even the biggest homes. A unmarried router can do only so much, even if it'southward in the all-time location in your house.

The first matter to effort to get rid of a pesky expressionless spot or two is get a Wi-Fi booster, similar this 1 from TP-Link. A Wi-Fi booster catches your existing Wi-Fi signal and stretches information technology a flake further by redistributing the indicate.

If yous need a bit more oomph to fill your space, a mesh Wi-Fi arrangement similar Google Nest Wifi is probably your best bet. These are fabricated up of multiple routers that work together to encompass your abode in a blanket of Wi-Fi—so y'all don't have to worry as much about finding one central location for your router. Mesh systems are best for large homes or homes with difficult layouts (say, you take a bunch of brick walls that Wi-Fi can't get through).

How should I adjust my router antennas?

If yous want wide coverage, keep your antennas straight up. If you want tall coverage—like if you're in a multi-story domicile—lay an antenna on its side.

Router antennas are usually omnidirectional, meaning that they spread Wi-Fi in an even airplane around the antenna. The signals normally spread out and downwards, non up. But if you lay an antenna downward, it spreads the signals up and down rather than out.