Is your Christmas tree impacting WiFi? 5 festive habits that slow down internet
Christmas is a time for fun, family, food, and festivities. While the traditional Christmas celebrations are associated with carols and presents, one of the integral parts of modern-day Christmas is online interaction between relatives and friends. This entails keeping your internet connection going strong.
However, certain things about Christmas celebrations can adversely affect your wi-fi network. To ensure a seamless internet experience during the festive season, some precautions need to be taken. Here are five features of Christmas that can slow down your internet.
Christmas Tree
Nothing denotes the festive season’s arrival more vividly than a Christmas Tree. However, this very same tree can end up slowing down your net speed. According to Express UK, the decorative pieces hung all over the Christmas Tree are usually made up of thin metal foil. Wi-fi signals bounce off metal and get scattered and disjointed. So, make sure your router is at least six feet away from the tree. Also, switch to the 5GHz band from 2.4GHz as the former is less likely to be interrupted.
Christmas Lights
According to Express UK, Christmas lights can interrupt your wi-fi signal as they can emit electromagnetic interference. This is more likely with old Christmas lights. So, make sure not to have worn-out lighting and keep the newer ones away from your wi-fi router.
Actual Christmas Tree
Some people like to go the extra mile when it comes to having an authentic Christmas vibe. An actual pine tree is beautiful, but it does have a feature that can impact your internet connection. It is a living organism that contains a lot of water, which is not good for wi-fi. If they are well watered, the Douglas firs can absorb radio waves and prevent them from reaching the intended destination.
Christmas Gift Boxes
Gifts are not, by themselves, a hindrance to the internet connection. However, if the router disappears under a mound of gifts, then the internet connection might get slower due to the hindrance. The type of gifts is also important, with electronic items more likely to interfere with the radio waves than simple objects.
Microwaves
Now, this one isn’t restricted to Christmas, but, when the festive season comes around, the microwave oven gets used a lot more for cooking special delicacies. If your router is positioned near an active microwave, this will affect your net speed. So, make sure that a running microwave is far enough from the router.
