Router Location

maklabouhlel · 3 Jul 2023 at 13:06

My electrician wants to put my wireless router in a cavity in the wall which will be completely sealed when the tv goes on. He's convinced my wife this would be the best solution but I'm worried about poor signal and overheating. Is this good idea?

Caged · 3 Jul 2023 at 13:23

So you have to take your TV off the wall to see what the lights on the router are doing, or to press the reset button?

Armageus · 3 Jul 2023 at 13:26

maklabouhlel said:
Is this good idea?

No, it's an absolutely terrible idea.

To be fair, I would have thought it's probably even against electrical regulations to have a device/non-fixed cabling in a location where it can't regularly be inspected.

maklabouhlel · 3 Jul 2023 at 13:32

Caged said:
So you have to take your TV off the wall to see what the lights on the router are doing, or to press the reset button?

It will be on an arm but the cavity will be completely sealed when the tv is flush with the wall.

Orcvader · 3 Jul 2023 at 13:33

The TV itself will weaken the signal as it's made of metal. Big no.

Best place is somewhere more central in the home so it can reach most parts of the house.

Caged · 3 Jul 2023 at 15:42

Ignoring reasons *not* to put it there, how on earth did that idea even come about? What are the advantages meant to be?

Sparx · 3 Jul 2023 at 16:20

Absolutely not :cry:

Ad_Augendae · 3 Jul 2023 at 16:22

maklabouhlel said:
My electrician wants to put my wireless router in a cavity in the wall which will be completely sealed when the tv goes on. He's convinced my wife this would be the best solution but I'm worried about poor signal and overheating. Is this good idea?

Just NO!

SpellowHouse · 3 Jul 2023 at 20:10

I can't really imagine why he would want to do that. It's certainly inconvenient when you need to access the router.

maklabouhlel · 4 Jul 2023 at 01:57

Caged said:
Ignoring reasons *not* to put it there, how on earth did that idea even come about? What are the advantages meant to be?

It was supposed to make the whole setup look cleaner but I managed to convince my wife it's a terrible idea. Lol she was even going to put an Intel NUC in there next to the router.

SpellowHouse · 4 Jul 2023 at 05:13

maklabouhlel said:
It was supposed to make the whole setup look cleaner but I managed to convince my wife it's a terrible idea. Lol she was even going to put an Intel NUC in there next to the router.

Why not the kids? I mean, in for a penny, in for a pound!

WJA96 · 4 Jul 2023 at 07:16

We’ve done these sorts of installs with vanity panels etc. and we stopped because when you need to do any work on the system eg. a switch upgrade they’re a proper pain the neck.

SpellowHouse · 4 Jul 2023 at 08:00

WJA96 said:
We’ve done these sorts of installs with vanity panels etc. and we stopped because when you need to do any work on the system eg. a switch upgrade they’re a proper pain the neck.

I found the same with my setup of routers, switches and so on. They were initially in a cupboard that was a bit tricky to access...it didn't matter, because I didn't need to access them all that much, or so I figured. A year later, I moved everything to a spare room, with really easy access!! Turns out, you need to access them more than you would think!

Andr3w · 4 Jul 2023 at 08:03

Don’t do it.

I stupidly got virgin to run the coax to behind my tv so now my hub5 is behind my tv (on a tv stand).

K.C. Leblanc · 4 Jul 2023 at 17:37

Completely stupid idea.

a1ex2001 · 5 Jul 2023 at 07:51

SpellowHouse said:
I found the same with my setup of routers, switches and so on. They were initially in a cupboard that was a bit tricky to access...it didn't matter, because I didn't need to access them all that much, or so I figured. A year later, I moved everything to a spare room, with really easy access!! Turns out, you need to access them more than you would think!

I have exactly the opposite experience my router is on the floor behind a sofa and I have touched it about 3 times in the two years since I moved to Vodafone and the fourth time I touch it is likely to be when I turn it off and send it to be recycled in the next couple of weeks.

I still wouldn’t put a wireless router behind the TV unless I was just using it as a router with Wi-Fi being handled by something else.

K.C. Leblanc · 12 Jul 2023 at 11:37

Orcvader said:
The TV itself will weaken the signal as it's made of metal. Big no.

Best place is somewhere more central in the home so it can reach most parts of the house.

.......or put the router when it's best placed for the incoming internet service, disable it's onboard wifi and put a dedicated wirless access point where it'll give the best signal.

the wopster · 15 Jul 2023 at 13:56

maklabouhlel said:
My electrician wants to put my wireless router in a cavity in the wall which will be completely sealed when the tv goes on. He's convinced my wife this would be the best solution but I'm worried about poor signal and overheating. Is this good idea?

To be perfectly honest, the Electricians an absolute imbecile

Namsnik · 17 Jul 2023 at 10:44

K.C. Leblanc said:
.......or put the router when it's best placed for the incoming internet service, disable it's onboard wifi and put a dedicated wirless access point where it'll give the best signal.

My master socket was behind my TV cabinet. When I was having issues with my DSL connection I uncovered a high number of errors with the ISPs router near the TV. Turned out that I had a doggy power brick for one of the MANY devices connected in that area. Moving the router across the room made a huge difference to the errors (yes I also replaced the brick).
I purchased a 15 metre cable ADSL cable and experimented with locations before settling on the one that gave the best Wi-Fi coverage.

Caged · 17 Jul 2023 at 11:52

My preference is to try and bring the internet into a location that is convenient for getting wiring out to other places. I don't want to see an ONT hanging off the wall in the lounge. Appreciate this isn't always the easiest thing to achieve though.