My WiFi router is located inside a wooden box (1 cm, 0.4 inch thick) for aesthetic reasons. How much does the wood weaken the signal? What is the physical explanation to the answer?
4 Answers
There is an informative paper written in 2002 by Robert Wilson, a graduate student at the University of Southern California. The paper is called "Propagation Losses Through Common Building Material 2.4GHz vs 5GHz". In this paper he covers the transmissive and reflective losses of a number of materials, including plywood and particleboard. 18mm plywood has a transmissive loss of 1.9dB and a reflective loss of 9dB at 2.4GHz. At 5GHz the transmissive and reflective losses are 1.8dB and 30.5dB respectively.
His paper mentions the moisture of the wood affected the permittivity. Thinking about it, I would expect the explanation to be this: 2.4GHz is the frequency of a microwave oven. The radio antenna is most likely having the same effect on the moisture in the wood as a microwave oven has on food: The radio waves are being converted to heat by the moisture in the wood.
The paper can be found here: https://www.am1.us/wp-content/uploads/Documents/E10589_Propagation_Losses_2_and_5GHz.pdf
Ever since I changed my floor, from carpet to wood (maple 2cm thick), my wireless signal is WEAK (I live on 2nd floor, router is on 1st floor). I then changed my router (internal antenna) to another router (external antenna) but still have weak signal. I live in a house, so there isn't much interference from neighbors.
Weakened by 2 bars. Wifi analyzer about 10db. so YES it is possible it makes the signal weaker.
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1Completely unrelated to the completely enclosed router of the question. Jun 11, 2015 at 11:25
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Maple flooring isn't enclosing the router. The signal isn't passing through the wood (unless the router and computer are on different floors in the home). Jun 12, 2015 at 12:42
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1what else is the problem if nothing else changed ? Or was it that carpet adds 10 db? Jun 14, 2015 at 4:45
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Do you know what type of flooring was under the carpet before the maple was put in? Apr 29, 2020 at 1:11
A wooden door (which I guess is 1 inch thick) reduces signal strength by half (or 3db). https://www.liveport.com/support-tech/wifi-signals-attenuation-chart/