A telephone governor has admonish that festive decorations can spoil your merry internet playfulness . Here ’s the science .
Ofcom , the UK ’s independent telephony regulator , has just released a Wi - Fi chequer app for your smart phone . At the same metre , it warnedin its press release that your Christmas Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree fairy lights could impact the caliber of your Wi - Fi connection .
Before the terrible jokes get down and we all hold that this is a tantrum of “ Bah Humbug ! ” from the telephone governor , the warning is correct – your fairy lights could indeed be a Wi - Fi downer . But then so could many other devices . Ultimately , it is a issue of how much of a problem they actually cause .
The science behind the warning
The whole press spillage describes how microwave ovens , fluorescent light and other devices could also play havoc with your wireless connection .
mould your mind back to science at school , you may recall your teacher describing the electromagnetic spectrum . Theelectromagnetic spectrumcovers radio receiver wave , microwaves , visible luminousness and radiotherapy . It is around us all the time . Our phones , wireless , idiot box and desk light all look on this principle from physical science .
Wireless web typically run on the2.4 Gigahertz microwave oven radio receiver spectrum . The full term Hertz means the number of waves per second , so 1 Hertz is one wavelength per second . Your FM radio station may use 100 Megahertz , or 100,000,000 undulation per moment , while 2.4 Gigahertz , used by radio , is 2,400,000,000 waves per s , making the radio waves used by Wi - Fi considerably shorter . Essentially , this means that they are “ weaker ” than FM radio waves – as they require greater power to cover the same distance .
Your wireless router also use considerably less power than a public FM vector . We ask the maximum compass of a domestic Wi - Fi signal to be 100 metres , while FM in the right conditions can easily be obtained at up to 10 km and beyond . ( There are also public forms ofWi - Fi called WiMAX , which can work in tumid area , but it is important to note that this is unrelated to the Ofcom press sacking . )
Because your wireless internet is much less sinewy than a vainglorious FM transmitter and its waves are weaker , where you place the router and what you have in your house will have an wallop . Home electric car , microwave , sword girders , concrete facing and enhancer insulant all can have an effect . elder property with theirthicker wallsmake a dispute , too , as the lower - powered , high frequency Wi - Fi radio waves sputter to penetrate them .
But while many unlike factors can muffle your Wi - Fi signal , I ca n’t recall anyone yet getting miff about their festive laptop observation of Dr Who being affected as before long as the Christmas lights go on .
What should you do?
But it is possible . Most fairy light have unshielded wire , which means there ’s no radiocommunication frequency insulation to protect radio - based devices from the electromagnetic consequence of the power cables drag around your tree .
Nevertheless , it would take a considerable volume of lights to create enough interference to severely degrade your Wi - Fi web . In fact , you would have to be lighting up your tree diagram like a small Lord’s Day – which perhaps some of you are plan .
Do consider downloading the Wi - Fi chequer app offered by Ofcom , however – it may avail you discover that it ’s the service provided by your phone company , rather than the poof lights , that ’s to pick for all that endless buffering .
You should also think about where you place your wireless router in your plate . hide it under a tin can inside a cupboard insulated with tin hydrofoil will deflower your Facebook fun . As will decorating your wireless gimmick with holly and poove Light Within .
There are domestic devices that will degrade the wireless signaling – although it ’s not often you ’ll be running your microwave oven 24 hours a day – but do n’t step on it to cast off off your fairy light source just yet . Christmas is coming , after all .
Andrew Smithis a Senior Lecturer in Networking atThe Open University .
This article was originally published onThe Conversation . understand theoriginal article .
range byChris_J / flickrunder Creative Commons license .
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