Finally figured out why my Wi-Fi kept dropping during Zoom calls

I do most of my networking from my home office in Katy. Last month I lost connection during two big virtual meetups and it was embarrassing. Turns out my router was sitting behind a thick metal filing cabinet. Moved it to a shelf in the open and haven't had a single drop since. Anyone else find a simple fix that made a huge difference?

3 comments

3 Comments

parker_hall58d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah I'm gonna push back on that one. You probably had a bad signal before and moving the router helped but I bet it wasn't the metal cabinet alone. Most routers these days are way more powerful than people give them credit for. If your signal was really that weak a piece of furniture shouldn't have killed it completely. Could have been interference from other devices or your ISP having a bad day. My point is people blame their setup way too fast when the real issue is often something else.

angelamurphy8d ago

My cousin once spent three hours rearranging his living room because his wifi kept dropping out in the bedroom. He moved the router from behind a bookshelf to on top of a fish tank. Turns out the fish tank was worse because water messes with signals too apparently. He only figured it out when his roommate pointed out the router was literally sitting next to a big glass box of water. Sometimes it really is just a dumb placement thing and not the ISP being shady.

shanes667d ago

Whoa, I gotta disagree there. In my experience, most consumer routers are actually pretty weak, especially the ones ISPs hand out. I've seen a metal filing cabinet or a thick wall knock a signal down from full bars to practically nothing just a room away. Put it behind a bookshelf full of books, yeah that's basically a brick wall for a lot of those cheap units. Your mileage may vary, but I think people underestimate how much physical stuff messes with the signal, even with modern gear.