Featured Image Credit: 10'000 Hours/trumzz/Getty
It's one of the hard-to-avoid burdens of modern technological life - dealing with flaky Wi-Fi.
Whether you have the default router supplied by your ISP or a super-fancy mesh network full of satellite routers and interlinked devices, the reality is that you probably sometimes notice your connectivity getting a bit weird.
If this is a constant problem, though, rather than a passing one, it could suggest that something in your home is actually making your Wi-Fi worse - and it might not just be thick walls.
Advert
Well, the UK's Virgin Media O2 has revealed that one common household item can be a problem for routers, and it's one that you probably didn't know about.
According to Virgin, large wall mirrors can actually be an issue, since they have a thin coating of metal on them which can play havoc with signal in a room.
This wasn't the only revelation that it made, though, after taking a survey of 2,000 Brits to see how much they knew about router placement and Wi-Fi optimization.
In the survey, 41% of participants admitted that they have their router next to or behind their TV - something that isn't a big surprise since aerial cables are often right next to the entry point for fibre optic cables in a home, too.
While 12% of people apparently have left their router sitting on the floor, which is a little bit lazier, and 6% say it's literally under their bed, which is even worse.
With 45% of the survey's participants saying that they'd be interested in rejigging things to make their Wi-Fi more reliable, though, Virgin has cooked up some quick tips to use yourself.
The biggest is one they call the 'eye contact test' - basically, you should be able to see your router from wherever you want your Wi-Fi signal to be at its most reliable.
So, if your TV is the real key for online gaming or streaming, you want your router near that. If, though, you're more concerned about your home office, to avoid dropouts during video meetings, then make sure you can see your router from there instead.
Of course, that's not always easy to manage depending on how your home is wired, which is where mesh systems come in.
These replace or add to your main router with satellite points that you can plug in around your home to amplify the signal and bounce it back out.
They're a great way to get more consistent signal throughout your home, and to ensure that you don't have any major blackout spots where nothing gets through.
Loads of options are out there, from Google Nest Wifi to Netgear's Orbi options, but it's worth knowing that few of them are cheap!
