Do Christmas lights affect your Wi-Fi?

Lights can affect Wi-Fi

Christmas lights can cause the wireless network signal to drop. Everyone knows that there are devices that can interfere. For example, a microwave, Bluetooth devices, household appliances or cordless phones. Something like this is what can also happen with the typical lights that we usually put on at this time of year.

It does not mean that the router stops working, but it means that it may affect the quality of the signal. Let's think about Christmas lights that we have right next to the router or even covering a television that we are going to use to connect via Wi-Fi. These flickering lights can slow down the internet speed and make it difficult to connect at a distance when the weakest signal arrives.

This is something that has been shown by some reports such as Ofcom, which showed that Christmas trees full of lights could affect the quality of the Wi-Fi signal and cause other devices to suffer. You can test it yourself if you cover the router with lights of this type and connect from a computer or mobile. You can do a speed test with and without lights and see the difference.

But beyond the Christmas lights, there are other factors that are going to influence the wireless network. For example, the location of the router, the number of devices we connect, whether we use repeaters, devices that interfere ...

Tips to Avoid Wi-Fi Problems at Christmas

What can we do to avoid Wi-Fi errors at Christmas? The first thing, as we have seen, is to avoid putting lights near the appliances. This will affect the signal and can be a major problem if we want to connect many devices and avoid problems.

But you also have to control where we have the router and possible repeaters. It is important that they are in a central location, from where they distribute the signal well. In this way, we can connect to other devices and receive the signal as best as possible.

Also, keep everything up to date. At Christmas, we usually have visitors. Many more devices may suddenly connect to our network. It is essential to have the router with the latest versions, as well as to protect security through a password. We can even create a network of guests, something very useful at this time.

In short, preparing the Wi-Fi router for Christmas is essential. Not only do we have to consider that it is well configured, with a good password and ready to connect, but we must take care of some details such as avoiding Christmas lights nearby.