Freezers disrupt wi-fi signals?

[Coffeefiend]

A knowledgable computer friend once told me that fridges or freezers (I forget which) have something in the back of their conduits that disrupts or nullifies wi-fi signals. I believe this is correct because in my previous house our wi-fi router was sat on top of the fridge/freezer and constantly read 1mbps at 1/5 bar strength, as soon as we moved it to the living room it immediately went back up to 65mbps and 5/5 bar strength.

I'm in a new house now and we have 3 floors. We need to have the router on the middle floor except the only place with a plug is the utility room where we keep the fridge and freezer. Our net is constantly crashing every 5 minutes and often reads 5.5mbps with 4 bars yet the internet wont actually be running.

Its really annoying me as I need the internet for uni work, we physically cant cope without the internet because assignments need to be submitted online and all our work appears online. Is there anything I can do to sort out the fridge/freezer problem? Theres no where I can move the router.

 

[Rockn]

If it is only the wireless signal get a different antenna. Try to set the wireless to another channel from the default one.

 

[Coffeefiend]

I just read my above problem, I know it sounds like some troll nonsense but I'm being serious I swear. I've tested this in my old house and something to do with the fridge/freezer really does disrupt the signal, mabye its the special metals or the chemicals in the back of them i dont know but something interferes with the wi-fi when its anywhere near.

 

[Coffeefiend]

I'm not sure how to do that but my housemate will, I'll give that a try later. Cheers bud

 

[zx10guy]

I highly doubt that there's anything specific in the electronics that are disrupting your WiFi coverage. I don't know of any refrigerator/freezer outside of maybe the new internet connected ones which will cause WiFi issues; as there's nothing in the refrigerator/freezer which would operate on the 2.4 GHz frequency which most WiFi networks operate on. If you mentioned that an actively running microwave was causing these issues, then that is believable.

It's more likely that the refrigerator/freezer's metal housing is causing attenuation or bounce of your WiFi signal.

 

[Rockn]

The stock antennas that come with these SOHO routers are next to useless anyway.

 

[TerryNet]

As zx10guy said the metal is an issue. If the path from router to computer is directly through the freezer the metal parts will dissipate much or all the signal. Often if you have a router in a corner or right against a wall the signal will be affected, so putting one directly on or beside a big metal thing will almost guarantee the problems zx10 describes.

Put the router as high as you can (build a little shelf almost at the ceiling).

When the freezer's or refrigerator's condenser kicks in there is a momentary voltage drop to other devices plugged into the same electrical circuit; this could affect a wireless router. This doesn't explain the every 5 minute crashes, but be aware of it if your get the more serious issue solved.