The elements of the cage will probably interfere, but won’t straight up block the signal. To be an effective faraday cage, holes in the material must be no bigger than 1/10th the wavelength.
2.4GHz wifi has a wavelength of 12cm, and 5GHz is about 5cm…so holes in the cage should be no bigger than 1.2cm for 2.4GHz, or 0.5cm for 5GHz.
I may expect some signal reflection and likely a high noise floor as a result to being so close to a hunk of metal. That’ll cause some problems.
Problem #1 is this AP is oriented vertically on a wall. The antennas in these models are designed to be parallel to the floor, and usually not much higher than 15ft.
Faraday cages cannot block stable or slowly varying magnetic fields, such as the Earth’s magnetic field (a compass will still work inside one). To a large degree, however, they shield the interior from external electromagnetic radiation if the conductor is thick enough and any holes are significantly smaller than the wavelength of the radiation
I’m certainly no expert, but something tells me the cage in OP’s pic doesn’t fit the criteria to act as a faraday cage.
E: Nope, I’m wrong. u/deegeese has informed me on how big the wavelength is.
Probably not for a MIMO AP. The whole idea is that you solve the equations to optimize in the presence of multipath. It’s legit wizard shit but it’s the reason why your cell phone works in a parking garage, because the optimal channel is bouncing off the ventilation shaft. For any reasonably modern AP, it should work the same way. This might hurt a bit but not that much.
It will not act as a Faraday cage, the holes need to smaller for that, about 1 cm max. However, wifi signals do get disturbed by a cage like this due to the low power of these signals.
Hmm I don’t think I get this one.
Is it because its in a cage? I don’t think that will do much to block the WiFi antenna.
The bar spacing is smaller than 2.4GHz radio waves. It absolutely will affect signal. Should have used a plastic cage.
Are they really that big? Huh, TIL.
12cm
Fascinating, thanks for the info
If you liked that, check microwave doors design.
I really enjoyed the Technology Connections video on Michaelwave ovens, actually.
Michael has such a cleaner design than that MikeRoweWave crap.
Michealwaves have like 200 times more michaelfarads of capacity.
Doesn’t look grounded, though.
Screws in masonry probably act as a poor Ufer ground. The current is minuscule.
If it wasn’t grounded the cage wouldn’t block the signal?
Wrap your phone in aluminium foil and get back to me
Wifi is a fickle beast, though you may be right.
The elements of the cage will probably interfere, but won’t straight up block the signal. To be an effective faraday cage, holes in the material must be no bigger than 1/10th the wavelength.
2.4GHz wifi has a wavelength of 12cm, and 5GHz is about 5cm…so holes in the cage should be no bigger than 1.2cm for 2.4GHz, or 0.5cm for 5GHz.
I may expect some signal reflection and likely a high noise floor as a result to being so close to a hunk of metal. That’ll cause some problems.
Problem #1 is this AP is oriented vertically on a wall. The antennas in these models are designed to be parallel to the floor, and usually not much higher than 15ft.
that’s actually massive, I thought it would be like half a centimeter at most
Newer standards are substantially shorter at 5GHz and 6GHz, but this comes at the cost of significantly worse signal penetration through walls.
Which in a gym will be will be fine.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage
I’m certainly no expert, but something tells me the cage in OP’s pic doesn’t fit the criteria to act as a faraday cage.
E: Nope, I’m wrong. u/deegeese has informed me on how big the wavelength is.
The mesh is not dense enough to be a true Faraday cage for 2.4GHz, but is dense enough to hurt signal strength.
Probably not for a MIMO AP. The whole idea is that you solve the equations to optimize in the presence of multipath. It’s legit wizard shit but it’s the reason why your cell phone works in a parking garage, because the optimal channel is bouncing off the ventilation shaft. For any reasonably modern AP, it should work the same way. This might hurt a bit but not that much.
MIMO will solve lensing issues but not internal reflection or absorbance.
So like OP says, it’s a signal strength issue.
It says WiFi is “slow” not “off.”
I have definitely personally experienced WiFi instability with metals in between the WiFi and a PC.
Looks like possibly enough to make it drop a bunch of packets to me at least.
It will not act as a Faraday cage, the holes need to smaller for that, about 1 cm max. However, wifi signals do get disturbed by a cage like this due to the low power of these signals.