Can I cover my Wi-Fi Router to hide it?

Wi-Fi routers and connected equipment are often invisible, so you may want to hide them. Is it okay to cover your router to hide it?

What are router covers?

If you browse the Internet, especially in more insidious corners, such as Pinterest or YouTube craft channels, you’ll come across all sorts of lessons to help you hide your useless network equipment – there are many different ways to turn a black box. some antennas stick to something that looks a little more like home.

The solutions range from awful, like making a box out of a decorative metal sheet, to being as scary as hiding your router in a lightweight fabric basket. There are even commercial options on the market like this wooden box that are designed to camouflage your router directly.

Tap Etsy for router covers and you’ll find all sorts of options for them, from fake books to airy mesh boxes. Before removing the router cover, we recommend that you read to the end of this article to make sure you find the optimal solution for both your decor and your Wi-Fi setup.

We recommend that you do not cover your router

While many of these solutions are popular, our first and foremost recommendation is that you should not cover your Wi-Fi router, Wi-Fi hotspots, or other Wi-Fi devices. All of these devices are designed to be outdoors and should not be folded, stuffed, or otherwise covered. (If you really want to do this, keep reading, as we’ll talk about how to optimally hide your router in the next section.)

Instead, before you decide to fill a weak router into some of the hollow World Books you take on real estate sales, first think about doing your best to resolve your device complaints.

For example, if your main complaint is that the LED lights are unbearably bright, then you are the perfect candidate to get a few Light Blacks. We’ve been using them for years – they’re a cleaner and more effective way to deal with bright LEDs than removing electrical tape.

If your real complaint is how ugly and useful your Wi-Fi device looks, there is always a chance to upgrade to a network system. Because mesh systems are designed to be placed on every side of the house, mesh joints are designed to look less industrial and more decorative.

Google Nest Wi-Fi nodes, for example, look like softly bent little white boxes, and Eero nodes look more rounded, though more boxy. Netgear’s several mesh systems, such as the Nighthawk AX3600 MK83, have a texture cube-like shape that resembles a smaller speaker than a Wi-Fi device.

Almost all Wi-Fi network systems have nodes without external antennas, so whether you go in the form of a cylinder, disk or cube, the lack of large antennas sticking to the back goes a long way to helping nodes blend into your decor.

However, if you really want to cover up your Wi-Fi router or access points, we recommend reading our tips and tricks below to make sure you get the decor effect you want without killing your router or Wi-Fi signal. power in the process.

If you cover it, follow these rules

Let’s say your Wi-Fi router is really ugly, and you don’t plan to upgrade your home network to get mesh nodes that look like Art Deco interpretations of ocean waves, so you can hide it as a solution.

If you intend to cover up your router, there is a right and wrong way to do it, so let’s take a look at all the necessary and impossible things to camouflage your router.

Many of these tips include good router hosting practices and an understanding of what blocks Wi-Fi signals in your home, so take a look at our work on the topic here and keep in mind the general concepts when planning where to place your router. how to camouflage.

Do not place it in thick-walled containers or packaged shelves

Wi-Fi signals are waves in the electromagnetic spectrum and a form of energy. Placing your router inside something thick-walled, like a heavy decorative box, simply weakens the signal.

And it doesn’t matter if one side of the box is open or the “container” is actually an opening on a bookshelf full of books. All of these books act as barriers that absorb radio waves and significantly interfere with your signal. The more outdoors your router is exposed to, the better.

Do not hide it inside or behind any metal

Just as it is less ideal to put your router in a thick box or behind thick books, you should not use metal when it comes to hiding your router. Among other materials on the list of household items that block Wi-Fi signals, metal is one of the most common and problematic materials.

You don’t want to hide your router in a metal mesh basket or container, as this creates a Faraday cage effect that disrupts your Wi-Fi coverage.

Although some people deliberately buy such “shields” for their Wi-Fi devices, you do not want to have a random Faraday cage around a radio-based device. The goal is not less, but wider and faster Wi-Fi coverage!

In addition to avoiding any metal mesh, the same thing tries to hide a wall-mounted router behind metal bookshelves, metal boxes or tin plates or similar metal ornaments. It is not even wise to put the router on the wall behind a large TV, because most TVs have a large metal shield inside.

Do not cover the router body or ventilation holes

Electronic devices generate heat, and high temperatures are the enemy of all electronics. While the heat dissipation requirements of a small home router are not as close as those of a laptop or game console, this does not mean that you will not be able to stack items or push the router into a narrow space. echoes.

An overheating device may not kill you completely, but you will run the risk of performance problems and instability. To prevent this, do not tie the router tightly to anything, and especially do not place it where the router’s thermal vents are covered.

Whether your router is passively cooled – as is the case with most consumer routers on the market – or has a small fan, covering the ventilation holes is a surefire way to suffocate it.

This does not mean that you will never be able to put the router inside or behind anything, but whatever you put on it should allow the temperature to rise and adequate air circulation.

Use thin coatings

The thinner and less metal you use to hide your router, the better. If the worst thing you can place your router is a thick metal box with a lid, the best thing you can place your router will be a large piece of cube – this piece will hide the router, but will be invisible from the point of view of Wi-Fi. Fi udma.

If you want to put the router in a basket, choose a basket with an open top and side walls made of fabric or woven grass material, invisible to Wi-Fi radio waves. This woven grass log organizer, for example, is large enough for most routers, but allows airflow.

Or, if you want to hide the router behind books, simply create a shell of spikes by wiping off all the paper to ensure that there is very little distance between you and the Wi-Fi signal. This Pinterest guide shows you how to create an image without a batch.

Whatever you hide, you want that material to be non-metallic and as material as possible.

Leave the top open

When talking about airflow, leave the surface open. Over the years, as our use of the Internet has become more demanding, routers have become more demanding of all broadcasts, games, and so on. became stronger and stronger to manage our affairs. More powerful routers generate more heat than their little ancestors.

Whatever you put on the router, it should not have a cover. In addition to not closing the ventilation holes, you want a place for the heat to go away and the temperature to rise.

Open-top baskets and boxes, desk or wall-mounted magazine shelves, and other solutions help you hide the overall shape and color of the router while allowing heat to escape.

Leave the antennas outside

If you are hiding the router inside something, try to choose a container or location that allows you to place the router outside the antenna.

In the case of routers with real external antennas, this may mean that placing the router in a vertical position so that the antenna can rise above the basket, or even if you place the router.

If you look around, you will find a wide range of wooden router boxes designed to break the profile of the router, as mentioned above, and allow the antennas to come out.

For routers with built-in antennas, this may mean stopping the router completely inside something and instead placing it on a side table or where you can store something “light” in front of it, such as a picture frame. It’s not completely hidden, but it does help with the “Yes, it’s some black box” profile that most routers have.

Again, the best practice is to always leave your Wi-Fi router and other Wi-Fi devices outdoors for free.

If you find that your router will be hidden for aesthetic reasons and your Wi-Fi signal is not the same as before, it is worth switching to a network system or giving up coverage to get the low-profile scenery you want. and use your router “naked” again.