This can actually be beneficial if your router is right at the corner of your house. The foil acts as a reflector for some of the radiation that would’ve been wasted, and thus improves the signal quality within your house.
MU-MIMO (Multiple-User Multiple In Multiple Out) does [math] to assist in directing signal to multiple clients at once via multipathing, which this reflector would fuck with the math of in (I think) a detrimental way. Regardless of its impact on that technology, higher-end wifi phy rates (the negotiated modulation rate between 2 stations, i.e. the wifi access point/router and your phone) would get shredded by having a reflector bouncing signal between the multiple antennas.
This stopped being a helpful thing to do somewhere around the transition between wifi 4 and 5 (802.11n --> 802.11ac)
I remember going to a LAN that got its wifi from a local library via collander-boosting. Those were the days, and carrying around CRT monitors was sort of like exercise
Then it’ll do literally exactly the same thing as above, but with a lower noise floor than otherwise. Whether lowering airtime contention (or, rather, lowering airtime contention for one station while not doing so for others, unless you’re talking about putting a layer of foil wallpaper up on a wall lmao) in exchange for all that is a net benefit for you, I couldn’t say. If it’s all wifi6 or higher though, I wouldn’t bother.
To actually be beneficial as a reflector, the foil would need to be a specific distance from the antenna, which should be a certain fraction of the wavelength. Source: I used to make parabolic reflectors out of milk cartons about twenty years ago.
This can actually be beneficial if your router is right at the corner of your house. The foil acts as a reflector for some of the radiation that would’ve been wasted, and thus improves the signal quality within your house.
I am 80% sure this is a net loss with modern mu-mimo radios, and it will absolutely trash your phy rate
wat
MU-MIMO (Multiple-User Multiple In Multiple Out) does [math] to assist in directing signal to multiple clients at once via multipathing, which this reflector would fuck with the math of in (I think) a detrimental way. Regardless of its impact on that technology, higher-end wifi phy rates (the negotiated modulation rate between 2 stations, i.e. the wifi access point/router and your phone) would get shredded by having a reflector bouncing signal between the multiple antennas.
This stopped being a helpful thing to do somewhere around the transition between wifi 4 and 5 (802.11n --> 802.11ac)
I remember going to a LAN that got its wifi from a local library via collander-boosting. Those were the days, and carrying around CRT monitors was sort of like exercise
tbf i’d imagine a lot of people still have wifi 4
What if I’m doing it to block signals from roughly half the 60 other APs with half a dozen devices each I have broadcasting nearby?
Then it’ll do literally exactly the same thing as above, but with a lower noise floor than otherwise. Whether lowering airtime contention (or, rather, lowering airtime contention for one station while not doing so for others, unless you’re talking about putting a layer of foil wallpaper up on a wall lmao) in exchange for all that is a net benefit for you, I couldn’t say. If it’s all wifi6 or higher though, I wouldn’t bother.
That is near exactly what I was considering, I live between an apartment building and a park, more or less.
To actually be beneficial as a reflector, the foil would need to be a specific distance from the antenna, which should be a certain fraction of the wavelength. Source: I used to make parabolic reflectors out of milk cartons about twenty years ago.
This is basic interference physics.