How to minimize wifi strength on a router with undetechable antennas?

[CaptainPlanet]

I have a wifi router with 3 unremoveable antennas, and the only place I could put it right now is pretty close to my bedside.

I am trying to reduce the signal strength in addition to adjusting through the builtin interface and so far I haven't had much luck.

 

Is there a way to block the signal on the antenna without cutting the wires on the router circuit board?

 

Since the router has 3 antennas, what happens if the radio only has access to 1 instead of 3 antennas? How does it affect wifi strength?

 

I had opened up the router and the antenna as well, I see that each antenna has 2 wires going into it. 1 of the wire connects to the wireless chip, while the other connects to the other wireless chip.

 

Inside the antenna, the pcb traces actually don't connect but are separate, so the 2 wires are actually independent antennas for the 2 wireless chips.

 

 

On the router circuit board, each antenna has a pair of wires going into it, one side can be disconnected while the other is soldered onto the circuit board, and I was hoping that by unplugging one side of the antenna

 

I had disconnected the other side completely, but it appears that's only the 5ghz chip, and doesn't affect the 2.5ghz radio at all. The signal strength had stayed the same after I disconnected the 5ghz side.

 

Is there anything else I can try?

[GenericFanboy]

i mean, you can just snap them off i think

[jj9987]

Did you check if the router UI has an option to change WiFi signal strength/antenna power?

[CaptainPlanet]

3 minutes ago, jj9987 said:

Did you check if the router UI has an option to change WiFi signal strength/antenna power?

That's the first thing I did. Now I am trying to physically reduce the signal strength in addition to the software route.

 

[Michael Ducharme]

Why are you trying to decrease the signal strength? If I put my phone on top of my router it can't connect due to the signal being too strong but that shouldn't be the case even just a few feet away.

[dalekphalm]

9 hours ago, CaptainPlanet said:

That's the first thing I did. Now I am trying to physically reduce the signal strength in addition to the software route.

 

Why do you need to do this? What’s the use-case scenario? It’ll help us provide you a better answer. 

[Donut417]

I think the OP needs one of these: 

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

14 hours ago, Donut417 said:

I think the OP needs one of these: 

 

Actually, that may not be too far off. Instead of making the hat, just wrap some foil on part of each antenna. It may be necessary to play with where on the antennas to put the foil and how much.

[ddennis002]

On 12/20/2019 at 3:26 AM, CaptainPlanet said:

I have a wifi router with 3 unremoveable antennas, and the only place I could put it right now is pretty close to my bedside.

I am trying to reduce the signal strength in addition to adjusting through the builtin interface and so far I haven't had much luck.

 

Is there a way to block the signal on the antenna without cutting the wires on the router circuit board?

 

Since the router has 3 antennas, what happens if the radio only has access to 1 instead of 3 antennas? How does it affect wifi strength?

 

I had opened up the router and the antenna as well, I see that each antenna has 2 wires going into it. 1 of the wire connects to the wireless chip, while the other connects to the other wireless chip.

 

 

Inside the antenna, the pcb traces actually don't connect but are separate, so the 2 wires are actually independent antennas for the 2 wireless chips.

 

 

 

On the router circuit board, each antenna has a pair of wires going into it, one side can be disconnected while the other is soldered onto the circuit board, and I was hoping that by unplugging one side of the antenna

 

I had disconnected the other side completely, but it appears that's only the 5ghz chip, and doesn't affect the 2.5ghz radio at all. The signal strength had stayed the same after I disconnected the 5ghz side.

 

Is there anything else I can try?

What is the make and model of the router? Have you thought about flashing with DDWrt or other custom firmware? So you can control the power?

[CaptainPlanet]

5 hours ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

Actually, that may not be too far off. Instead of making the hat, just wrap some foil on part of each antenna. It may be necessary to play with where on the antennas to put the foil and how much.

I also tried this some time ago. I wrapped around tin foil around 2 of the 3 antennas completely, and my wifi signal strength still wasn't affected.

 

Tin foil hats have also been contested before.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/09/tin-foil-hats-actually-make-it-easier-for-the-government-to-track-your-thoughts/262998/

 

I had really hoped faraday's cage would work, but maybe I just haven't read enough about it to come up with the most effective design for signal blocking.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

36 minutes ago, CaptainPlanet said:

also tried this some time ago. I wrapped around tin foil around 2 of the 3 antennas completely, and my wifi signal strength still wasn't affected.

 

Instead of completely covering all but one of the antennas with foil, try covering half of all the antennas to see what that might do. I suggest starting with the bottom half, then, if that doesn't work, try the top half. From there you can experiment with how much of the antennas need to be blocked.

[cole0622]

Why do you want to do this? My answer would depend on the goal

[ddennis002]

On 12/21/2019 at 3:29 PM, CaptainPlanet said:

I also tried this some time ago. I wrapped around tin foil around 2 of the 3 antennas completely, and my wifi signal strength still wasn't affected.

 

Tin foil hats have also been contested before.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/09/tin-foil-hats-actually-make-it-easier-for-the-government-to-track-your-thoughts/262998/

 

I had really hoped faraday's cage would work, but maybe I just haven't read enough about it to come up with the most effective design for signal blocking.

 

Again flashing the router to a custom firmware seems like the best option and should give you control over power output.

[Donut417]

On 12/21/2019 at 4:29 PM, CaptainPlanet said:

read enough about it to come up with the most effective design for signal blocking.

Do what @ddennis002 suggested. DDWRT will give you the level of control you seek. You can set the radios for a lower transmit setting very easily. 

 

Personally the whole WiFi causes cancer is bull shit in my honest opinion. I have a router in my room and I have no health issues other than being fat. I at one time when I used WiFi on my desktop had the WiFi antenna pointed in such a way it had to go thru my body as I slept. No health issues have been found, I get a physical once a year with blood work.