Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Saturday, 24-Jan-2026 18:21:02 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

   Okay, nerds, here's a weird one. My WiFi works poorly in my kitchen. With line of sight to the access point, maybe 5 meters away. It works fine at the coffee table in the next room which also has line of sight to the same access point. I use 5GHz only. It is not the microwave oven. The only thing I can think of is maybe lighting, but in the 5GHz band? This affects several different WiFi adapters and computers.

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Saturday, 24-Jan-2026 18:27:08 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     @louis given the short range and line of sight and reported signal strength I don't think that's it, but I could try increasing the power.

   • Embed this notice
     Louis Vallat (louis@social.louis-vallat.dev)'s status on Saturday, 24-Jan-2026 18:27:10 JST Louis Vallat

     in reply to

     @ryanc@infosec.exchange have you checked the emission pattern of this WiFi access point? :neocat_think:

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Saturday, 24-Jan-2026 19:05:28 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Richard

     @m0rpk entire network is on a UPS, yeah, keeping this one as a sanity preserving last resort

   • Embed this notice
     Richard (m0rpk@mastodon.radio)'s status on Saturday, 24-Jan-2026 19:05:30 JST Richard

     in reply to

     @ryanc Are you able to battery power the AP (and router etc. if separate)? If so, is the problem still there when the house circuit-breaker is off? That test may help you separate between interference, and signal strength or geometry issues.

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Saturday, 24-Jan-2026 19:06:29 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Ben Brockert

     @wikkit I know what a frenzel zone is, that's not the problem.

     I worked at a WISP in the early to mid '00s. 🫠

   • Embed this notice
     Ben Brockert (wikkit@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 24-Jan-2026 19:06:30 JST Ben Brockert

     in reply to

     @ryanc RF is weird magic. If you have an object in the Fresnel zone between the antennas, like an open doorway, it can destructively interfere with the signal, even if the literal line of sight is clear.

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_zone

     I’d move the base station around, within the reasonable bounds. It’s possible moving it by a foot makes a significant difference.

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Saturday, 24-Jan-2026 19:07:22 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Bloognoo

     @bloognoo there are two unique light fixtures in the kitchen, need to check with them off, yeah

   • Embed this notice
     Bloognoo (bloognoo@retro.pizza)'s status on Saturday, 24-Jan-2026 19:07:23 JST Bloognoo

     in reply to

     @ryanc
     Does your kitchen have the same type of lighting as elsewhere? If it's low voltage at the bulb any cheap build could be dumping out radio noise. If they're driven from a single unit and cable runs effectively Faraday caging the space. I've had issue with both. Also if they're run off a single driver then check that it's not dumping radio nose as it's transformer coil ages.
     Also, stick a WiFi strength analyser on your phone and walk around the space, see if signal strength fluctuates a lot.
     Also, though you have line of sight, if you have metal verticals around the entry (fridge, stove metal back plane, etc) you could ha e the signal spread going by them give you interference patterns. The WiFi analyser above hopefully would show that. I now have an urge to put my phone on a roomba, and map signal strength to it's navigation map

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 25-Jan-2026 00:25:27 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Risotto Bias

     @risottobias my router is bolted to a rack and doesn't have a wireless interface. ;-)

   • Embed this notice
     Risotto Bias (risottobias@toot.risottobias.org)'s status on Sunday, 25-Jan-2026 00:25:29 JST Risotto Bias

     in reply to

     @ryanc oooo, what happens if you rotate the router ever so slightly to point differently?

     or when you move the router a few feet in either direction

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 25-Jan-2026 00:26:48 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Rihards Olups

     @richlv connection drops and reconnects frequently

   • Embed this notice
     Rihards Olups (richlv@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 25-Jan-2026 00:26:49 JST Rihards Olups

     in reply to

     @ryanc Lots of great ideas in the replies already, but perhaps you have some data on how "poorly" and "fine" differ?
     As in, what exactly has been observed.

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 25-Jan-2026 01:59:26 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Rihards Olups

     @richlv Yes, the actual layer 2 link drops - pings return destination host unreachable, etc. Seems to happen every couple of minutes.

   • Embed this notice
     Rihards Olups (richlv@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 25-Jan-2026 01:59:27 JST Rihards Olups

     in reply to

     @ryanc Just to be sure - actual wifi connection, not TCP connections or such? How frequently does that happen?

     If so, is it working at a similar level as in the "fine" location, or is it constantly degraded?

     What I was thinking with this - whether it's permanently impacted, or is there something else that switches on/off which affects this.
     Knowing this could narrow down the search, assuming ideas like "switch off the lights" don't help already :)

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 25-Jan-2026 05:42:01 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Bloognoo
     • Michael Ossmann

     @bloognoo @mossmann someone is speaking from experience?

   • Embed this notice
     Bloognoo (bloognoo@retro.pizza)'s status on Sunday, 25-Jan-2026 05:42:03 JST Bloognoo

     in reply to

     • Michael Ossmann

     @mossmann @ryanc
     You're probably right, but I distrust any driver circuitry that you hide in a roof space while the interior design hopes you'll have remodelled before the capacitors break down

   • Embed this notice
     Michael Ossmann (mossmann@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 25-Jan-2026 05:42:04 JST Michael Ossmann

     in reply to

     • Bloognoo

     @bloognoo @ryanc I am skeptical that interference from lighting could cause this problem, but I think it is a great suggestion to test with power shut off at the breaker. Shut off everything you can.

   • Embed this notice
     Bloognoo (bloognoo@retro.pizza)'s status on Sunday, 25-Jan-2026 05:42:06 JST Bloognoo

     in reply to

     @ryanc if they're low voltage you may want to switch the circuit off at the breaker board to to differentiate between the bulbs and the power supply too.