Does humidity affect WiFi is not your typical everyday dinner table conversation starter. However, you may have noticed your WiFi becomes sluggish when humidity levels rise. We’re going to help you do something about it.
It’s simple: high humidity will affect WiFi quality. The moisture content in the air affects the signals traveling in the atmosphere. Still, the level of data signals corruption or loss is not an exact science. Use a dehumidifier to reduce indoor humidity.
We’ll help you prepare for weak WiFi before high humidity reduces your signal to a slow mess.
How Does Humidity Affect WiFi?
Let’s talk basics.
Wireless technology relies on a clear line of sight to deliver crisp, stable signals to receivers. That is why you find cell towers built so tall.
In ideal settings, WiFi signals come from their transmitters, and get more strength off bouncing from repeaters and to you. However, in the real environment, elements of nature, such as snow and water, create barriers through which the signals must pass.
The result is a weakened signal getting to your device, making you experience low speeds or reduced loading speed.
While all weather conditions affect wireless signals, rain is a big impediment that negatively affects WiFi signals.
Heavy rain will affect your WiFi more adversely than a light shower.
Here’s why.
Rain carries more density than snow. Therefore, you might notice longer load times on your devices when it’s raining heavily outside.
See, heavy water droplets in the atmosphere create a strong barrier that leads to more signal attenuation. It affects all sorts of signals in the air, including satellite and cell phone signals which operate on the same principle as WiFi.
Does Rain Increase Humidity?
Rain might increase signal attention, but you would expect signal loss to taper off once the rain subsides, right? While humidity might not entirely take you offline, it could take a while before your WiFi signal returns to full strength.
Once ground temperatures rise after rain, groundwater starts to evaporate. The evaporation increases atmospheric humidity. Again, a light shower might not lead to high humidity. But heavy rainfall can degrade WiFi signals for days on end.
At this point, it makes one wonder if high humidity doesn’t affect WiFi too much, is there a cause for worry?
Most people enjoy indoor WiFi. Indoor humidity only makes already weak WiFi signals even weaker. This is because indoor WiFi also has to travel through walls and furniture to support multiple devices.
Can A Humidifier Interfere With WiFi?
A humidifier increases humidity in a room
A humidifier is a nifty device you will likely find in houses in dry areas. They increase indoor moisture in the house to reduce static. They’re also a huge help against allergies that stem from dry air.
However, humidifiers might interfere with indoor WiFi signals, depending on how much moisture they release.
Humidifiers alone cannot be entirely responsible for weak indoor WiFi. Other causes of weak WiFi reception might include
- Data caps from the ISP.
- Walls and other indoor obstructions.
- Too many devices on the same network.
- Your subscription just has low speeds.
A humidifier’s effect on WiFi might be minor. However, you will notice slight lags if your humidifier runs consistently over a long time. Furthermore, a humidifier may have a compounding effect if it is near a WiFi router.
Prevent Humidity From Affecting Your WiFi
Although humidity might not deteriorate your WiFi to the extent of stopping your online activities, it can affect your productivity. Therefore, you must implement some preventative measures to keep you online and with great performance.
Get Smart Humidity Sensors
A smart humidity sensor is a device that monitors and keeps a history of humidity scores around your home.
In wet regions where high humidity is a pesky problem, a smart humidity management system is only a small vital part of a system to keep humidity at bay.
You must first monitor when humidity is highest and the net effect on your WiFi performance.
You can then pair your humidity sensor with your air conditioning system. The AC kicks into lower humidity when the home has favorable conditions.
However, remember to check whether lowering humidity improves the WiFi signal strength.
Invest in a dehumidifier.
A home dehumidifier is a practical device that lowers the humidity in your indoor space. You can use a dehumidifier when humidity levels rise above normal.
Also, you can use a dehumidifier intermittently during the wet season. It removes excess moisture from the home, creating a conducive environment for better WiFi conditions.
Alternatively, you can get a system such as a Nest Thermostat.
A Nest thermostat has various settings that make it act as a dehumidifier. Changing the setting on the Nest Thermostat from cool to dry tells your air conditioner to turn on when humidity goes above a certain level.
Create a mesh system.
We have established humidity doesn’t affect WiFi to the extent of crippling it. However, it can deteriorate it enough to reduce its strength if you have a big home with multiple devices.
A mesh system is a system that uses nodes that broadcast WiFi signals in various rooms. Typically, they are a go-to option in a home with multiple dead zones, no thanks to walls, corners, and multiple rooms.
A mesh system can use the signal from the main router and maintain its strength in several rooms. Consequently, you will have clear WiFi signals indoors when the humidity is too high.
Here’s the best part about mesh systems.
You can create mesh systems with any router that has accompanying nodes. Google WiFi, Eero, Deco, and Starlink are all great options for mesh systems.
Reduce connected devices
If the WiFi signal in the home is weak because of high humidity, the answer might be reducing the number of connected devices.
You may be unable to control a natural situation such as high humidity. But you can improve your WiFi’s performance if you reduce the strain on the bandwidth.
Most devices on a shared WiFi network usually have high-demand activities going on. You may have one device streaming 4K content while another one is using the same network for online gaming.
If you disconnect some devices from the WiFi connection when humidity exceeds normal levels, you can enjoy normal speeds until humidity hits lower levels.
Change from WiFi to fixed broadband.
First, you might be asking the difference between WiFi and fixed broadband.
Simply put, WiFi is the wireless connection between your router and your devices. Broadband is the physical infrastructure your service provider puts down to provide the connection between your router and the internet.
A fixed broadband connection is more direct. It’s faster than WiFi. Also, it could be faster than your WiFi connection. While it looks like a last-gasp option, switching to a fixed broadband solution to avoid the inconvenience of weather-related WiFi lag is practical.
Most areas have fixed broadband service providers.
However, we recommend you consider changing services only if humidity-related WiFi problems are excessive.
Conclusion
Weather conditions have varying effects on the quality of WiFi in your home. High humidity, while a considerable factor in deteriorating your WiFi, doesn’t contribute to a high drop in WiFi stability or performance.
Use the steps we’ve included when you notice a significant slump in your WiFi speeds due to high humidity.