Does Metal Siding Affect Wifi

Metal is the 1 cellular blocking material across all buildings in america.

Does metal siding affect wifi.

People with metal roofs find it difficult to get reception. Sadly yes a great deal. Wireless internet cell phone signals and even over air radio and tv connections won t pass through metal including both solid metal and metal mesh. Concrete with and without metal reinforcement is one of the worst building materials for wireless signals to pass through but masonry block and bricks can also be serious barriers for wi fi.

Depending on your home s floor plan you may have trouble transmitting signals from room to room or receiving signals from outside. Wireless signals affect radio waves. Radio waves are formed by a variable electromagnetic field. Tall buildings have metal frames which causes problems for wireless reception.

While metal looks nice on a building is durable against the elements and can help with routing electricity and such away from the walls underneath it can also route the signal away from the house. At very close range 15 feet and under you may see some slight signal but for the most part forget it. Windows coated with transparent metallic films such as low e low emissivity to help with energy consumption can kill your wifi signal in a similar way to mirrors. Aluminum aluminum foil lead brass copper steel iron etc.

You want to avoid dead signal zones in the house where you are unable to get wireless internet at all. Unfortunately metal is a conductor of electricity and magnetism and so it absorbs radio waves. Metal and 2 4ghz normally do not get along very well. Again it is unlikely that the metal roof will have much of an effect at all on your home s wi fi network but additional factors like the size and layout of the home as well as the physical orientation of the router could influence your reception on some of your devices.

Even having metal inside the home creates distortion for rf signals. Plywood and drywall come close to zero signal loss in tests. Metal roofs as well as metal studs and interior metal will slow down the signal.