Sit down, it’s time to don the tin foil hats.
While I love reading about a good conspiracy theory here and there, I wouldn’t call myself a part of the tin foil hat army. Did I wrap my old LG phone in foil back in 2011 because I thought it would trap and block the ‘dangerous’ RF signals it was emitting? Sure, but that was also around the time I was making duct tape wallets at my local library.
Back in the day, I never imagined I’d be surrounded by this much tech. Today, I have a multi-monitorsetup, asmart alarm clockthat rouses me in the morning, and enoughsmart homedevices to sink a ship. Naturally, I want everything connected to the strongest Wi-Fi possible – and I’m never above a good homemade experiment.
So, instead of using aluminum foil to block signals, I wondered if I couldactually use it to boost them. After a quick trip to the supermarket this morning, I came back armed with over 75 feet of basic aluminum foil and got to work. Here’s how it went.
Technically, tin foil and aluminum foil aren’t the same. Tin foil was used decades ago for packaging and insulation, but it’s mostly been replaced by aluminum foil – which is cheaper, more flexible, and doesn’t leave a metallic taste on your leftovers. Still, the term “tin foil” stuck around in everyday language. So while I use both terms here, I’m always talking about aluminum foil.
Can putting aluminum foil behind your router boost Wi-Fi?
I gave it the good ‘ole college try
First things first, even if this trick did boost your Wi-Fi substantially, I’d say only break out the goods if you aren’t expecting company. Aesthetically, I’d give it a 2/10 – only so generous if you’re partial to a chrome aesthetic in your living room. Personally, I wouldn’t say it really fits the rustic farmhouse vibe I was going for.
For the experiment, I taped several sheets of aluminum foil to the wall behind my router and modem. My hypothesis was that if my router was sending out Wi-Fi signals in all directions, the ones traveling straight into my neighbor’s wall were wasted. If the foil could redirect those signals back into my apartment, it would potentially boost the signal, right?
I tested the Wi-Fi signal with theNetSpot app, which is a basic Wi-Fi management and analysis app, before and after putting up my new tin wallpaper. The results, though unnoticeable to me as I typed away at articles and opened a million tabs, showed that the foil did in fact make somewhat of a difference, which I’ll explain more about below.
Keep in mind, this is a basic analysis app. There are far more advanced (and expensive) tools out there that provide a much deeper dive into Wi-Fi performance. But for a lighthearted, homemade experiment, NetSpot offered just the right amount of data.
What these numbers mean
And how much of a difference aluminum made for me
You’ll notice three primary sections in the test above: Mbps Download, Mbps Upload, and Ping. Let me break down what they each mean.
Mbps Download(348.2 Mbps and 550.4 Mbps) measures how quickly data is downloaded from the internet to your device. The higher this number is, the better – and both speeds here are very good. That explains why I have no trouble streaming in 4K.
Mbps Upload(21.9 Mbps and 24.8 Mbps) measures the opposite, or how quickly your device sends data to the internet – like posting on Instagram or sending a work email. Higher numbers here are better, too.
Ping(46 ms and 58 ms) is different – this measures the reaction time between your device and the server, measured in milliseconds. It’s one of the quickest greetings under the sun. However, unlike the two former measurements, the lower the number, the better. Under 20ms is considered excellent, but the recorded 46 rings in at “good” while 58 is more “okay.” Luckily, since I’m not much of a gamer, being in such a range isn’t going to cost me a round or two.
Mbps Download increased by over 200 Mbps with the foil, which is around a 58% boost. On paper, that’s pretty significant, but during my regular workday, I didn’t notice a night-and-day difference. Meanwhile, Mbps Upload only increased by about 3 Mbps, which is slight, but definitely not something to write home about.
The only area that didn’t see improvement was Ping – it was 12 ms higher with the aluminum foil behind the router. Note that this isn’t drastic, but it could matter to someone who’s a stickler about their FPS or live communication – in gaming, every millisecond counts.
The verdict
Does aluminum foil behind your router amplify your Wi-Fi signal?
Yes, there was a noticeable difference when it came to my download times with aluminum foil behind my router – at least that’s what the numbers showed. Upload speeds, however, saw only a slight change, and realistically, I wouldn’t notice a difference unless I were downloading large files regularly. Ping time actually increased, which is the opposite of what you’d want – even if the change was barely perceptible and likely only relevant for competitive gamers. Then again, if that’s you, you probably can’t relate to my minimal, Apple-centric setup anyway.
If it sounds like I’m splitting hairs here, that’s because I am. I didn’t notice any meaningful difference in my Wi-Fi strength with or without the aluminum foil. That could be because my internet is already solid, or maybe I’m just not running enough demanding programs to let the foil show off its potential. That said, anyone serious about their work-from-home setup, gaming PC, or even moderate multitasking is likely investing in high-quality gear to enhance performance – not experimenting with whatever’s in the kitchen drawer.
Where did the idea come from?
How the gimmick likely picked up steam
Think about Wi-Fi signals for a second – they’re actually a form of radio wave, which is a type of electromagnetic radiation. Like light, these waves can be reflected, absorbed, refracted, or blocked. Likewise, if you point a laser at a mirror, it’ll bounce cleanly off. But if you point that same laser at the carpet, it’s absorbed and blocked from traveling downstairs into the next apartment.
However, aluminum foil is a highly reflective material for radio waves. So, the idea that it can manipulate their direction is actually grounded in physics. If you position the foil just right, you could theoretically reflect and redirect signals towards different areas of your home, like dead zones or weak spots. Researchers at Dartmouth put this to the test, andactually provedthat using 3D-printed reflectors with metallic surfaces (AKA foil) behind routers could optimize the signal, back in 2017.
That said, I’m not in a lab, and I’m betting you aren’t either. The odds of creating the perfect parabolic reflector to revolutionize your Wi-Fi signal might be low, but it sure makes for clever wall art.
