POLL: Does your microwave screw your wireless?

[StageLeft]

I have a craptop in my kitchen and when I turn on the microwave, after about 30-60 seconds (yes, it's not immediate), I will lose 2.4 ghz wireless. I otherwise have a great signal. This is quite consistent. It sucks ass! I used to lose my cordless phone's signal when it was 2.4 but now that it's 5.8 I have no problem.

 

[Born2bwire]

You may want to refrain from staring at the food as it cooks for any appreciable amount of time.

 

[JohnCU]

no

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Born2bwire
You may want to refrain from staring at the food as it cooks for any appreciable amount of time.

Yeah, I mean that is a good point, clearly my microwave (and this is a new one but I had the same problem with another one, too) is leaking some sh*t out.

 

[DaTT]

If your microwave is screwing your wireless...film it, there may be some sort of fetish group out there that will pay good money for the video

 

[Kaieye]

Mine does. There are more pressing issues to take care of.

 

[fatpat268]

802.11 b/g run on the 2.4ghz spectrum as well. 802.11 a runs on the 5.8ghz spectrum (and I'm not sure about n).

Anyway, I had the same problem. i fixed it by changing the channel in my router settings.

 

[Adam8281]

My wireless (802.11g) screws my wireless mouse (Logitech G7)

 

[vshah]

try changing the channel in your wireless settings

 

[pontifex]

no, my wireless isn't a whore.

 

[Farang]

Originally posted by: pontifex
no, my wireless isn't a whore.

that's not what the ethernet cable told me

 

[randay]

try using the popcorn setting.

 

[Twista]

no

 

[Ruptga]

nope, but my parents still exclusively use 2.4 wireless phones, so their wlan goes out every time someone's on the phone. It's been that way for about four years now too, weird old people.

 

[SsupernovaE]

You realize you're slowly being cooked from the inside out.

 

[TallBill]

No electronic sex in my kitchen.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: fatpat268
802.11 b/g run on the 2.4ghz spectrum as well. 802.11 a runs on the 5.8ghz spectrum (and I'm not sure about n).

Anyway, I had the same problem. i fixed it by changing the channel in my router settings.

Yep, changing the channel on your router should fix your problem.

 

[biggestmuff]

Originally posted by: DaTT
If your microwave is screwing your wireless...film it, there may be some sort of fetish group out there that will pay good money for the video

raises hand.

 

[Jeff7]

Back at the campus apartment, I'd sometimes sit out in the livingroom and watch recorded TV shows from my computer, sent over wireless. I recorded TV shows at the max bitrate to get the best quality. The wireless connection could barely handle the data flow without dropping frames. If the microwave went on though, I started getting skips in the video.

There's a pretty powerful transformer in there to step up the power to a few thousand volts, still at a pretty substantial amperage. That's going to throw out a strong magnetic field.


So I'd say that it's not because of microwave radiation leaking out that it's screwing with your wireless, but because of the oscillating electromagnetic field from the main transformer. That, or else it's from the magnetron itself, but still not because of microwave radiation. Old magnetic ballasts for fluorescent lights could do the same thing.

But I could be way off on this.

 

[soccerballtux]

Originally posted by: fatpat268
802.11 b/g run on the 2.4ghz spectrum as well. 802.11 a runs on the 5.8ghz spectrum (and I'm not sure about n).

Anyway, I had the same problem. i fixed it by changing the channel in my router settings.

n is same as B/G (2.4Ghz).

 

[Crow550]

This happens to me.

In the living room I have the Roku Netflix box and if something is cooking in the microwave for a long time since the Netflix player buffers a few minutes of video. It can cause the movie to have to re-buffer. The cordless phones also get static when something is cooking.

I thought when switching to Wifi channel 11 it was fixed. But it still happens yet it seems to be able to re-buffer slowly while the microwave is still going. So I think I need to find the right Wifi channel as the microwave signal is still over riding my Wifi.

Pain in the ass when food needs to be nuked and watching a movie though. Would moving the Microwave even help?

Any solution would help.

 

[shortylickens]

Nope.

If any microwaves are getting out of your unit you need to toss it and get a new one. For your own personal health if not your gadgets.

 

[Crow550]

I thought all microwaves did this?

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
Nope.

If any microwaves are getting out of your unit you need to toss it and get a new one. For your own personal health if not your gadgets.

See my post 3 posts above yours. I don't think it's because of microwave radiation. It's either because of the main transformer or else from the power circuitry in the microwave emitter.


I've built a Tesla Coil, and it plays havoc with electrical stuff and radio frequencies. I brought a webcam near it to record some video if it in action; the webcam was tethered to a laptop running on battery power. The output from the Tesla Coil caused a lot of interference in the webcam, even causing it to drop quite a few frames if I brought it much closer than 6 feet.

Drawing the sparks to a grounded source decreased the interference considerably, but not entirely. That coil was working with very large magnetic fields, even though the power usage of the entire unit was less than 100W. A microwave is likely to be rated for 700-1000W. You're going to have some damn powerful electromagnetic fields there.

 

[Modelworks]

It is normal for a microwave to leak some energy. They aren't 100% contained. But it is usually so little that you need not be concerned. I would check that microwave to make sure the door is closing tight and there isn't anything wrong with the hinge, holes inside it due to poor cleaning etching the metal (it happens), etc. You can even put your cell phone inside a microwave , microwave off, and still call it, which you wouldn't be able to do if the microwave was totally shielded inside.

For the concerned, output power of a cell phone is about 250mw. The amount allowed by the FDA for microwave oven leakage is 5mw.