I finally figured out why my coworking space WiFi kept dropping at 3pm every day

Turns out the microwave in the kitchen was interfering with the router because they were on the same shelf. Have any of you run into weird interference issues with your gear on the road?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_caleb8d ago

This exact thing happened to me at a shared workspace in Portland. The router was sitting right next to the coffee station and every time someone brewed a pot around 2:30, the whole network would tank. I finally moved the router about 15 feet away to a bookshelf on the other side of the room and the problem disappeared completely. It was such a simple fix but nobody thought about it because the microwave was only used a couple times a day. Now I always check if there's a microwave or fridge compressor near the networking gear when I set up anywhere new. Those microwaves put out way more interference than most people realize.

christophermurray7d ago

Wait, hold on. You said the coffee maker was tanking the network? Not the microwave? I've heard of microwaves causing issues a million times, but a coffee pot? That's wild to me. I would have never in a million years guessed a coffee maker could put out that kind of interference. I mean, I know they have heating elements and pumps, but that's just a whole new level of trouble I never even considered. I'm gonna have to remember that one, because I definitely would have blamed the microwave first too.