The Surprising Holiday Item That Could Be Slowing Down Your Wi-Fi in Illinois

Has your home's Wi-Fi been running at a turtle's pace lately or it keeps dropping out altogether? Your Christmas decorations might be to blame.

Internet Issues in Illinois

Like many homes throughout the world, reliable and fast internet is a must in my home. My kids play a lot of games on their tablets, we have multiple laptops working at the same time, and we stream everything.

Luckily, we have many internet providers to choose from in Illinois, and we never have major issues running multiple devices at one time...until recently.

READ MORE: What Illinoisans Want Most This Christmas

Christmas Tree Effects on Wi-Fi

Where to put the Christmas tree is always a big debate in my house, and we seem to switch the location of our main tree every year. This year we placed it in the corner of our family room, right by a table where our internet router sits, and I think that may be the main cause of all our recent internet issues.

An article from Broadband Genie says:

Wi-Fi signals can slow when passing through dense obstacles such as walls, furniture or
A Christmas tree, especially a large (real or artificial) one, can partially block or weaken your home router’s Wi-Fi signals if it’s placed near your router or between your router and your device.

Most of us know routers need to be placed in open areas near the central part of your home to be the most effective, but it never dawned on me that a huge tree with lots of lights and ornaments on it could be such a barrier. The truth is, trees aren't the only Christmas decoration culprit when it comes to wreaking havoc on your Wi-Fi signal.

The Broadband Genie article also says:

Many Christmas tree lights (especially the older LED strings) emit electromagnetic interference. This can disrupt the Wi-Fi signal from your home broadband router, causing slower speeds, unstable connections, and reduced reach.

I guess I'd better find a better home for our internet router until January. Hopefully this will be the answer to all my Wi-Fi woes.