Modem Inside Cabinet?

[soots]

I'm planning a home renovation and currently my Rogers Ignite Modem seems to be in a perfect place for our house, on top of the entertainment stand in the family room and provides full wi-fi throughout the property, even as far as the pool which is far away. I'm trying to have a clean look with the renovation and was thinking of putting the modem in roughly the same area, but inside a mesh cabinet (server type cabinet). I'm just concerned that it may reduce the signal strength? Only asking in advance because I would need to drill holes into the top of the cabinet if I need to place the modem on top of it, rather than inside it. These modems seem really powerful though, so I wonder if I'm over-thinking it? I remember reading that as long as they have an opening, they can bounce around very well. So I'm hoping the mesh doors might provide that. 

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[Datalink]

Hi @soots personal opinion, placing a wifi transmitter inside any type of box is not a good idea.  Understand the clean look idea, but, if that cabinet is any type of metal mesh, you're going to find that the wifi range will be reduced.  The other aspect is airflow thru the cabinet.  If there isn't sufficient air flow in the cabinet to ventilate the modem, you'll end up cooking the modem.  

You can always try an experiment by placing the modem in the cabinet just to see if my prognosticating is correct 🙂

[-G-]

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@soots wrote:

I'm trying to have a clean look with the renovation and was thinking of putting the modem in roughly the same area, but inside a mesh cabinet (server type cabinet). I'm just concerned that it may reduce the signal strength? 

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I'm quite certain that it will.  Rogers has help articles on how to optimize your WiFi and where to place your modem.  None of them recommend placing your modem inside a metal cabinet.  Even a mesh cabinet can block WiFi signals.  (Think about the door on a microwave oven, which basically works by emitting a high power 2.4 GHz signal to cook your food.)

[Gdkitty]

And while not directly inside a box, I can attest to how metal on its own can effect it.

My downstairs washroom, is maybe 15 ft from a transmitter.  (a eero pod in this case).  
You go 15ft any other way around the house, perfectly fine, max speed as much as standing next to it.
But the washroom, between the pod and the washroom, is our laundry room, which has two big units in there.  As well that wall is the wall where the pipes for it, the bathroom, as well as go upstairs go through.

Lets just say, the reception is horrible in there sometimes 😞  Like occasionally down to 1 bar wifi)


My biggest worry would be airflow, with these more recent units.
I remember back with the CGN3, that there were issues with it overheating, just from being on its SIDE and not standing up.

[soots]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Just wanted confirmation as I think your responses all make perfect sense. I think I may test it out just to see, but will likely just place it on top of the entertainment stand as it currently is, which works great. Thanks again!