Is it normal my microwave interrupts my wifi?

every time my microwave is turned on/actively microwaving stuff, it interrupts my wifi signal.. my wifi will still look like its on but everything stops loading, its clear that the microwave is the problem

ive aske friends but no one has the same problem

Voting Results
40% Normal
Based on 15 votes (6 yes)
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Comments ( 8 )
  • Boojum

    It's not an unknown phenomenon, since the frequency of the electromagnetic waves produced by a microwave to cook food is very close of the frequency of the electromagnetic waves used for WiFi.

    If turning on a microwave oven causes your WiFi to drop, that means the signals transmitted and received by the router are being swamped by a much stronger signal from the oven. So your oven is clearly leaking microwaves. That should never happen with a well-made and undamaged microwave oven, since the microwaves should never escape the metal box of the oven or get past the metal screen behind the glass door.

    If I were you, I'd replace the microwave as soon as possible. If that's impossible at the moment for some reason and you have to use it, I'd make a point of keeping a good distance from it when it's on. WiFi signals are very weak and easily overpowered, so it's probably highly unlikely that you'll end up having your innards cooked by the stray microwaves if you stand close to it when it's on, but there's a good reason why microwave oven manufacturers always include a switch that switches it off when you open the door, rather than saving some money by not including that feature.

    If your WiFi router and the equipment connected to it includes an option of using the 5GHz band, you could try switching to that since it's out of the frequency range of the microwave oven. Still, you really should look at replacing the oven.

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  • rocketdave

    If your microwave is leaking that can cause all sorts of problems, it's a health risk too. Used to to work on guidance systems, communications, and radar, real care was taken when testing the microwave gear!

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  • LloydAsher

    I remember when my old microwave violently shook when it was cooking stuff. I would wonder when it would finally explode and what would take it to explode. Perhaps a Turkey would get it to finally die. Moved out before I got an answer.

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  • Clunk42

    Whenever anyone takes a shower in our hall bathroom, the internet in my bedroom slows down. There's a simple explanation for it. The microwaves generated by your microwave are interfering with the light created by your wifi router. Essentially, the light made by your microwave hits the light made by your wifi router, changes the direction it's moving and the speed at which it moves, making the wifi of poor quality. Of course, this only would prove to be the case if your microwave is between your device and the wifi router; if not, I have no clue what the answer is. If that is the problem, move the microwave, your device, or the wifi router, so that the microwave isn't in between the two.

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    • Boojum

      🤣

      Amused by the concept of a wifi router glowing so brightly the light from it penetrates walls and floors.

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      • Bazinga

        Lol. Clunk doesn't understand signal to noise ratios, nor does he understand physics, for that matter.

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        • Clunk42

          Wifi and microwaves both produce light. They are just at wavelengths that you cannot see. I do understand signal to noise ratio, and it this case, the microwave could be producing more noise than the wifi is producing signal.

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      • Clunk42

        Technically, wifi signals are light. It's just light of wavelength invisible to the human eye.

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