I put tin foil behind my router to boost the signal (here’s how it went)

Sit down, it’s time to don the tin foil hats.

While I love reading about a good conspiracy theory here and there, I wouldn’t call myself a part of the tin foil hat army. Did I wrap my old LG phone in tin foil back in 2011 because I thought it would trap and block the ‘dangerous’ signals it was emitting? Sure, but it was also around the time I was making duct tape wallets at my local library.

Back in the present day, I’m surrounded by more technology than I could’ve ever imagined back then. Now, I’m doing everything I can to make sure my multi- monitor set-up, my smart home devices, and even my smart alarm clock are connected to the strongest Wi-Fi signal possible. That being said, I’m never above a good homemade experiment.

Instead of blocking signals with tin foil, I began to wonder if I could instead use it as a DIY amplifier. After a trip to the supermarket this morning, I armed myself with over 75 feet of basic aluminum foil and got to work. Here’s how it went.

Can putting aluminum foil behind your router boost Wi-Fi?

I gave it the good ‘ole college try

First things first, even if this trick did boost your Wi-Fi substantially, I’d say only break out the goods if you aren’t expecting company. Aesthetically, I’d give it a 2/10 — only so generous if you’re partial to a chrome aesthetic in your living room. Myself? It didn’t really fit my rustic farmhouse vibe.

For the experiment, I taped several sheets of aluminum foil to the wall behind my router and modem. My hypothesis was that if the router was sending out Wi-Fi signals in all directions, the ones going straight into my neighbor’s wall were going to waste. If the foil could redirect those signals back into my apartment, it would boost the signal, right?

I tested the Wi-Fi signal with the NetSpot app, which is a basic Wi-Fi management and analysis app, before and after putting up my new aluminum wallpaper. The results, though unnoticeable to me as I typed away at articles and opened a million tabs, showed that the foil did in fact make somewhat of a difference, which I’ll explain more about below.

NetSpot / Pocket-lint

What these numbers mean

And how much of a difference aluminum made for me

You’ll notice three primary sections in the test above: Mbps Download, Mbps Upload, and Ping. Let me break down what they each mean.

Mbps Download (348.2 Mbps and 550.4 Mbps) measures how quickly data is downloaded from the internet to your device. The higher this number is, the better — and both speeds here are very good. That explains why I have no trouble streaming in 4K.

Mbps Upload (21.9 Mbps and 24.8 Mbps) measures the opposite, or how quickly your device sends data to the internet — like posting on Instagram or sending a work email. Higher numbers here are better, too.

Ping (46 ms and 58 ms) is different — this measures the reaction time between your device and the server, measured in milliseconds. It’s one of the quickest greetings under the sun. However, unlike the two former measurements, the lower the number, the better. Under 20ms is considered excellent, but the recorded 46 rings in at “good” while 58 is more “okay.” Luckily, since I’m not much of a gamer, being in such a range isn’t going to cost me a round or two.

Mbps Download increased by over 200 Mbps with the foil, which is around a 58% boost. On paper, that’s pretty significant, but during my regular workday, I didn’t notice a night-and-day difference. Meanwhile, Mbps Upload only increased by about 3 Mbps, which is slight, but definitely not something to write home about.

The only area that didn’t see improvement was Ping — it was 12 ms higher with the tin foil behind the router. Note that this isn’t drastic, but it could matter to someone who’s a stickler about their gaming quality or live communication — in gaming, every millisecond counts.

The verdict

Does aluminum foil behind your router amplify your Wi-Fi signal?

Yes, there was a noticeable difference when it came to my download times with aluminum foil behind my router — at least that’s what the numbers showed. Upload speeds, however, saw only a slight change, and realistically, I wouldn’t notice a difference unless I were downloading large files regularly. Ping time actually increased, which is the opposite of what you’d want — even if the change was barely perceptible and likely only relevant for competitive gamers. Then again, if that’s you, you probably can’t relate to my minimal, Apple-centric setup anyway.

If it sounds like I’m splitting hairs here, that’s because I am. I didn’t notice any meaningful difference in my Wi-Fi strength with or without the aluminum foil. That could be because my internet is already solid, or maybe I’m just not running enough demanding programs to let the foil show off its potential. That said, anyone serious about their work-from-home setup, gaming PC, or even moderate multitasking is likely investing in high-quality gear to enhance performance — not experimenting with whatever’s in the kitchen drawer.

Where did the idea come from?

How the gimmick likely picked up steam

Think about Wi-Fi signals for a second — they’re a form of radio wave, which is also a kind of electromagnetic radiation. When you point a laser at a mirror, it bounces off and hits the wall behind you. Just like that light, these radio waves signals can be reflected, absorbed, refracted, or even blocked. If you point the laser at the carpet, it stops there — it doesn’t keep going into the earth or reflected back up to the ceiling.

However, aluminum foil is a pretty reflective material for radio waves. So, the idea that it can manipulate their direction is actually rooted in physics. If you position the foil strategically, you can theoretically reflect and redirect signals towards different areas of your home, especially if you have a weak spot. Researchers at Dartmouth put this to the test, and actually proved that using 3D-printed reflectors with metallic surfaces (AKA foil) behind routers could optimize the signal, back in 2017.

However, I’m not in a lab, and I’m betting you aren’t either right now. The odds of creating the perfect parabolic foil shape to revolutionize our Wi-Fi signal is low, but it sure makes for clever wall art.