Where should I place my eero devices?

Strategically placing your Sparklight Wall-to-Wall WiFi eeros is the single most important step you can take to ensure your system provides fast, reliable WiFi to every room in your home. While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for placement, we’ve put together a list of some of our favorite tips to help you find the perfect spots to place your eeros.

Each home is different. Where you place your eeros will depend on the layout of your home and the materials used in its construction. For example, walls of brick, stone, and metal will be hard for your WiFi to penetrate. Placement decisions will also depend on where you want strong WiFi coverage. If you want to get the Internet on your back deck, for instance, you could place an eero inside the back door to extend the range of coverage beyond the perimeters of your home.

Placement isn’t an exact science, and you might have to experiment with the location of your eeros for optimal performance.

Setup

For a quick and easy setup experience, we recommend keeping your eeros in relatively close range to each other — a good rule of thumb is less than 50 feet between them. Once your network is up and running, feel free to spread your eeros out around your home.

If your home was built with wired Ethernet in mind, hardwiring your eeros is always an option. Wireless links are typically slower than wired connections. They're also more prone to interference since they must share the airways with other devices that are also broadcasting. eeros are designed to deliver the fastest WiFi connection possible in any configuration, so while wiring isn’t necessary, it may help to increase the speed and strength of the signal throughout your home.

You’ll also want to optimize the placement of your Gateway eero. You may not have much choice since it must connect to your modem. But if you can move your modem and Gateway eero out of your basement and into a more centralized location, you’ll improve the speed of your entire network with that one change.

DO’s: As you’re experimenting with placement, here are some tips to follow:

• Place eeros where they can talk to each other. While it might be tempting to place your eero in an existing dead zone or area with poor WiFi connectivity, it’s much more effective to place eeros halfway between your gateway eero and your existing dead zones. This way, your eeros can get a strong WiFi signal from your gateway eero and broadcast that signal into your former dead zones. You can think of placing them like a WiFi relay – each eero is a link in the chain bringing WiFi to your dead spot.
• Place eeros on a hard, flat surface. Your eeros should be placed on a surface that is both stable and flat, such as tables, countertops, and nightstands. 
• Aim high.eeros radiate their signal more upwards than downwards, but mostly along the plane they’re placed on. It’s best to place your eeros at a height halfway between the floor and the ceiling, not on the ground.
• Keep your space open.eeros communicate best when they’re not closed in.  Keep them out in the open – try not to place your eero(s) inside a media console or cabinet.
• The thinner the barrier, the better.The fewer the walls (and the less substantial their inner material) between your eeros, the better your performance will be. Older houses with dense materials like plaster, lath, or chicken wire in the walls are particularly hard for WiFi waves. Placing your eeros near doors may help since wood is less dense and easier for WiFi waves to penetrate. Whenever possible, aim for direct line of sight between eeros.

DON’Ts: Here are some things to avoid:

• Heavy metal. Don’t put your eero(s) near your refrigerator or other heavy metal objects. These objects can interfere with wireless radios. If you’re placing an eero in the kitchen, we suggest placing it on a counter or shelf that’s as far from your major appliances as possible.
• Interference. eeros work best when they’re 20-30 feet away from objects that cause interference. Avoid placing your eero on top of, or near, these objects:
  • Microwave oven
  • Cordless phones (for your landline, not your cell phone) that use the 2.4GHz or 5GHz range. If these cause interference, try changing the channel your phone uses.
  • WiMAX
  • Other 802.11 networks
  • Power lines, power stations, or railroad tracks
  • Radio leakage from Direct Satellite Service (DSS)
  • Older coaxial cable from certain types of satellite dishes. If you have an older satellite dish, contact the device manufacturer to get newer cables
  • Fluorescent lights
  • Bad electrical connections
  • Radar
• Smothering your eeros. Keep your eeros out in the open and never put anything on top of them. When possible, also avoid having your eeros enclosed in a small space.
• Soft surfaces. Your eeros work best on a stable surface, so avoid putting them on chairs, cushions, and any other surface that doesn't allow for space beneath them to breathe.