A router guard is a Faraday cage device designed to block or shield you from electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation emitted by your Wi-Fi router and other wireless devices. If you have a Wi-Fi router in your home, the router constantly emits EMF radiation 24/7, which exposes you to a lot of health risks.
As the demand for wireless products rises in the market, it has increased concerns about health risks associated with electromagnetic radiation from these devices. There are various products in the market that don’t work as expected even though the manufacturer states they do. So do router guards really work?
A router guard is one of the highly recommended products that truly works. The router guard is built using the concept of Faraday cage, which makes them ideal for shielding Radio Frequency (RF) electromagnetic radiation from Wi-Fi routers.
There are different methods of protecting yourself from the harmful effects of electromagnetic field radiation at home, but the router guard is one of the best tools you can use.
Housing your Wi-Fi router inside the router guard will block 95% of the RF radiation emitted by your Wi-Fi router. Your router will continue to transmit Wi-Fi signals through the router guard. It will reduce the signal range by 10 to 20% depending on the type of router you’re using.
The router guard doesn’t affect your internet speed or the performance of the router. The download and upload speed will remain the same. The router guards are easy to install and fit almost 95% of the routers on the market.
So What Is a Router Guard and How Does It Work?
A router guard is a metal box that forms a Faraday cage and it is designed specifically to hold a Wi-Fi router. The router guard has a small hole to allow you to run the cables through.
It is very easy to install and use. All you need to do is unplug your router and put it inside the router guard cage, pass the cables through the hole and connect the cables to the router ports inside the cage. Once the cables are plugged into the router again, your router boots up and you can continue using it normally.
Watch the video below to understand more about how a Wi-Fi router guard works.
When the router is placed inside the router guard, it employs the concept of a Faraday cage by blocking the RF radiation emitted by the router. This reduces your risk of exposure to Wi-Fi radiation in your home or office.
As mentioned above, there is no reduction in performance or upload/download speed when using the router guard. There is, however, a reduction in the signal range when you use a router guard. Therefore, if you have a large family in a large house and want to keep everyone connected, you should consider that. If you’re within the range, you will still enjoy great download speed when using the router guard.
You can test the signal strength by moving around with your laptop or cell phone.
The wire mesh surrounding the cage is made of metal material with small spaces to ensure the electromagnetic spectrum wavelength from the router doesn’t pass through the small spaces. This prevents EMF radiation from passing through the metal material, and in this way, it is able to effectively block electromagnetic radiation.
How Much Radiation Does a Router Guard Block?
Although not all metal materials block EMF radiation by 100%, they ultimately do attenuate the radiation signals. As the radiation signals penetrate through the metal material, there is a gradual loss of force through this attenuation process.
The router guard is made from copper and aluminum materials. The wire mesh in the router guard scatters the radiation photons as they pass through thus weakening their force.
The router guard blocks 90-95% of EMF radiation and has an attenuation of 10 to 15 dB (decibels).
If you measure the amount of EMF radiation emitted using an EMF meter or using TriField TF2, you will get similar results as shown in the video above.
Why Do You Need a Router Guard?
A router guard is used to protect yourself from the dangers of Wi-Fi radiation. The RF radiation emitted by your Wi-Fi routers increases your exposure to Wi-Fi radiation, and this can have a range of negative effects upon your health.
Wi-Fi routers broadcast radio frequency (RF) signals that can penetrate through walls to allow users to connect to the router. The signals from the Wi-Fi device are continuously broadcasted and as a result, you’re exposed to high levels of radiation.
High levels of radiation have a health impact on individuals, especially those who are hypersensitive to electromagnetic radiation.
The radio frequency radiation emitted by the Wi-Fi router as it broadcasts signals can affect your sleep pattern and the quality of your sleep. According to a study by the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Melbourne University (2013), radiation from routers and cell phones affects your sleep quality.
Continuous exposure to this type of EMF radiation interferes with the production of melatonin hormone which is responsible for regulating your pineal gland. This affects your overall sleep quality.
Furthermore, sleeping with the Wi-Fi router on and putting your cell phone beside your bed will expose you to very high levels of EMF radiation, and this will have negative effects. For example, if your body is deprived of quality sleep, it will be unable to fight diseases. It will also affect other body functions like repairing cells and cleansing toxins from the body.
It can also disrupt the production of red blood cells by the body. Normally, our body produces around 2 to 3 million blood cells per second. Exposure to EMF radiation affects the production process of these red blood cells making us more vulnerable to diseases.
Other effects of Wi-Fi radiation on our body include:
- Affecting the ability of the body to create healthy cells.
- Making it difficult for our cells to absorb the required healthy nutrients.
- Affecting the ability of cells to shed toxins and free radicals.
- Increased risk on the growth of cancerous cells. It also causes certain types of cancers. The World Health Organization (WHO) classified RF radiation as carcinogenic.
- Increased exposure to RF radiation leads to DNA damage especially in infants.
A router guard will protect you by reducing your exposure to the negative impacts of Wi-Fi radiation in your body.
Wi-Fi Dangers
The radio frequency signals emitted by Wi-Fi routers use the same frequency used by microwave ovens for cooking. The RF radiation is mostly referred to as microwave radiation with a frequency of above 1 GHz. A radio frequency within this electromagnetic spectrum is very dangerous. The higher the frequency, the higher the danger to human beings.
The majority of Wi-Fi routers use a frequency of between 2.4 and 5 GHz. A 5G router has up to 60 GHz frequencies.
What Are the Best Router Guard Brands?
1. Wi-Fi Router Guard
This is a highly recommended router guard developed by Smart Meter Guard Company. It can block EMF radiation including 5G without affecting the performance of your Wi-Fi network.
You can easily install this router guard. All you need is to unplug the router and put it inside the router guard box then pass the cables through the opening in the router guard and plug them back to the router ports. There is no assembly needed, which makes the process of installation very easy.
The router guard relies on the Faraday cage concept to block the radio frequency signals emitted by the Wi-Fi router. The router guard reduces your exposure to electromagnetic field radiation making the entire house safe from RF radiation from Wi-Fi devices.
It is very important that before buying, you make sure it will fit your router. In addition, ensure there is 1 inch space left in order to fit the router cables.
The original router guard measures 12 x 9 x 3 inches, which only fits small size routers. If you have a bigger router, you need to measure it and look for a router guard box that fits your larger router. There are large router guards designed specifically for large routers like Xfinity and ATT Uverse routers.
The metallic mesh box ensures the RF signals from the Wi-Fi router inside don’t pass through the parallel lines in the metal. A highly conductive metal prevents the signals from passing through, thus blocking the RF radiation from the router from entering your space.
2. Signal Tamer XL Shielding Pouch
Signal Tamer is another product that reduces Wi-Fi radiation just like a Wi-Fi router guard. It works the same way as the router guard but instead of using a wire mesh box to prevent RF signals from penetrating, it uses a mesh bag to wrap the router.
When wrapping the router with the mesh bag ensure the router cable passes through the hole in the mesh bag. Tie the mesh bag with the cables to ensure it is in place then turn on the router and continue enjoying its benefits.
The Signal Tamer company website claims that it can reduce radiation by about 90 to 95% just like a Wi-Fi router guard.
This type of Wi-Fi guard reduces the Wi-Fi signal range by half. Therefore, if you have a big house, this will not be ideal for you. A good router guard should reduce signal range by no more than 10 to 20%.
This shielding bag/pouch can also be used to shield your modem, laptop, iPad, ComCast, tablet and much more.
3. JRS Eco Wi-Fi Router
JRS Eco Wi-Fi Router has a built-in JRS Eco firmware design which aims to reduce the amount of RF electromagnetic radiation emitted. The unique Eco firmware operating system runs using state of the art ASUS router technology.
This JRS Eco Wi-Fi router reduces EMF radiation by reducing the pulse frequency of the router by 90%. The Eco-100 technology enables the router to automatically switch to zero radiation when on a full Eco stand-by mode. When no Wi-Fi device is connected to the router, you will have zero emission.
It is very easy to install this type of router. Eco Wi-Fi Router connects to an internet modem through a standard Ethernet cable.
When there is no Wi-Fi device connected to the router, the pulse rate is reduced, so this is a type of low-radiation Wi-Fi router.
This low-radiation router is compatible with other wireless devices that use N-standard. It can also be used with your cell phone, tablet or iPad. The router has external antennas that increase the signal range.
Watch the video below to learn more about how JRS Eco compares to a regular router:
Alternative Ways of Reducing Wi-Fi Radiation
If you’re not using your Wi-Fi router you can turn it off to reduce the risk of exposure. You should also turn off the Wi-Fi when going to sleep so as to improve your quality of sleep at night. The EMF radiation emitted by the Wi-Fi devices affects your sleep.
You can do this manually or automatically set the router to switch itself off after a certain time of day, when you know you will be sleeping.
Another option for reducing radiation is using Ethernet cables instead of using a Wi-Fi connection to the internet. In this case, you can use a modem and a switch which will act as the access point to allow you to connect to the internet. Though connecting to the internet through cables may inconvenience you, it reduces your exposure to EMF radiation.
Put your router in a room with less traffic. Don’t put the router in your bedroom or next to your couch where you sit often. Make sure it is 6-10 feet away from the seating area. You should also avoid installing signal boosters because they can increase Wi-Fi radiation at your home.
Summary
Having a router guard is essential for every home. The router guard helps reduce exposure to Wi-Fi radiation. It is important to reduce exposure to Wi-Fi radiation, because we know that it is associated with various health issues. Reducing RF radiation caused by your Wi-Fi router and your cell phone has a lot of health benefits, like improving the quality of your sleep.
Continuous exposure to Wi-Fi radiation can cause insomnia or change your sleep pattern and that’s why a router guard is highly recommended to shield you from the bad effects of the emitted radiation.
There are a lot of devices that claim they can reduce EMF radiation from routers but they don’t all work. You need to invest in quality router guards that help reduce the risk of exposure.
Consider using any of the three highly recommended router guards I’ve discussed to ensure that you can protect yourself and your family or coworkers from the bad effects of Wi-Fi radiation.