Do you wall mount your routers?

[eunhahaha]

Hi,

I found some routers or meshes were designed to support wall-mount like ASUS RT-AX59U, Zenwifi XD5 and Netgear even has wall mount holder kit for its Orbi.

I've read some articles saying that mounting the router on wall can have better coverage and improve cooling. But I find lots of people and shops still place the routers on desk or on shelf.

Is mounting the router on wall have any concerns? or is it just too annoying to drill the wall?

 

[AndreiV]

You'll also see articles saying you shouldn't place routers against walls or in corners.

Place it wherever works and is best for you. Mine are sitting on desks with slow running fans to cool them.

 

[eightiescalling]

I've been running my router wall mounted for years - AC88u, N66U before than and a WRT54G before that...

For me it's down to a combination of location for WiFi and also being able to hide it out of the way.

From an Asus perspective there aren't many wall mountable routers I know of but the AC88u (and ax88 as its the same case) are wall mountable out of the box - complete with ventilation that supports the heat rising straight up.

One of the reasons I was glad to hear about the AX88 pro was specifically the wall mountable element for a router comparable to the gt ax6000 - which isn't.

 

[Tech9]

Is mounting the router on wall have any concerns?

Huge aesthetics concerns and likely not approved by other family members. If you want something wall mounted better go with better looking or even hidden access points.

 

[drinkingbird]

Hi,

I found some routers or meshes were designed to support wall-mount like ASUS RT-AX59U, Zenwifi XD5 and Netgear even has wall mount holder kit for its Orbi.

I've read some articles saying that mounting the router on wall can have better coverage and improve cooling. But I find lots of people and shops still place the routers on desk or on shelf.

Is mounting the router on wall have any concerns? or is it just too annoying to drill the wall?

A ceiling mounted AP like unifi will give the best coverage on that floor and floors below it (not necessarily floors above though). I think engenius used to make ones that looked like smoke detectors. My Asus is on a shelf up high on the wall in my office where aesthetics aren't an issue and it gives great coverage throughout the house, even decent outside. Antenna adjustment is a factor too, I find the "W" with 3 antennas works best.

When I had a unifi on the ceiling of my top floor it covered all the way into the basement and decent outside also.

Issue with the Asus is it can't be directly mounted to wall or ceiling so I had to put up a little shelf. Up high on top of an armoire, TV cabinet, even kitchen cabinets is one way to get better coverage without being too terribly ugly. But for indoor coverage, a ceiling mount on high floor is going to be hard to beat.

 

[Crimliar]

I have a GT-AX6000. It's atop of a bookcase, which is about as inconspicuous as I can make it. It's a great router, but it's as ugly as all sin! Honestly, the thing looks like it would be at home competing in BattleBots, and not hung on a wall in plain view!

 

[tgl]

There are lots of SMB-oriented APs that look vaguely like smoke detectors and can be mounted pretty inconspicuously on either wall or ceiling. I've got a couple of Zyxel units fitting that description. However, if you need a full router rather than just an access point, I think the options for that are fewer.

 

[To Infinity and Beyond]

I place my router on desk since I’m renting and thus cannot destroy the wall. But I would like to wall mount my router to save more spaces!

 

[drinkingbird]

I place my router on desk since I’m renting and thus cannot destroy the wall. But I would like to wall mount my router to save more spaces!

You could probably mount it to the ceiling upside down with like 20 of those 3M command strips . For people that don't want to mount to a wall or ceiling, the top of a big armoire, bookcase, TV cabinet, etc is usually a good place, assuming you can get the necessary wires there.

 

[Tech9]

You could probably mount it to the ceiling upside down with like 20 of those 3M command strips

Horror movie. Viewer discretion is advised.

 

[tgl]

Wow ... that really could give you nightmares.

 

[drinkingbird]

Horror movie. Viewer discretion is advised.

View attachment 48455

Looks like something you'd see in Australia.

 

[Tech9]

Looks like something you'd see in Australia.

Australia model - no creature comes close to your home:

 

[drinkingbird]

Australia model - no creature comes close to tour home:

View attachment 48457

 

[Tech9]

This is how it's done by professionals:

 

[drinkingbird]

This is how it's done by professionals:

View attachment 48459

That's what we call union labor in the US. That was at least 10 hours billable (2 hours overtime).

When I was doing wifi deployments long ago we actually had clips that went on the metal partitions between tiles. Still didn't look great, but at least better than that. These were old lucent orinoco/wavelan 802.11b flat antennas. Still have a couple somewhere. Tiny proprietary antenna connector.

 

[Tech9]

One more installation from the same guys:

 

[drinkingbird]

One more installation from the same guys:

View attachment 48460

Well, the Faraday cage makes it highly secure wifi. If you can't connect, nobody can snoop.

 

[L&LD]

And those 'professional' installations look just as atrocious to some of us.

 

[To the ocean]

I think the weight of the products might be a concern, worried that it'll drop so I'd prefer putting it on the desk still