this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2025
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In retrospect, the microwave probably also generates enough interference in the 2.4-ish gigahertz range to disconnect itself from the Wi-Fi when it's running anyhow. Genius plan, there. Mine certainly poleaxes any Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connections within a couple of feet of itself whenever it's cooking.
Maybe that's the real reason everyone wants us to be so keen on 5 GHz.
I run 5ghz, my microwave beats my WiFi connections like an alcoholic husband.
YMMV, but I've never had a microwave interfere with my 2.4 GHz wireless.
Microwave ovens are literally Faraday cages tuned to contain/block signals in the 2.4 GHz range. If any are escaping while it's in operation, then there's probably a problem with the shielding (either damage or poor design).
One way to test is to enable wifi on your phone, put it in the microwave (obviously do not turn the microwave on lol), close the door, and the wifi signal should disappear (assuming it doesn't fall back to 5 GHz).
No microwave is a perfect Faraday cage. They also generate microwaves at five orders of magnitude or so greater than the strength of a Wi-Fi router, around 1000 watts for most models as opposed to 10-25 milliwatts for a typical Wi-Fi router. And remember that this is at the source on your router; by the time a Wi-Fi signal reaches your phone its energy is a tiny fraction of that thanks to the good old inverse cube law, probably down in the microwatt range. Microwaves are allowed to leak up to 5 milliwatts/cm up to 2" from the surface of the cavity, which by the time you divide it down with distance is still enough to mess with wireless connections in a similar frequency range out to short but noticeable real world distances.
My microwave will make my Bluetooth earbuds go haywire within a distance of about five feet, for instance, albeit tailing off sharply outside of that range. It's a similar deal with Wi-Fi inside that range. I've never owned a microwave in my life that didn't cause this type of interference.
In a "smart" microwave its antenna has to be inside its own casing somewhere, most likely only within a couple of inches of the outside of the microwave cavity. I'll bet you it doesn't work worth a damn while it's cooking.