Electromagnetic radiation protection (WiFi and other)

They are are social media to much as see one of the many conspiracy posts about WIFI and its dangers (inc. EMF). If there are enough different sources saying the same thing…it must be correct? :thinking:

Yes a onesy knitted out of copper wire, your WiFi, bluetooth etc would work but you would be safe from the dreaded EMF. It would also protect you against COVID as nobody would come near you, a twofy.

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Another approach on this general topic is to turn the WiFi off at night. That could be achieved in a number of ways:

  • ultra low-tech: manually switch it off at night
  • low-tech: put the router or other relevant network equipment on a timer (probably cheaper than some fancy mesh that may or may not actually work)
  • better: a device that allows the WiFi to operate on a schedule and automatically disables and enables WiFi according to that schedule - do any routers or WAPs offer this?
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Every one I have had has had that feature, including Billion, Dlink, and TP-Link.

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OK, but if the schedule is per-SSID then it may be that it never actually shuts down the WiFi (hence not necessarily achieving the goal of this topic).

So there are lots of cases:

  • the device only has the capability of one SSID - does it interpret the schedule as applying to the whole WiFi or just the SSID? does it separately offer a schedule for the whole WiFi?
  • the device has the capability of multiple SSIDs but only one SSID is configured - same questions
  • the device has the capability of multiple SSIDs and more than one SSID is configured - does it have careful logic to shut down the WiFi if and only if at the present time all defined SSIDs are scheduled to be off? does it separately offer a schedule for the whole WiFi?

As an extra complication, a dual band router/WAP is likely to offer an independent (or sometimes dependent) set of SSIDs for each band.

I understand that it might be quite difficult to answer the underlying question. You would need some kind of packet sniffer to look at all packets transmitted by the router/WAP when all SSIDs are ostensibly scheduled to be off.

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One would have to assume whomever wanted to shut it down on schedule would read the manual and set one or more affected SSIDs accordingly. My current TP-Link VR600v is all or nothing.

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Unfortunately in both of my devices the schedule is per-SSID (and multi-SSID capability).

As said, if I were concerned about the health effects of WiFi, I just wouldn’t use it; and if not using it is not an option, I would go low-tech with a timer so that at least it is off when noone is using it overnight.

Would appreciate your thoughts on a product being sold by ‘Cellsafe’ it is advertising a Modem Radiation Reducing Bag for sale for people concerned about wireless radiation exposure. Stating that ‘wireless radiation exposure for children should be hundreds of times lower than current federal limits”. Is there any value at all in purchasing one of these products?

In a simple word, shonky to be polite, scam to be less so.

I trust this topic may be informative, as well as this older one

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All the material about whether EMR is dangerous to humans you can read upthread and there is no need to repeat it.

Ask yourself, given the trouble that one can have with both WiFi modem or mobile phone coverage, why would you want to effectively reduce the signal to little or nothing? What happens if you actually want to use either device should you get the kiddies to stand down the yard?

As I said elsewhere a better idea would be long-johns knitted out of copper wire. For the children much times thicker of course. Take care to get the matching rubber underpants to avoid sparks induced while you stand next to the microwave.

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Thank you for your reply👍

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For the folks who might have purchased ‘5G protection’ something to be aware of.

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Protection against non-ionising radiation by wearing a source of ionising radiation - that is very amusing. It is such a shame they don’t teach any science in schools today.

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Those pesky sources of ionizing radiation. Like the Sun. Ultraviolet and above.
Do not go anywhere x-rays at your medical center.
Better stay indoors. Oh hang on, buildings composed of stone, or bricks, have gamma producers in trace amounts. And there is probably Radon gas lurking beneath your house. And throw out your smoke detectors. And don’t eat too many bananas, all that Potassium-40.
Watch out for food too, Carbon-14.
What a crock of shite.

Only if you ignore the question of dosage. Yes there is all kinds of normal background radiation but it isn’t harmless, its unavoidable. A proportion of cancers can be attributed to radiation from such sources.

Xrays do some harm but in most cases it is less than not having the xray. I asked my doctor about whether I should have yet another scan, he replied that at my age it was an appropriate decision but if I was in a pubertal growth spurt or pregnant (neither apply) it would not be.

Incidentally smoke detectors generally emit alpha particles that only travel a few centimetres and are not classed as ionising radiation.

I would think the nuclear safety agency would have an idea if wearing the device continually was a sensible risk to take.

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I didn’t buy one as I was hoping the Covid vaccinations I had improved 5G reception.

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Am-241 used in smoke detectors does emit gamma radiation in addition to its main emitter of alpha particles. It is so low though to pose no real risk to humans if used normally.
My point is that we should not get all crazy about some pendants made of volcanic material that does nothing useful, but do emit tiny amounts of gamma radiation that again pose no real risk to humans.

I don’t know what the dose emitted from these devices is, nor do I have the training to say how harmful it is, do you have either of these things? Without such I cannot see how you can disagree with the Netherlands nuclear safety agency.

The idea that we can just suck up additional sources of radiation with no consequences makes no sense to me. The dose is cumulative, why not take the learned advice and chuck the pendant? You don’t have xrays for fun, the dose you take must be worthwhile in terms of costs versus benefits. As there are no benefits to the device no dose is worth absorbing.

As for getting all crazy, were we doing that?

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Totally agree with you. Why be exposed to extra sources of harmful radiation beyond background levels for no benefit at all?
Call out these 5G protection devices as both useless for purpose, and potentially more harmful over time than the harm they claim to shield one from.
For 5G spectrum EM radiation it is currently considered no harm at all. For Gamma spectrum EM radiation it is serious harm, depending on level and time.

I believe that that type of smoke detector is deprecated in many jurisdictions anyway. I believe that photoelectric is now mandated.