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Mac Geek Gab — Apple Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting

Mirrors are Wi-Fi's Mortal Enemy

Mac Geek Gab — Apple Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting

Dave Hamilton, Pilot Pete & Adam Christianson

Tech News, Technology, How To, News, Education

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2025

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mirrors are Wi-Fi's Mortal Enemy – Mac Geek Gab 1102 episode image

Mirrors killing your Wi-Fi? You’re not imagining it. This week on Mac Geek Gab 1102, you’ll learn how metal surfaces sabotage your signal…and what to do about it. From smarter ways to manage your Apple Watch unlocks (hint: avoid accidental calls) to clearing your iPhone’s keyboard dictionary without going full nuclear, the Quick Tips are flying fast. Want your Dock to behave on multi-monitor setups? There’s an AppleScript for that.

Don’t Get Caught thinking “Until Tomorrow” actually means tomorrow…battery limits may surprise you. And if AirPlay is acting up, you might be powering off your speaker in the wrong order. Plus, you’ll discover data-blocking USB-C gadgets, secret vaults for your passwords, and whether SMB is a safe bet now that Time Machine is ditching AFP. All that, and more listener questions answered with your three favorite geeks leading the charge.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

It's time for Matt Kee Cab and listener Craig brings us our quick tip.

0:04.2

Perhaps a little don't get caught of the week by sharing something about his Wi-Fi mesh.

0:09.9

He has a satellite.

0:12.6

He's got his router in his office, which is next to the front door in a fairly central location at the front of the house, a satellite at the back of the house, and a satellite, sorry, satellite at the back left and a satellite at the back right.

0:24.4

And he says, it has always stumped me that several devices that my wife uses in her she cave never connect to satellite one.

0:31.2

They always connect to the more distant satellite two.

0:34.3

And on occasion, satellite one would go haywire and have to be rebooted.

0:38.5

Recently, in the midst of preparations for some visitors, we noticed that the problem

0:43.3

connections and connectivity issues moved from satellite one to satellite two. Interesting.

0:50.1

He says, I scratched my head for a few days and then had a wall-up moment. My wife had moved a fairly large floor mirror to a different location in the back right of the house.

1:01.6

And its normal location was directly between her she cave and the original problem satellite one.

1:08.6

With the move, she moved it very close to satellite two.

1:12.2

I surmise that mirror construction, including some metallic core materials, must then be

1:17.6

the mortal enemy to Wi-Fi signals.

1:21.6

A little chat with Chat GPD confirmed.

1:23.7

So watch placement and location of mirrors when setting up your or at least troubleshooting your Wi-Fi.

1:32.3

More tips like this plus your questions answered today on MacKeekeb 1102 for Monday, August 11th, National Align Your Teeth Day, 2025.

1:43.4

Thank you. Align Your Teeth Day 2025.

2:04.3

Greetings, folks, and welcome to Matt Geek-, the show where you send in tips like that.

2:05.5

You send in cool stuff found.

2:06.3

You send in questions.

2:08.3

We share it all.

...

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