How safe is WiFi?

Hi everyone.

Is it safe to use WiFi all the time for surfing and downloading downloading torrents, apps, etc? Does it involve any health risk or anything on continuous usage? I recently bought the Netgear Wireless-N and was thinking of shifting permanently to wireless solution for downloading and using internet, so that I can use it from anywhere in my house. Please advise.

 

Are you serious?
A handphone produce more radiation than a Router(standard home routers).

 

I don't really why people are freaking out about wireless signals. So far, there isn't anything indicating that they are harmful (speaking about cancer here), there isn't anything indicating they aren't yet either. Some studies point in both directions. There is absolutely no reason to be concerned by a home router.

 

You know, not everyone knows a lot about computers. Perhaps he has kids and was concerned if there would be any health effects from using it.
To the OP, it's just radio signals, they're not microwave like cell phones. We are constantly bombarded by tons of radio signals, there is nothing to worry about.

 

That's a risky statement at best. First of all microwaves are radio signals too- it's just certain frequencies that are considered microwaves. There are different definitions to what is and isn't a microwave- that's somewhere between 0.3GHz to 300GHz although for practical reasons it's usually considered to be between 1GHz and 100GHz.
Cellphones operate at 850 & 900MHz which is pretty far from Wi-Fi and on 1800 & 1900MHz which isn't far from 2.4GHz Wi-Fi band.
So if anything it's Wi-Fi that's a microwave while certain mobile phone ranges aren't.

Anyway- I agree with you guys that it has not been proven that Wi-Fi is harmful in any way. Mobile phones have transmit power that is significantly more powerful than Wi-Fi access points- so if anything it's mobile phones that you should look at not Wi-Fi.

 

Haha sorry for the stupid question, I do know a lot abt computers but there are so many rumored topics and articles across the Internet regarding risks involved in WiFi; so I just wanted to confirm by posting my doubt here... Thanks a lot for the help, really appreciated. I was also wondering like, it's radiation level is minimal then how can it be harmful...

Thanks again for helping me

 

We'll know if microwaves are really harmful in a couple of decades at the very least. So far, we know that they do not really impact full grown adults, whether they impact younger people or not can't be certain until the young people of today age.

My personal opinion: people are taking this way too seriously, i'm not saying it will have no effect, but i expect it to be minimal. There is always a small percentage of the population susceptible to something. I mean the regular flu kills people, but no one freaks out about the fact that it can potentially be mortal in rare cases since it's been around for a while.

You are right to ask when in doubt though, especially since the media tend to dramatize things a bit since it sells more news. I remember seeing news flash everywhere about cell phones and cancer a little while ago. If you were simply going through the articles rapidly it could seem like an issue, but if you took the time to thoroughly read them, it was clearly mentioned that nothing was conclusive and that it was only a possibility. Heck i even remember people talking about tomatoes being a potential cause of cancer when i was younger and look how that turned out. Tomatoes!!

EDIT: There's also the fact that people are expecting scientists so speak in absolutes as in it does or it doesn't, but most research tend to point to probably does.

 

Quoted for truth +1.

There are a lot of other things out there that can cause more harm than anything coming from an RF source. I would imagine that radon build-up in homes would be more of a health issue than WiFi, yet I hear nothing about it in the news (why?). Also, walking barefoot on your yard could cause you to pick up ringworm, again a more serious health issue than WiFi or cell phone RF output.

As for any possible effects of RF on a human, I doubt anything bad could happen to a person with exposure, even those that are "electromagnetically hypersensitive." Unless there are hybrid human-shark people out in the world that have evolved with ampullae of Lorenzini, I highly doubt that anyone could detect this sort of stuff using their bodies. Personally, I think it's all a PR stunt.

 

I actually just did a report on RF signal radiation and its effects on health. Yes, it does emit some radiation, but it is so minimal that it's negligible in terms of effecting human health. Also, there are so many frequency regulations on wireless devices, and some of those regulate how much RF signal radiation a device can produce.

 

Radio (and everything else on the EM spectrum) is radiation though. It's all electromagnetic radiation, composed of photons at various wavelengths. So basically, radio isn't much different from visible light. Can't imagine it affecting a human on a cellular level though since a radio wave's wavelength is about two meters or so, as big as a tall human.

 

Electrosensitivity is psychogenic. Which means the symptoms are real, the cause is not. They bring the sensitivity upon themselves:
Health fears debunked in mast debate telecoms.com – telecoms industry news, analysis and opinion

Otherwise, radio waves are everywhere. Even from outer space and the earth itself:
Natural VLF Radio Emissions
Natural Radio Signals
Natural Radio

 

I love the incident (in San Fran I think) where a couple local nutjobs claimed they were suffering extreme anguish after a new tower was put up, until 3 weeks later the installer revealed it didn't even have power yet.

I recall another little test that shows your typical crazy person tin-foil hat is actually a great antenna for many common RF ranges, so it actually boosts the mind control waves effectiveness by several dB

 

WRT Human Health: Negligible effect. Other things, like cellphones, are of equal or larger cause for concern.
WRT Cyber Security: Use WPA2, otherwise not safe if someone is resourceful around your area.

 

So, you get a little radiation from wireless routers. You also get radiation from the sun.

Solution: Stay inside on NBR, keep away from the suns' harmful rays.

 

exposure to large amounts of high energy electromagnetic radiation probably isn't good for you.

obviously there is a lot of electromagnetic radiation around. Sun, space, radio, etc. I wouldn't worry about existing in the universe. However, I would try and limit my sun exposure. I would also try to limit total exposure to electromagnetic radiation by keeping some distance between yourself and radio transmitters (wifi, cell, bluetooth, etc). The amount of energy you absorb decreases exponentially with distance. Cell phone use is probably the biggest concern because of how close the antenna is to your brain during use. I think talking on a cell phone for 30 minutes a day is much worse than using your laptop for several hours each day.

I wouldn't worry too much about wifi radios, but try to keep your laptop's radio a foot or so away from your body. The router will obviously be further.

 

Kind of hard to do that when you use your "lap"top >.>

 

But... but... i'll still get radiation from the router .

 

Haha! That's hilarious!!

One thing I must say, media rumors sucks!

 

One more technical point. Max transmit power of a mobile phone is around 1W (when you're far from the transmitter tower) and typical transmit power is around half of that.
Wi-Fi is limited to 200mW (0.2W) which is not only max transmit power for standard AP but is also a limit for an Access Point not the mobile device. Typical transmit power of a notebook is more in the vicinity of 50mW (0.05W).

masterchef341 made a good point- it makes hell of a difference if your device is held near your head or is let's say 2 feet away.

My point is- your mobile phone held right to your ear and transmits @1W and it has not been conclusively proven to be dangerous. Your router is probably some 6 feet away (or more) and transmits with at least 5 times less power than a mobile phone while you laptop is more likely a foot- or so- away but it transmits with 20 times less power than a mobile phone.

I think you get the picture...

Note to self: stop wearing hazmat suit and tin-foil hat- that's why people are laughing at me.

 

Again, I'd be more worried about the possible radon build-up in your home than any electromagnetic signal. If you spend a lot of time on the top level of your house or in the attic, you'd probably be more exposed to a proven dangerous radiation.