Who doesn’t like a creative Wi-Fi network name? You’ll always run into someone with a network called “FBI_VAN” or a snarky message to the people in the apartment upstairs. But as much fun as it can be to make up silly Wi-Fi SSIDs (Service Set Identifiers), there are actually a few good reasons why you want to avoid it.
Special characters can break things in surprising ways
Not as much freedom as advertised
SSIDs can be up to 32 bytes in length, although some routers might limit you to shorter names in their firmware. This can include spaces, symbols, and any ASCII characters.
The problem is that, just because you can use almost any character you want, doesn’t mean you should do it. Some older devices, or basic cheap IoT devices won’t play ball if you have underscores, colons, apostrophes, and other special characters in your SSID.
Typical issues include the SSID not showing up in a list of available networks for that device, or the network appearing, but the devices can’t connect. A very annoying issue can happen where a device connects once the first time, and then refuses to connect again.
Quiz
Weird WiFi and networking quirks
Trivia challenge
From bizarre range tricks to hidden protocol secrets — how well do you really know your network?
WiFiProtocolsHardwareHistoryFun Facts
In 2012, a small village in Wales was mysteriously losing its broadband every morning at the same time. What was the cause?
Correct! An elderly villager’s old television set was emitting a powerful electrical signal every morning when he turned it on, wiping out broadband for the entire village. Engineers used a spectrum analyzer to track down the source after years of complaints. It’s a perfect example of how everyday electronics can wreak havoc on networking signals.
Not quite! The culprit was an old television set that an elderly resident switched on every morning, sending out a burst of electrical interference that killed broadband for the whole village. Engineers used specialist equipment to track it down after years of frustrating outages.
Why does placing your WiFi router near a fish tank often degrade wireless signal quality?
Correct! Water is a surprisingly effective absorber of 2.4GHz radio waves, which is the same frequency used by most WiFi routers. This is actually the same principle microwave ovens use to heat food — the frequency is tuned to excite water molecules. A large fish tank can create a significant dead zone behind it for WiFi signals.
Not quite! The answer is water absorption. Water molecules absorb 2.4GHz radio waves very efficiently — it’s the same reason microwave ovens cook food at that frequency. A large fish tank can significantly dampen your WiFi signal, creating dead zones on the other side of it.
The term ‘WiFi’ is often believed to stand for ‘Wireless Fidelity’, but what is the actual origin of the name?
Correct! ‘WiFi’ was coined by a branding consultancy called Interbrand in 1999, hired by the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance. It was designed purely as a marketable, memorable name — not an acronym. The ‘Wireless Fidelity’ backronym was actually invented afterward to give the name a plausible meaning, and even the Wi-Fi Alliance has admitted the term has no real meaning.
Not quite! WiFi was invented by a branding company called Interbrand as a catchy, memorable marketing term with no underlying meaning. The popular explanation that it stands for ‘Wireless Fidelity’ was actually created after the fact as a retronym, and even the Wi-Fi Alliance has acknowledged the name doesn’t technically stand for anything.
What is the maximum theoretical speed of the original 802.11 WiFi standard released in 1997?
Correct! The original 802.11 standard from 1997 topped out at just 2 Mbps — barely enough to stream a low-quality video today. It feels almost laughably slow compared to modern WiFi 6E speeds that can exceed 9 Gbps in ideal conditions. The jump in wireless speeds over just 25 years is one of the most dramatic improvements in consumer technology history.
Not quite! The original 802.11 standard could only manage 2 Mbps — painfully slow by today’s standards. The 11 Mbps speed came with 802.11b in 1999, which was a big deal at the time. Modern WiFi standards have improved speeds by over 4,000 times compared to that humble beginning.
Which common household appliance is most notorious for interfering with 2.4GHz WiFi networks?
Correct! Microwave ovens operate at approximately 2.45GHz, sitting almost exactly on top of the 2.4GHz WiFi band. When running, a microwave leaks enough radio frequency energy to noticeably disrupt nearby WiFi connections. This is one of the main reasons the 5GHz WiFi band became popular — it completely avoids this kitchen interference problem.
Not quite! Microwave ovens are the biggest culprit. They operate at around 2.45GHz, almost identical to the 2.4GHz WiFi frequency band. Even a well-shielded microwave leaks enough signal to cause noticeable interference. Switching to the 5GHz band on your router completely sidesteps this issue.
What unusual material was found to dramatically boost WiFi signal strength in experiments by researchers at Dartmouth College?
Correct! Researchers at Dartmouth College discovered that custom-shaped 3D-printed plastic reflectors, coated in a thin layer of metal, could dramatically focus and redirect WiFi signals throughout a space. The reflectors could boost signal strength in desired areas by up to 55% while simultaneously reducing signal in areas where security or privacy was needed. It’s a remarkably cheap solution using off-the-shelf printing technology.
Not quite! Dartmouth College researchers found that 3D-printed plastic reflectors with a metallic coating could focus WiFi signals like a lens, improving signal strength by up to 55% in targeted areas. The approach also has a useful privacy angle — you can intentionally block signal from going outside your walls without expensive equipment.
What does the ‘ping’ command measure, and where does the name actually come from?
Correct! Ping measures the round-trip time for a data packet to travel to a host and back, measured in milliseconds. The name is inspired by sonar technology used in submarines — when sonar emits a pulse and ‘hears’ it bounce back, operators call that a ping. The networking tool was written by Mike Muuss in 1983, and he explicitly confirmed the sonar analogy was intentional.
Not quite! Ping measures round-trip latency — how long it takes for a packet to go to a destination and come back. The name comes from submarine sonar, where a sound pulse sent out and detected returning is called a ‘ping.’ Creator Mike Muuss confirmed this analogy in 1983 when he wrote the tool, though the ‘Packet InterNet Groper’ backronym was invented later.
What phenomenon causes WiFi speeds to mysteriously slow down when many neighbors are using their networks simultaneously, even if you’re not sharing bandwidth with them?
Correct! WiFi operates on shared radio frequency channels, and nearby routers broadcasting on the same channel compete for airtime even between separate networks. This is called co-channel interference, and it causes routers to ‘take turns’ transmitting more often, reducing effective throughput. Using a WiFi analyzer app to find the least congested channel — or switching to the less crowded 5GHz or 6GHz bands — can significantly improve speeds in dense neighborhoods.
Not quite! The culprit is channel congestion. WiFi channels are shared radio spectrum, and when many nearby networks use the same channel, they all have to take turns broadcasting — slowing everyone down even though no one is stealing your bandwidth. A WiFi analyzer can help you find a quieter channel, and moving to 5GHz or 6GHz usually helps escape the congestion.
Your Score
/ 8
Thanks for playing!
You can use emojis too
But you shouldn’t 🙁
Thanks to the simple 32-octet limitation of the SSID standard, nothing stops you from putting characters in there that you might never have considered. Technically, you can even put emojis in your SSID or use Japanese kana.
The specific device you are using might limit what characters you are allowed to use, however. Nothing stops your router manufacturer from putting its own boring and arbitrary limits on what characters you can use when creating the SSID. That’s not an issue other than being annoying if you wanted to make something wacky, but the real problem happens when you have a client device that can’t read the character codes you’d put into the SSID.
It’s even worse if you get into a situation where you have to manually type in an SSID on a device that can’t see it, probably because it has a weird name. If that device doesn’t have the character set to even type the SSID, you’re stuck.
If you need another reason not to use emojis in your SSID, remember that although emojis have a standard code to represent each one, there’s no standard as to how they are rendered. That’s why the smiling emoji doesn’t look the same on Android and iPhone, or from one app to the next. So what you intended your emoji-laden SSID to look like to others might be completely different, making the joke pointless.
9/10
- Brand
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Unifi
- Range
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1,750 square feet
The Unifi Dream Router 7 is a full-fledged network appliance offering NVR capabilities, fully managed switching,a built-in firewall, VLANs, and more. With four 2.5G Ethernet ports (one with PoE+) and a 10G SFP+ port, the Unifi Dream Router 7 also features dual WAN capabilities should you have two ISP connections. It includes a 64GB microSD card for IP camera storage, but can be upgraded for more storage if needed. With Wi-Fi 7, you’ll be able to reach up to a theoretical 5.7 Gbps network speed when using the 10G SFP+ port, or 2.5 Gbps when using Ethernet.
Keep it simple, stupid
You probably already figured this out, but the answer is to stick to standard characters only. If you have a fancy router that lets you create multiple SSIDs, it’s probably OK to have one that’s a bit of a novelty, or if your router allows you to create a guest network and rename it to what you want, that’s a safe one to have some fun. The worst that can happen is that your guests can’t connect, but at least you can all have a nice chuckle at how creative your SSIDs are.
Besides, it’s not hard to have a sidesplitting SSID without resorting to weird characters or ASCII art. The regular alphabet was good enough for Shakespeare, so it’s good enough for the rest of us.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
