Well, first the good news. The answer ought to be “Anywhere!”- because the whole point of working wirelessly is that equipment can easily be moved around. Wireless is particularly popular at home, because it gets rid of all the unsightly cables (which dogs, cats, kids and dads are very good at tripping over).

There are a couple of considerations though. Wireless operates very much like a radio, or indeed your mobile phone- it’s all about reception, and the same sorts of issues affect wireless reception as affect radio reception.

Without the interruption of the structure of a building, a good wireless setup will pick up signals from up to 100 metres away. But put a wireless router in an environment full of sheet metal and reception dwindles to under 10 metres.

For most family homes, there really shouldn’t be a problem: a home wireless kit will comfortably penetrate two or three floors, so if your “den” is in the attic, don’t panic.

A couple of sensible concerns though:

• Usually the wireless router will also be the base point for your internet connection, so site it near the phone line, which will need to be cabled.
• Keep the router more than five centimetres or so away from electrical sockets and wiring- they are sources of major interference.
• There definitely is such a thing as a “good” router and a “bad” router. Costs for wireless routers are currently between £45 and £120, and you do get what you pay for. Spend in the £80 range and you will almost certainly save yourself future complications.

And if you do have connection problems, move the unit several feet away. It is possible to buy signal testers, but they’re really only for business use. For home wireless, a quick re-arrangement should do the job just fine.