Researchers in France have developed a wall covering which blocks wi-fi signals without blocking cell phone or other radio communications.
With plans to bring a commercial product to market sometime next year, the researchers at the Grenoble Institute of Technology claim the wallpaper will be comparable in price to normal wall coverings. The wallpaper uses a coating of conductive silver crystals to block the frequency range used in wi-fi routers, keeping any wi-fi network in a covered room secure from outside connections.
Read More: Ars Technica
(Image and source: Ars Technica)
Must-See Small Cool Homes: Week Two
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Commercial Flour Sa...
A Real Dinner, Fast: 5 Favorite Types of Almost-No-Work Meals
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
I'd certainly be interested since I work from home. Will be on the look-out for this.
This is not needed. Protecting your wifi connection with a password is better and safer.
windows?!
What? Why? This is weird.
I can see this being useful in some highly-secure companies and locations. It would be good for keeping wifi out, too, if internet access needs to be controlled.
I use wifi when I'm working in the yard. I agree, a good password is a much better answer.
@hzajac13 @txdave13 In a dense urban area I could see some really good applications for this, not necessary to protect your network, but to block out the signal from other networks which can cause some issues due to all of the noise in the spectrum.
Yes, the dense urban area thing. Sure, my wifi is protected, but I can see something like a dozen other WAPs listed. If I put up this wallpaper, it would probably block them out, or at least attenuate the signals a good deal. (It would also help my neighbors, by keeping my wifi signals from interfering with theirs.)
This is an issue in my rowhouse, where I only have neighbors on the sides. The problem is even worse in apartment buildings where you could have neighbors upstairs and downstairs, too.
If you don't need the network outside of your home, how would a password be more secure? An available network that has a password or a network that doesn't exist?
Having a secure network would definitely be an easier, and likely cheaper alternative though. Password protect your network and don't broadcast your SSID.
As someone else mentioned though, what about windows?