>No protection from Thargoid brain-probe beams, mind
You don't know that.
Tinfoil hat wearer? Here's what to slap on your walls: wallpaper that keeps Wi-Fi signals boxed in - and, maybe, alien brain-probe waves out. As you know, setting up a solid Wi-Fi password is never enough: Illuminati aliens can bypass such menial protection techniques. With this Wi-Fi blocking wallpaper, though, hacking into …
> previous "stealth wallpapers" developed for the defence sector cost roughly £500 per square metre, the researchers reckon rolls of this new decor will be reasonably priced,
It's probably exactly the same stuff, made in the same way by the same people. The only difference is this is closer to the true price, without the added "overheads" of dealing with a government department that has an infinite supply of money at its disposal that it's determined to (over)spend.
"and leave yourself with no internet connection?"
By "network cable" I mean the Ethernet cable that connects the wireless access point to the LAN.
If your wireless access point is also your router/DSL modem, then you will have to get another patch cable to connect your computer to the router.
If you have a combined wireless/modem/router that has no Ethernet ports, then you have made an unlucky purchasing decision and you will have to redecorate with the attractive tin wallpaper featured in the article.
Maybe on some types of construction, but most British houses are built from an outer wall of brick and an inner one of concrete blocks. Insulation consists of injecting foam or rockwool between the inner and outer skin - not very easy to add a foil layer to that.
(Timber frame is getting more common, but there's a lot of masonry houses around).
Well actually there are quite a few newer houses that use foil-backed plasterboard on the interior walls. I don't know the real reason why they make that stuff but it can cause havoc when you WANT to get a WIFi signal throughout your house.
The exterior walls though: we make those out of slightly more permanent materials like bricks.
slightly more permanent materials like bricks
I used to live in a five hundred year old house that was built mostly from wood, straw and mud. It seemed pretty permanent to me. We used bricks because we ran out of wood. We use concrete because it's quicker and cheaper. I'm not sure permanence has much to do with it.
Apologies for flying off at a tangent but since the original article is an obvious hoax I thought building techniques might be more interesting. So ... ummm ... what's your favourite recipe for lime render?
"It could make you look a little daft that way, but if you're fitting the walls of your home with Wi-Fi blocking wallpaper, how ridiculous you appear to your fellow peer(s) is probably the least of your worries. ®"
LOL. Exactly that. I vote this for the most pointless product of the year.
As said above, paranoid people are fine, they just need to use optical fibers only. Really tricky to get the signal if not inside your home. Great security. Oh, yes, and they need to read the interweb to know how to disable WIFI on the box/router, which apparently didn't come to the poor minds of the manufacturer of this wallpaper.
Only marginal use of this would be exams rooms or similar places where mobile phones or WIFI are/should be prohibited, but this is a niche market. And that's apparently not the selling point they're betting on ...