Getting too close takes you out of the "far field" and into the "near field"[1] where the device just won't work at all. It's probably actually connecting via r

Getting too close takes you out of the "far field" and into the "near field"[1] where the device just won't work at all. It's probably actually connecting via reflections from the walls if stuck right on top of the router. You need to be at least 7.5cm away from a 5Ghz router with 15cm antennas to be in the far field, and anything within about 4.5cm will be entirely inside the reactive near field (and have very poor coupling with standard antennas designed for far field use). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_and_far_field https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_and_far_field