I'm a Systems Reliability and DevOps engineer for Netdata Inc. When not working, I enjoy studying linguistics and history, playing video games, and cooking all kinds of international cuisine.
It's 802.11ax (WiFi 6 as the WiFi Alliance is calling it).
I have a really nice (400 USD nice) AP with 8 transceivers.
I have very little interference since I'm the only person in my neighborhood who goes to the trouble of manually selecting WiFi channels.
I've done a lot of work performance-tuning the router.
In other words, I've gone to a lot of trouble to ensure that wireless works very well in my home. I got kind of lucky too because I upgraded most of my hardware to 802.11ax and got the nice AP literally just before the shelter-in-place orders went out where I live. I'm also a bit of an odd case though because until I get my internet service upgraded from the grandfathered-in legacy plan I'm on right now, WiFi is never going to be my issue with network performance (I'm on a 20Mb/s down 2Mb/s up DOCSIS link). Most of the reason I've gone to so much trouble for good WiFi is local transfers (I need to test across a lot of platforms regularly, and I'm running 30+ VM's on my home server for that purpose that I need to transfer data between regularly).
Any good advice on how to find the proper channels? I have a router/adsl-modem with crappy wifi that we use upstairs (somehow the copper gets in here) and a (theoretically good quality) AP connected to the same router via ethernet downstairs. I don't think they interfere, but sometimes my connection drops when I'm downstairs.
Tech Lead/Team Lead. Senior WebDev.
Intermediate Grade on Computer Systems-
High Grade on Web Application Development-
MBA (+Marketing+HHRR).
Studied a bit of law, economics and design
Location
Spain
Education
Higher Level Education Certificate on Web Application Development
You can use an App called WiFi Analyzer (from windows store on your laptop) or one of many on Android Store (i suppose you'll find some on mac store too but i'm not into iOS since 4 years ago).
Then you'll see which channels are used by your neighbors so are more saturated, same on specific band too.
I recommend you to set 2,4GHz on channel 6 or 7 if are not saturated, and 5GHz on the highest possible.
If you use your AP as wifi extender (bridge mode) it must work all ok, if you use it as AP "as is" with different SSID, it can cause interference if both are on the same channel/band or near one of another.
If you need more wall-penetration signal, set the wifi on the lowest possible channel (note some devices may not work on channel 1 to 3, if 3,4GHz or below 36 if 5GHz, depending on your country law that applies to wireless bands) and set the AP as Bridge mode (wifi extender). It should work fine.
Another option (preferred, more powerful) is to use a PLC on the main router to send signal to another router upstairs, then you can set the main one on the lowest channel (that works with all your devices and its not saturated) and upstairs one on the highest possible (with same criteria).
Hope it helps you.
@joelbonetr
- when I switch to WiFi Analyzer's suggested channels, the next time I check, it suggests I go back to the channel I was using before the switch. Have you ever had that experience?
Tech Lead/Team Lead. Senior WebDev.
Intermediate Grade on Computer Systems-
High Grade on Web Application Development-
MBA (+Marketing+HHRR).
Studied a bit of law, economics and design
Location
Spain
Education
Higher Level Education Certificate on Web Application Development
hahaha yes, of course, because when you switch to a channel, you will have a strong signal source near you on this channel (A.K.A. your router). The best way to check it out is shutting down your router, then analyzing and finally setting the correct channel / band. =D
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Wireless, except:
In other words, I've gone to a lot of trouble to ensure that wireless works very well in my home. I got kind of lucky too because I upgraded most of my hardware to 802.11ax and got the nice AP literally just before the shelter-in-place orders went out where I live. I'm also a bit of an odd case though because until I get my internet service upgraded from the grandfathered-in legacy plan I'm on right now, WiFi is never going to be my issue with network performance (I'm on a 20Mb/s down 2Mb/s up DOCSIS link). Most of the reason I've gone to so much trouble for good WiFi is local transfers (I need to test across a lot of platforms regularly, and I'm running 30+ VM's on my home server for that purpose that I need to transfer data between regularly).
Any good advice on how to find the proper channels? I have a router/adsl-modem with crappy wifi that we use upstairs (somehow the copper gets in here) and a (theoretically good quality) AP connected to the same router via ethernet downstairs. I don't think they interfere, but sometimes my connection drops when I'm downstairs.
Other tuning tips are welcome as well.
You can use an App called WiFi Analyzer (from windows store on your laptop) or one of many on Android Store (i suppose you'll find some on mac store too but i'm not into iOS since 4 years ago).
Then you'll see which channels are used by your neighbors so are more saturated, same on specific band too.
I recommend you to set 2,4GHz on channel 6 or 7 if are not saturated, and 5GHz on the highest possible.
If you use your AP as wifi extender (bridge mode) it must work all ok, if you use it as AP "as is" with different SSID, it can cause interference if both are on the same channel/band or near one of another.
If you need more wall-penetration signal, set the wifi on the lowest possible channel (note some devices may not work on channel 1 to 3, if 3,4GHz or below 36 if 5GHz, depending on your country law that applies to wireless bands) and set the AP as Bridge mode (wifi extender). It should work fine.
Another option (preferred, more powerful) is to use a PLC on the main router to send signal to another router upstairs, then you can set the main one on the lowest channel (that works with all your devices and its not saturated) and upstairs one on the highest possible (with same criteria).
Hope it helps you.
@joelbonetr - when I switch to WiFi Analyzer's suggested channels, the next time I check, it suggests I go back to the channel I was using before the switch. Have you ever had that experience?
hahaha yes, of course, because when you switch to a channel, you will have a strong signal source near you on this channel (A.K.A. your router). The best way to check it out is shutting down your router, then analyzing and finally setting the correct channel / band. =D