Quote:
Originally Posted by zx10guy
Microwaves, baby monitors, cordless phones, etc run over 2.4 GHz. Switching to 5GHz is one solution to get around interference from these devices.
Neighboring WiFi networks can also cause interference on 2.4 GHz, but also on 5 GHz. It's more likely to happen on 2.4 GHz than 5 but can still happen over 5 GHz.
A fix to help with neighboring RF interference on both 2.4 and 5 is to locate a channel on either which is not being heavily used to run your WiFi network on. You can figure this out by utilizing a WiFi tool which sniffs the RF space and gathers information on what devices are out there and what channel they're operating on. I have this free app I run on my Android phone called WiFi Analyzer which I use to do a crude site survey. Some wireless network devices will have that feature available for the network admin to use. The wireless system I have running in my house from Aruba Networks gives me the ability to do a full RF spectrum analysis by designating one of my wireless access points as the RF analyzer. As a feature of unified wireless systems is the ability for these systems to do an auto channel selection on both 2.4 and 5. These systems have intelligence in them where they monitor the RF space and do an automatic channel selection to avoid using noisy channels. I have not seen personally SOHO routers with this feature. One of the reasons why 5 GHz is preferred is because of more non overlapping channels available for one to use to avoid neighboring interference. 2.4 only has 3 non overlapping channels in the US to choose from (1, 6, and 11). So you can see how one can run into issues quickly using 2.4 GHz.
For 5 GHz, there are a ton more channels to choose from depending on the channel width (bonding) being used for the specific top end wireless speed you're trying to achieve which gets into a whole other rat hole. I'm attaching a chart which illustrates the number of available channels based on channel width.
Attachment 2211724 |
I should also note there is a friend in my area with the same fiber internet from the same ISP (ATT) and they have the SAME issue. It seems like it's a problem with the ATT equipment "main box" or wherever our signals ping when they leave our houses. We live 2 minutes apart.