Is there a Wifi interference testing app?

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#2581873 9-Oct-2020 12:35

sbiddle:

quickymart:

Thanks for all the tips so far. I've had the wifi on channel 6 since last night and doesn't seem to be any issues so far, so...🤞

Also I saw someone mention 40Mhz, and that's what my router is running on - should that be 20? It's always been on 40 with no issues (until now).

You should never never never never never never never ever run 2.4GHz WiFi on 40MHz channels. I don't even know vendors include this as an option. 2.4GHz should only ever use 20MHz channels.

I agree, however what is your reasoning for this (for everyone's education). Cheers

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nztim

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#2581877 9-Oct-2020 12:51

dacraka:

sbiddle:

You should never never never never never never never ever run 2.4GHz WiFi on 40MHz channels. I don't even know vendors include this as an option. 2.4GHz should only ever use 20MHz channels.

I agree, however what is your reasoning for this (for everyone's education). Cheers

Because unless you live in the middle of no where with no one else around you will get interference

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Oblivian

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#2581880 9-Oct-2020 12:56

Earlier Ubiquity like mine auto-set it depending on profile chosen even. But it breaks some wifi on tvs/mobile devices..

Channel Width Displays the spectral width of the radio
channel. Supported wireless channel spectrum widths:
• 5 MHz is the channel spectrum with the width of 5 MHz
(known as Quarter-Rate mode).
• 10 MHz is the channel spectrum with the width of 10
MHz (known as Half-Rate mode).
• 20 MHz is the standard channel spectrum width
(selected by default).
• 40 MHz is the channel spectrum with the width of 40
MHz.
• Auto 20/40MHz (Only applicable in Station or Station
WDS mode.) It offers better compatibility.

Last time I scanned the house there was none on 40, but they weren't all on 1,6,11 that's for sure.

jamesrt

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#2581883 9-Oct-2020 12:58

Oblivian: Last time I scanned the house there was none on 40, but they weren't all on 1,6,11 that's for sure.

20/40MHz is a bandwidth setting, 1, 6, and 11 are channels; they are different things.

nztim

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#2581885 9-Oct-2020 13:03

Oblivian:

Earlier Ubiquity like mine auto-set it depending on profile chosen even. But it breaks some wifi on tvs/mobile devices..

Channel Width Displays the spectral width of the radio
channel. Supported wireless channel spectrum widths:
• 5 MHz is the channel spectrum with the width of 5 MHz
(known as Quarter-Rate mode).
• 10 MHz is the channel spectrum with the width of 10
MHz (known as Half-Rate mode).
• 20 MHz is the standard channel spectrum width
(selected by default).
• 40 MHz is the channel spectrum with the width of 40
MHz.
• Auto 20/40MHz (Only applicable in Station or Station
WDS mode.) It offers better compatibility.

Last time I scanned the house there was none on 40, but they weren't all on 1,6,11 that's for sure.

40 or 20 is the width of the channel, for example if you use channel 6 (2437mhz) it 40mhz will use 2417 to 2457 and 20mhz would use 2427 to 2447

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Oblivian

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#2581890 9-Oct-2020 13:21

jamesrt:

Oblivian: Last time I scanned the house there was none on 40, but they weren't all on 1,6,11 that's for sure.

20/40MHz is a bandwidth setting, 1, 6, and 11 are channels; they are different things.

Well aware, but overlapping is the end result. And noise.

The majority appear to be the ISP deployed routers too. So a lot of them aren't as smart as they make out, auto-switching to all the wrong channels.

Interestingly, despite the normal advice to avoid overlapping channels - of course leaving pretty much 1,6,11. This sort of thing pops up

No no, pic 7+

https://help.slingshot.co.nz/hc/en-us/articles/360017452514-How-to-select-the-best-Wi-Fi-channel

sbiddle

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#2581892 9-Oct-2020 13:33

dacraka:

sbiddle:

You should never never never never never never never ever run 2.4GHz WiFi on 40MHz channels. I don't even know vendors include this as an option. 2.4GHz should only ever use 20MHz channels.

I agree, however what is your reasoning for this (for everyone's education). Cheers

40MHz channels came about as part of the 802.11n standard which covers both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. In the 5GHz band channels were spaced 20MHz apart so bonding two channels was a great way of increasing performance. In 5GHz 40MHz channels are pretty much regarded as the norm, although if you want better coverage and aren't worried about throughput you're better switching to 20MHz as you'll get another +3dB gain

In the 2.4GHz band however it's a very different story. 2.4GHz channels are spaced 5Mhz apart - 2412, 2417, 2422, 2427, 2432, 2437, 2442, 2452, 2457 and 2462 so a 22MHz channel takes up multiple channels hence the reason you should only ever use 1,6 and 11 because they're non overlapping. Technically speaking in NZ where you can use 1-13 you can use 1,5,9, and 13 which are not overlapping but this just clashes with 1,6 and 11 and causes CCI.

By joining 2 channels together you're basically just using a big chunk of spectrum and because 2.4GHz is so overcrowded right now, in most environment due to the way the extra channel works you will typically find that a 40MHz channel on 2.4GHz will deliver worse performance than a 20MHz channel.

K8Toledo

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#2582138 9-Oct-2020 21:54

nztim:

Because unless you live in the middle of no where with no one else around you will get interference

Maybe that's where he lives :P

I'm rural, 40Mhz not so much a problem here like in urban areas.

quickymart

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#2582175 10-Oct-2020 07:46

Thanks again for all the tips. I've been on channel 6 for the last few days and it seems to be fine, and I'll also change the bandwidth to 20MHz as well to see if that makes a difference.

Mph

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#2585722 15-Oct-2020 09:36

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ubnt.usurvey&hl=en&gl=US

quickymart

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#2589585 20-Oct-2020 21:50

While no dropouts were happening, buffering was an issue on channel 6. Changed back to channel 1 tonight (yes, with 20Mhz) and lo and behold we're back to dropouts.

I'm trying it on 11 now to see if this makes a difference.
Here are my wifi settings if anyone would like to take a look and tell me if anything is amiss here?

sbiddle

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#2589624 21-Oct-2020 07:28

At the end of the day regardless of what you do it's still 2.4GHz - and in some environments 2.4GHz is simply so badly congested that maintaining a connection stable enough for things such as streaming is simply not possible.

quickymart

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#2589707 21-Oct-2020 12:19

Frustrating this is this all worked fine until last week - I suspect someone's moved in nearby and it's interfering with my wifi.

I'll see what I can do, otherwise might need to look at a new router.

nztim

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#2590011 21-Oct-2020 19:59

quickymart:

Frustrating this is this all worked fine until last week - I suspect someone's moved in nearby and it's interfering with my wifi.

I'll see what I can do, otherwise might need to look at a new router.

I really want to sunset 2.4 and run 5.8 only I was advised against it tho

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

quickymart

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#2595344 31-Oct-2020 12:11

Oddly, it's only one device in the house (a Samsung Galaxy S9) that seems to be having the most issues. Other devices (a different Samsung, Nokia 3, iPad) aren't having any dropouts at all.

I'm trying 2.4GHz, channel 4, 20MHz. Will see how it goes.

Edit: no joy, dropouts are even worse. Reading here (https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/galaxy-s9-s9/s9-wifi-keeps-dropping-anyone-have-a-solution/td-p/1296256) someone had success turning off 802.11n on their router...but I can't see an option to do this on my router (Netcomm NF4V).

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