[SOLVED] Can I use two wireless routers on two different modems on two different ISPs?

[Mootant]

We have two different ISPs. One has a Netgear Nighthawk wireless router. I was thinking about replacing the ethernet router on the other ISP with another Netgear Nighthawk wireless router. The two routers will be sitting right next to each other in the same room. Will they interfere with each other if they have completely different SSIDs?

 

[Ralston18]

Interference will be/would be more a result of the frequency and channels being used.

What will actually distinguish the two routers are their individual MACs.

FYI:

https://www.digitalcitizen.life/layman-guide-solving-wireless-network-interference-problems/

https://www.lifewire.com/wifi-channel-number-change-to-avoid-interference-818208

You can easily google for more information, explanation, and detail as you feel necessary.

 

[bill001g]

If you are very careful about assigning radio channels it will work. The problem is modern routers are pigs when it comes to bandwidth. By default most routers run 40mhz channels on the 2.4g band. There is only 60 total so 2 signals will not fit. On 5g it is slightly better but they use 80mhz bands and there are only 2 blocks in most countries. Now if you use wifi6 it uses 160mhz bands so again there is no way to not overlap.

This assumes you get it all to yourself and your neighbors don't want to use any

On 2.4 set it to 20mhz channels so you can fit 2. It all depends on the speed you need. The reason they run things like 80 or 160mhz chanels instead of 20mhz is more data will fit. This it the main reason wifi6 is so much faster.

 

[Mootant]

This Netgear wifi router has three bands, one 2.4 ghz band and two 5 ghz bands, all three with unique SSIDs.

This assumes you get it all to yourself and your neighbors don't want to use any

Well, unless they can hack thru my gnarly passwords, they can't get in. And our houses are on 1.5 acre lots so the houses are all pretty far apart.

 

[bill001g]

That means that one router is using all the bandwidth by itself. If you add another wifi router it will conflict unless you in effect disable parts of the bandwidth on the netgear.

It isn't your neighbors hacking it is that they even exist. Their signals will interfere. You should have less issues than people that live in apartments with interference.

 

[Mootant]

I logged into the Netgear router and this is how the bands are configured. NOTE: All three bands have unique SSIDs.

Band 1 - 2.4 ghz - channel AUTO (11 possible channels)
Band 2 - 5 ghz - channel 44 (4 possible channels)
Band 3 - 5 ghz - channel 153 (4 possible channels)

So, if I change Band 1 to force it to use a specific channel (instead of AUTO) and then on the second Netgear wifi router I buy I ensure that the three bands use different channels, then the new router shouldn't interfere with the first router?

I really like this Netgear Nighthawk wireless router -- easy to set up and works perfectly -- so far.

 

[bill001g]

Well sort of but not really unless you cut your bandwidth.

On 2.4g those channel numbers represent 5mhz of bandwidth. The defualt 40mhz setting uses 8 of those so called "channels"

On 5g it is a similar story except the channel represent 20mhz of bandwidth. Each radio though is going to try to use 80mhz. So each radio is using all 4 channels in that range. There are actually 5 channels in the second block but that extra 20mhz is of little use.

So your single router is attempting to use almost every available channel there is and a second router has nothing left to use without conflict.

You can change the channel width used to say 20mhz but it will cut your speed in half or more.

The solution is "coming soon". Wifi6e can run in a the 6g radio band. There are 9 or more channel blocks that are 160mhz wide. Of course wifi6 uses 2 times what wifi5 (802.11ac) uses at 160mhz but at least you can get a lot more radios running without overlap.

 

[Mootant]

OK, thanks.

 

[IBM5081]

We have two different ISPs. One has a Netgear Nighthawk wireless router. I was thinking about replacing the ethernet router on the other ISP with another Netgear Nighthawk wireless router. The two routers will be sitting right next to each other in the same room. Will they interfere with each other if they have completely different SSIDs?

If possible, consider a dual-WAN router and connect both ISP modems to the dual WAN router. No interference.