WiFi Router Channel Selection? Rules?

Tony De

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Aug 8, 2015
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WiFi Router Channel Selection? Rules?
Hi, is there anything Definitive on using Channels in your Router? I have heard and read that you should ONLY use channels 1, 6 or 11 BUT I have also heard that is nonsense so which is it please? I have like 15 people (neighbors) on channel one and another 12 on 6 and also on 11 and then I see like a random one on 7 and a few more on differing channels. What I have also read was NEVER to go to any channel besides 1, 6 or 11 or I will be giving interference out to my neighbors and then if that is true, what the heck do I do if I have neighbors all over the map like I have? Is that True about the interference? Should I go door to door handing out pamphlets explaining why we all need to be on 1, 6 or 11 or is that all BS? Please help. Thank you
 
Solution
Your router and your end equipment would have to be dual band to get 5g. Technically it could be just 5g but I have never seen equipment that only runs on 5g. Older stuff though only runs on 2.4g.

Best bet would be to force your router to use 20mhz channels and then set it to 1,6,11.

Although it is not really this simple..when you set your router to channel 1 it actually uses channels 1-4. When you set it to channel 6 it uses channels 5-8. If you would set it channel 3 it would use 2-5. This means setting it to channel 3 overlaps all the people who set it to channel 1 and all the people who set it to channel 6.

Your goal is to try to overlap as few other people as possible. Trial and error is really the only way to select...
These days, modern WIFI router *should* select the proper channel for you automatically. How reliable is this auto-selection? Dunno.

IDEALLY, and that's the operative word, everybody should be using 1-6-11 and nothing else, BUT it should also be EVENLY STAGGERED. What's that b.s. you say? Ideally Apartment 1 is on Channel 1, AP2 on C6, AP3 on C11, and AP4 back to C1, which provides the maximum spacing for the two apartments on the same channel. Get the gist?
 
Even the 1,6,11 is based on old information.

The channels you see on a router are 5mhz wide. WiFi likes to use 20mhz. There is a total of 60mhz of bandwidth on the 2.4g band. The 1,6,11 numbers represent the best way to divide up the bandwidth.

Now for quite some time Wifi also has the option to use 40mhz of bandwidth. This means if uses the bottom 2/3 or the top 2/3. It is impossible for 2 devices to coexist and not overlap. What "channel" it is called varies based on router but the center is more or less channels 3 and channel 8/

Now the number of routers you see actually means nothing. The routers only send out tiny amounts of information saying what channel they are using. What is much more important is the actual data transfer you can not see. You could have 100 routers on channel 1 doing nothing and 1 users on channel 6 maxing out the bandwidth and channel 1 would be a better choice. I used to configure my router to put out many SSID to get people to choose other channels because they though the one I was using was over crowded.

There really is no way to avoid interference especially if you are using 40mhz of bandwidth. There are way too many people using wireless and pretty much you just have to suffer with the problems of over crowding.

Now used to be the solution was to move to 5g because there are many more channels there. In the 5g band the channels are actually 20mhz wide. Unfortunately the bandwidth pigs arrived to claim it all. 802.11ac uses 80mhz of bandwidth and there is in 170mhz total ignoring some special areas that can not be easily used. To make things even worse you have the newest triband routers that have 2 5g radios. So now a single person can use 40mhz out of 60mhz on 2.4g and 160 out of 170 on the 5g. Pretty much one person with a new router guarantees you get interference.
 

Tony De

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Aug 8, 2015
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10,545


No I get that and I appreciate you confirming what I read in the past but I also read recently that the channel selection is up to you and dont worry about being on 1,6 or 11 any longer and I was wondering if something had changed or it is just someone's opinion that you dont have to stick to 1 6 or 11 anymore and that is really not correct. I still dont know if I should venture off into channel 5 say because it is currently uninhabited or if that will just cause me or neighbors more issues. Right now, my internet has been acting strangely dropping signals and the such and I have troubleshooted everything else I can think of and I never remember there being this many people on each channel before so I dont know if it is too crowded or if I should change my channel and everything I read seems to conflict if I read more than 1 article so IDK. Thanks for your input. BTW, I am not in an apartment building, this is what I assume to be my street and close surroundings and I also wonder if someone else recently got onto a channel other than 1,6 or 11 and is giving us neighbors interference because there are quite a few not on 1, 6 or 11 anymore.
 

Tony De

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Aug 8, 2015
50
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10,545


Now that is some great info, thanks so much. One question if you dont mind? Should I try my router on channel 3 and/or 8 since that is really "the middle" if I understand you correctly or should I just stick with 1, 6 or my usual personal preference of 11? And one more thing. I have a 5ghz band, it never shows up to use it on like Xbox for example or I would use that instead of the 2.4 band. Is there something I am doing wrong because I never understood why all devices do not see my 5Ghz band. My Roku also never sees the 5ghz band and I have it set to send N and AC out into the wifi-sphere. Thanks again
 
Your router and your end equipment would have to be dual band to get 5g. Technically it could be just 5g but I have never seen equipment that only runs on 5g. Older stuff though only runs on 2.4g.

Best bet would be to force your router to use 20mhz channels and then set it to 1,6,11.

Although it is not really this simple..when you set your router to channel 1 it actually uses channels 1-4. When you set it to channel 6 it uses channels 5-8. If you would set it channel 3 it would use 2-5. This means setting it to channel 3 overlaps all the people who set it to channel 1 and all the people who set it to channel 6.

Your goal is to try to overlap as few other people as possible. Trial and error is really the only way to select the channel and it may vary based on time of day when your neighbors are using their wireless.
 
Solution

Tony De

Honorable
Aug 8, 2015
50
1
10,545
I am going to try your suggestions and I appreciate everyone's input on the topic. Thank you very much to all. It is much more clearer to what I am hoping to accomplish now.