Wifi status indicator

Check the channels they are using - then choose something else

Wavemon scan reports in part :DD:8D 63%, -66 dBm, ch 6, 2437 MHz 1 sta, 28% c hGiants Guest 22:FD:13:14:DD:8E 63%, -66 dBm, ch 6, 2437 MHz 28% chan, Ra dmillerhome2 F0:72:EA:49:C6:4A 63%, -66 dBm, ch 6, 2437 MHz ESS, Radio M eATT5Zavd8s 08:9B:B9:01:B7:14 60%, -68 dBm, ch 6, 2437 MHz 9 sta, 58% c hd-link.zefox.net 00:13:46:86:6D:0C 84%, -51 dBm, ch 2, 2417 MHz ESS │

I'm on channel 2 and seemingly have it to myself.

Experiments using a metal mixing bowl about 12 inches across allowed me to increase the received signal to -40 dBm and "signal quality" to 70/70. For a while the wifi performance seemed to improve. Next morning the signal was still as high, but there were periods of slow response and complete dropouts when the link went away entirely. Eventually I got rid of the reflector and things went back to normal. That was when wavemon reported that rfkill wouldn't allow wlan0 to start. Could I have been overloading the tranciever?

Thanks for writing,

bob prohaska

No.

WiFi smears itself over a wide spectrum and all other wifis appear as 'in band noise' to a greater or lesser extent.

Since data packets are I think cryptographically signed and checksummed, the chances of a given packet getting corrupted and needing a retransmit goes up as the number of adjacent stations does.

Similar to mobile cells.

Helps but does not totally cure

Don't wifi connections change which channels they use frequently? Unless you control all the nearby routers, I don't think it would help a ton..

Good routers monitor nearby signals, and will change channel to avoid conflicts. With some you can override this

No. They dont. You assign a (centre) channel to a wifi station. I t spreads a lot either side, but the centre is the centre

Ive never ever found a router that does that. And my router us VERY good

That doesn't work well, the router may detect a competing signal and change to channel which looks better where it is, but your clients some distance away may suffer more interference on this new channel as they are closer to another access point. Also if several nearby routers are using this technique you may find your channel frequently, and performance varying greatly day to day.

Because 5GHz doesn't travel as far, especially through walls, it's easier. Generally everyone will be using the default setup of an 80Mhz wide channel at 36, so pick 54 instead. If that's also use check which other non overlapping channels are valid in your location (varies due to interference with radar).

To pick the best one of the three, check the signal strength of competing networks, not at the router, but where your clients are located as that makes more of a difference. Use the channel with the weakest competing signals. On Linux iwconfig will show the signal strength and link quality of the connected access point, and iwlist scan will display information on all the access points it can see.

---druck

Foe at least android phones there is a free app called wifi analyser or something which shows/lists channel spectrums on at least 2.4GHz.

I now use this one (no adverts and open source)

instead of the farproc one

Weird, maybe it was just the corporate wifi that did that..

Now THAT I can believe. Having sat in a hospital with over 40 different WIFI points all with different SSIDS...spread fairly evenly over the spectrum... I cant see NHS staff doing any setup and contractors probly send in a PFY.

A great app, I've used it a lot.

Unfortunately a recent Android update has throttled the amount of scanning an app can do, so if you try to leave it running and wander around the house to measure signal strength, you find it stops after a few seconds and needs restarting. It's not just that app, but the alternatives too.

---druck

Both corporate and some consumer access points offer automatic channel selection, where it will pick a channel which appears to have less interference.

As I point out in my other post, it doesn't always make the best choices for clients, and if other APs also do it, you get a never ending game of WiFi musical chairs.

---druck

You can turn scan throttling off, by going into developer mode.

I just tested it on android 14. It said it worked in Wifi Analyzer. I'm not sure how much it improved scanning.

Thanks, I'd been meaning to find that setting an turn it off.

---druck

Automatic channel setting with the option to overrule. Mine has it, I've switched it off as it forces connected devices to also dynamically switch channels. So: Pick the "cleanest" channel at your router and make it fixed. Do the same for possible accesspoint (best is "the same" channel to allow seamless takeover).

My router has an 'auto' setting for channel. Is that it? Why would anyine use it?