Wifi channels and which to use for optimization

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RoachForLife

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Good morning all. So I apologize in advance this may be a super basic question but here goes.

So you guys helped me last week repurpose 3 of my old routers into wired APs around my home. I want to optimize the channels for the wifi. What I am unsure about is, since they all share the same network ultimately, are the channels for the wifi less important? I understand competing wifi's from my neighbors for example I want to try to manage around but now I have 4 routers in the mix how critical is it to look into? My thinking tells me it would still make a difference because traffic is traffic but wasn't sure if it was a lower hit as they share the network together.

Also assuming just the 3 main 2.4 channels, and 4 APs, what is the general rule of thumb for assigning? Because 2 for sure would need to go onto the same channel. Should I may take the total channels (mine and my neighbors) and almost give a point system (say 1-100) and then add each wifi signal to try to level the overall load at each channel? ALso to complicate, of my 4 routers, really the main Netgear AC will do the majority of the heavy lifting, using the 3 new repurposed just for light switches and whatnot that may be more on outskirts of the home.

Anyhow any tips on how to configure this to optimize things would be appreciated. Thanks all
 
The days of statically assigning channels is over because most of the time the other devices you're trying to avoid conflicting with are set to 'auto' and hop around. So if you also don't set to 'auto' and let it hop around, you can get stuck with a collision.

I learned this the hard way when I had 100+ aps visible inside our apartment in a new complex. After everyone moved in and got comcast, there were 6x aps for each tenant and it was impossible to find a clear channel at any point in time. I would watch everything constantly jumping around and had no choice but to let ours do the same. In the end, that wasn't enough, so I doubled our bandwidth to 'get the wife her wifi back'. :cautious:
 
SamirD said:
The days of statically assigning channels is over because most of the time the other devices you're trying to avoid conflicting with are set to 'auto' and hop around. So if you also don't set to 'auto' and let it hop around, you can get stuck with a collision.

I learned this the hard way when I had 100+ aps visible inside our apartment in a new complex. After everyone moved in and got comcast, there were 6x aps for each tenant and it was impossible to find a clear channel at any point in time. I would watch everything constantly jumping around and had no choice but to let ours do the same. In the end, that wasn't enough, so I doubled our bandwidth to 'get the wife her wifi back'. :cautious:
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Yeah, pretty much the only solution is use Ethernet or move to a less crowded area. I wish more apartment complexes ran their own networks to avoid congestion. Anyone with an actual need for one could just run their own instead of having 10,000 routers fighting over the same waves.
 
KamikazePlatypus said:
Yeah, pretty much the only solution is use Ethernet or move to a less crowded area. I wish more apartment complexes ran their own networks to avoid congestion. Anyone with an actual need for one could just run their own instead of having 10,000 routers fighting over the same waves.
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Luckily it was a brand new building and they had run dual ethernet jacks to each room...and then terminated the wires on a telephone block. :mad: I swapped that out to an ethernet one and had wired ethernet everywhere--wife was the only one on wireless. Pretty much the only way I roll since wired>wireless any day of the week.
 
Other issue is that everyone just sets their APs to max power, when (especially in apartments) that isn't necessary for coverage. If more folks would power down a bit, it'd help.
 
Thanks all. I am actually in a single family home in the suburbs. Should I still set to Auto? Thanks
 
Use the primary 3 channels (1, 6, 11) and set the two farthest from each other to the same channel.
 
I'm in a medium sized single fam house also, and typically have around 9-12 devices on WiFi, depending on who is home and what device they are using at any given moment...

Both mine & my wife's desktop rigs are ethernet only (cause we do work stuff on them), and the youngins lappy's can have/use either. But I keep mine & the wife's phones & tablets on 5GHZ band on the same channel, since we are physically closer to the router, but the youngins wireless stuff are on the 2.4ghz band since they are further away from the router (downstairs rooms) and on distant channels just in case...

Occasionally, I will check for what channels in da hood are the most crowded and adjust accordingly, but since we are in the middle of a college town, this can vary from day to day, but so far, we have had pretty good luck with the above arrangement :D
 
RoachForLife said:
Thanks all. I am actually in a single family home in the suburbs. Should I still set to Auto? Thanks
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If you can see any other access points inside your home that are not yours, I would use auto because those are also probably using auto. If you set something static, then the other APs will have a tendency to 'stomp' on your signal whenever they change and then you'll have random issues that will drive you nuts.
 
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