could someone help me understand how to choose the best channel for my router? Thanx!
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That's a bit complicated. Theory is that you should choose only a non-overlapping channel (for US 1,6 and 11).
It's supposedly better to share a non-overlapping channel with someone else that use a neighboring channel that partially overlaps.
The reason is Wi-Fi has special method that allows two or more different networks to co-exist on the same channel however the method doesn't work against plain noise which is what a network on an overlapping channel is.
I realize that up to this point you probably still don't understand a thing but I'm getting there...
My recommendation is to download inSSIDer survey channels and choose one that's relatively free and if possible has no neighboring channels that are used.
The best way is to check all channels by setting router to the channel in question and check how strong the signal is (ming you -37 is better than -45). The reason for this is that inSSIDer shows only Wi-Fi devices but 2.4GHz range is used by other devices too- bluetooth, cordless phones, child monitors and so on- inSSIDer won't show those devices on the graph.
If your router is capable of dual band and limited range is not an issue use 5GHz band.
I'll elaborate on this issue more in an upcoming wireless guide. -
You could always just check which channel is the most used in your area and pick a different one. Or just go through the channels and check your speeds. For the first idea I had a broadcom utility thing that showed which channel the wifi's in my area are using. The same can be done using the dw utility as well. But I mean if you're happy with your speeds surfing, streaming, and other misc use than you really don't need to be fussed. You can always do a speed test as well.
Best channel choice
Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by mickroys, Sep 25, 2011.