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Is there any other options to improve our signal or extend the signal throughout the home with wireless extenders? Anything else you can think of to help...

I have a very crowded neighborhood with wireless. I ran several tests and transferring files internally over wireless results in 1MB/s dropping to kilobytes. IStumbler shows that there are 4-5 on channel 11, 6 on channel 6 and 3 on channel 1. Most of the signal strength's vary from 22db to as much as 44db.

At this point none are on 5Gz channels. 5Gz gets 10Mb/s transfer rates but does terrible on the second floor. But it's clear.

Is it better to use a crowded 2.4GHz Wi-Fi channel 1, 6, 11 or "unused" 3, 4, 8, or 9?

Community
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jason
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1 Answers1

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The advice I seen recommends using 1, 6, or 11 even if they are crowded. In my case the least crowed has 6 active hosts. There are a few hosts on other channels as well.

When I initially added 5GHz to my WiFi I had a poor signal. After a bit of research I found out the the lower channels have power restrictions when multiple antennas are used. I moved to a higher channel and got better signal levels.

Power restrictions and available channels depend on the country you are in.

BillThor
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  • Channel 11 is worse but 6 works but very slow. I was more looking for a solution that I can use for making 6 better or possibly channel 1. – jason Jul 09 '15 at 04:55
  • @jason Based on occupancy, channel 1 is likely best. If you have multiple antennas on your router, you may find a higher channel on the 5GHz band is best. – BillThor Jul 10 '15 at 00:05
  • I purchased an 5 gz with multiple antennas and things are fast now. Ea8500 linksys – jason Jul 13 '15 at 21:12