Madtown
join:2008-04-26
Madera, CA
| Wireless Networks in Apartment complex question Re: Channels
Right now we only have 2 Wireless Networks around here within range, one is mine the othe is one of the neighbors, they have it on Ch 1, mine is on Ch 6, but let say if one day, everyone (or just about) get a wireless network, what the best channel to have it on? |
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muiredised
ESSE QUAM VIDERI
join:2007-06-11
Tacoma, WA
| Which channel is best? There may be no real way to answer that.
As illustrated by the image above the 2.4GHz band has 14 channels of which 1-11 are allowed to be used in North America. The channels overlap which means adjacent channels will cause interference with one another. There are effectively three solidly independent channels 1, 6, and 11.
2wire devices tend to not want to give you full power when set to use either channels 1 or 11 so typically 2wire users choose 2 or 10 as alternatives. The overlap with channel 6 is small at that point but is still there. I personally do not like to use channel 6 because you are going to get interference at both ends. Neighbors using channels 3 and 8 will both interfere with you whereas if you choose channel 10 or 11 only the neighbor on channel 8 will interfere. So it's a matter of finding what works best for you and going with it.
As you can probably tell, when it comes to apartments the 2.4GHz spectrum can get quite cluttered. There is really no way around this issue, it's the nature of the beast. You can choose 802.11a products which operate in the 5.4GHz range but they have caveats and limitations as well. The best we can hope for is that users will be responsible and set their radio power at the minimum needed for satisfactory performance. As soon as everyone maxs out their power levels we just have a fog of microwave energy that interferes with everything. Then the next countermeasure is high gain and directional antennae which may solve a problem for one user while exacerbating it for another.
My advice.... pull cable.
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