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A few weeks back I noticed a huge network slow down at my shop. The speed had gone from 11mbps down to between 0 and 5 mbps. After some thought I realized that the wifi camera around the corner from the tp-link (my base wife receiver, which connects the shop to the house wifi) might be interfering as the problem started about the same time I installed it, so unplugged it and my wifi boosted to about 5 mbps.
For the most part, 5 mbps is pretty good, but I know I had seen it faster. I got to researching if there was a way to keep the two from conflicting without moving one of them and realized they were probably on the same channel causing interference for the tp-link (base unit).
For those that don't know much about wifi, most wifi networks are on the 2.4 ghz range and can run on channels 1 through 11. Newer wifi routers and computers are also running in the 5 ghz range, but not going to cover that here.
Now just because two base unit devices are on two different channels doesn't mean they won't cause interference with one another. A device can somewhat affect other devices when within 5 channels of one another. If possible you want to set your base unit devices to non-overlapping channels (channel 1, 6, or 11). The wavelengths on these channels are far enough apart not to affect the others.
The channels used are set on the base units, not typically on the devices that use them. The devices that connect to the base units typically automatically change to the channel that the base unit is on. So as shown with the camera, it being on a same or close channel, can cause interference with base unit device around the corner from it. Typically space between these two devices would have resolved any conflicts also, but probably would still have degraded performance at the base unit.
So, looking at each of my base units I found they were all set to "Auto" and all trying to use channel 6. I manually set the house to channel 6, put the shop on channel 1, and the tp-link on channel 11, none of which will overlap. I'm back to 11mbps at the shop. Funny thing was that it only affected download speed, upload was always at 4 to 5 mbps.
Anyway, thought this might help someone else here. If you don't have multiple base units or close neighbors, you shouldn't need to do anything. If you live in an area with neighbors very close to you (apartments, duplexes, city life), you may want to take a look at the the wifi connections around you and see if you may have a conflict with a neighbor's device that may be slowing your connection. There are some free apps for your pc/mac and smart phones that can help, mostly with seeing what channels your neighbors are using.
I use this one on my android device: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&hl=en
This is a decent one for PC and Mac: http://www.metageek.net/support/download-software/?utm_expid=190328-23
iPhone users...sorry, apple has removed all wifi analyser apps from the itunes store, so unless your phone is jail broken, you won't be able to install one.
For the most part, 5 mbps is pretty good, but I know I had seen it faster. I got to researching if there was a way to keep the two from conflicting without moving one of them and realized they were probably on the same channel causing interference for the tp-link (base unit).
For those that don't know much about wifi, most wifi networks are on the 2.4 ghz range and can run on channels 1 through 11. Newer wifi routers and computers are also running in the 5 ghz range, but not going to cover that here.
Now just because two base unit devices are on two different channels doesn't mean they won't cause interference with one another. A device can somewhat affect other devices when within 5 channels of one another. If possible you want to set your base unit devices to non-overlapping channels (channel 1, 6, or 11). The wavelengths on these channels are far enough apart not to affect the others.
The channels used are set on the base units, not typically on the devices that use them. The devices that connect to the base units typically automatically change to the channel that the base unit is on. So as shown with the camera, it being on a same or close channel, can cause interference with base unit device around the corner from it. Typically space between these two devices would have resolved any conflicts also, but probably would still have degraded performance at the base unit.
So, looking at each of my base units I found they were all set to "Auto" and all trying to use channel 6. I manually set the house to channel 6, put the shop on channel 1, and the tp-link on channel 11, none of which will overlap. I'm back to 11mbps at the shop. Funny thing was that it only affected download speed, upload was always at 4 to 5 mbps.
Anyway, thought this might help someone else here. If you don't have multiple base units or close neighbors, you shouldn't need to do anything. If you live in an area with neighbors very close to you (apartments, duplexes, city life), you may want to take a look at the the wifi connections around you and see if you may have a conflict with a neighbor's device that may be slowing your connection. There are some free apps for your pc/mac and smart phones that can help, mostly with seeing what channels your neighbors are using.
I use this one on my android device: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&hl=en
This is a decent one for PC and Mac: http://www.metageek.net/support/download-software/?utm_expid=190328-23
iPhone users...sorry, apple has removed all wifi analyser apps from the itunes store, so unless your phone is jail broken, you won't be able to install one.