What's new

Router Signal

  • SNBForums Code of Conduct

    SNBForums is a community for everyone, no matter what their level of experience.

    Please be tolerant and patient of others, especially newcomers. We are all here to share and learn!

    The rules are simple: Be patient, be nice, be helpful or be gone!

sandiegoboy

Occasional Visitor
I am looking for some advice. I am little confused as to the power of my router versus my neighbors when using a wifi analyzer
I have an ASUS AC68U w DDWRT in the family room in the second floor
I have an ASUS N56u in the main floor
I am using them on bridge mode and connected via ethernet
What puzzles me is below. This is according to an android app and I am sitting on my home office
My routers SSID is shown below
5G ASUSHOME5G on ch 40, 165
2.4 ASUSHOME on 3 and 8

What frustrates me the most is the relative signal of my router versus my neighbors INSIDE my own home.
Am I doing something wrong? I assume they can not crank up the power of their router (specially since so many appear so strong)


Screenshot_20200804-175102.png
Screenshot_20200804-175028.png
 
You're going to have more problems in that environment trying to coexist on channel 8 than you would if you switched to channel 1. Those powerful stations on 6 and 11 are overlapping you and your router may not be "cooperating" with those stations, which would make for poor performance. For 2.4 GHz stay on 1, 6, or 11.
 
Just from the pretty graphs, I would suggest Control Channel 11 @ 20MHz Channel Width instead. A stronger signal will make 'syncing' stronger and both networks faster, and the single 'Mango' AP showing can be effectively ignored.

Though, what an app shows on a handheld device in an arbitrary location within the WiFi environment is not indicative of what the router 'sees' and will base its performance on. A router doesn't know or care what a client sees and can't take that into account when it sets up its working parameters.

Not only that, but an 'app' can't consider any non-WiFi sources of interference either (or even actual WiFi sources but that are 'out of authority' of the local laws). So, we're left with just the pretty graphs.

As for the relative strengths of the various AP's around the home, that is just the best guess by the 'app' too. And distance makes the signal seem stronger too (even if it is not).

How to pick the best channel then? Simple. Use every control channel possible and keep notes on which one(s) worked the best in your environment and with your client devices.

Channels 1, 6, and 11 for the 2.4GHz band are easy (with just 3 channels). On the 5GHz band, each available channel must be tested. Not harder, just takes longer, and is why notes are recommended.

For the best long-term results, change the Control Channel and the bandwidth (if desired) and reboot the router. After the reboot and15 minutes of uptime, confirm that the selected channels are being used. Leave the router to these settings for one, two, or more days and keep good notes about the maximum speed possible, the responsiveness of the network, and the responsiveness of the client devices when surfing the web with them.

The longer you leave the router to these fixed test channels, the more likely you will 'force' other neighboring AP's to 'automatically' choose another channel to play on. Patience here really pays off. :)

HTH.
 
Your 2.4 Ghz is saturated. In a environment like that you really should try and eliminate any device that don't support 5 GHz and disable 2.4. Your 5 GHz is much more open and very usable.
 
We have no idea if the 2.4GHz band is 'saturated'. 10 AP's by themselves don't mean too much. :)
 
The longer you leave the router to these fixed test channels, the more likely you will 'force' other neighboring AP's to 'automatically' choose another channel to play on. Patience here really pays off. :)

In a perfect world yes. But i have seem many times were neighboring AP's will actually go to the worse possible channel. Sometimes follow near by signals.
 
@Kal-EL, yes, I have seen that too. That is why I test all channels available. :)
 
We have no idea if the 2.4GHz band is 'saturated'. 10 AP's by themselves don't mean too much. :)

Looking at the graph he posted i think its safe to say his 2.4 G is not good. The whole band is covered with loud signals.
 
Loud signals do not indicate saturated WiFi utilization though.

I'm sure there are many people on the forum that wish there were only 10 AP's around (including theirs).
 
Loud signals do not indicate saturated WiFi utilization though.

I'm sure there are many people on the forum that wish there were only 10 AP's around (including theirs).

I must admit here it's worse I can't even use 2.4 it's crippled by interference and neighboring routers. I only use the 5G band have for years and it's a much better experience. At times i can pull 600 mbps over wifi 5G.
 
How far are you from either router are you in relation to your home office? I'm guessing it's in the basement maybe?

Do you have ethernet there, or is that the spot you are using just for this signal strength reference?

Because your closest router @ channel 40 is showing 23m or about 70ft away! Now that value is more based on line of sight so wall and floor density exaggerate that number. (or maybe you do have a pretty big and wide home?)

If you are in fact looking for a stronger 5GHZ signal in your home office, and if possible, I'd try to move one of the AP's immediately above or below that room. I have an AP in my family room and my son's desk in his room is right above it, really only maybe 6-10ft separated by a drywall ceiling and wood floor. Signal strength is in the -40's, just slight less than being in the same room.
 
Loud signals do not indicate saturated WiFi utilization though.

I'm sure there are many people on the forum that wish there were only 10 AP's around (including theirs).
I seem to remember somebody posting about a tool that could actually measure WiFi utilization, but I can't recall the name of it.
 
To the question. The measurements were taking from my office with closed door. This is a modern detached home in a residential area (2014) home with drywalls. I am ~ 22feet away from the router on the same level (one wall/door) in between us.
This new measurement after changing channels for both modems
5G ASUSHOME5G on ch 40, 44
2.4 ASUSHOME on 1 and 6
I am still confused how my neighbors routers come so strongly to my home
PS on reading online, I disable WMM and it appeared to improve download throughput


Screenshot_20200805-143014.png
Screenshot_20200805-142953.png
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20200805-142953.png
    Screenshot_20200805-142953.png
    124.2 KB · Views: 165
On your 5Ghz, use channel 52 and channel 100.

40 and 44 occupy the same space at 80Mhz width, and other SSIDs, are in this space too. This is ok, but you have 80Mhz clear at channel 52 and channel 100 to use all to yourself, which is great!

This gives you 52 @ 80Mhz and 100 @ 80Mhz.

Stick with 1 and 6 on your 2.4Ghz.
 
Last edited:
On your 5Ghz, use channel 52 and channel 100.

40 and 44 occupy the same space at 80Mhz width, and other SSIDs, are in this space too. This is ok, but you have 80Mhz clear at channel 52 and channel 100 to use all to yourself, which is great!

This gives you 52 @ 80Mhz and 100 @ 80Mhz.

Stick with 1 and 6 on your 2.4Ghz.

I've been assuming, for example, that you can set any control channel 52,56,60,64 and then the remaining channels in that group will be used for extension to achieve 80 MHz bandwidth. So, I've been setting the control channel (for dual-band) that gives the best results in the Wireless Log... 157 for the group 149,153,157,161.

OE
 
That Totalnet must be your immediate neighbor and they probably have their router up high against an external wall closest to you or close to a (standard) window, basically at a good spot to leak signal outside that home.
 
That Totalnet must be your immediate neighbor and they probably have their router up high against an external wall closest to you or close to a (standard) window, basically at a good spot to leak signal outside that home.
Left of my home: Totalnet, Totalnet Guest SSID. This is a tech guy that sell computers. He has 4 teenagers so I presume they have a fast internet and very active users. I dont know which router he has but I would pressume and advanced one
Right side of my home is Kingbob and Monkey SSID. I know this person has a google mesh router
There are no homes behind my home (construction). I am still puzzled with how strong their signal come inside my home.
REF: 5G channels, I only set to 20MHz believing that 40/80 will have an impact in range. I assume channel 52 and 100 are (ignoring other SSIDs) the same quality as the 40, 44 and this is a no brainer.
 
DFS channels are capped at about a quarter of the power of the regular channels, so you should test if it gives you the throughput you need. Power levels are asymmetrical as clients, especially battery powered devices don't use the close-to 1000mw the router uses to transmit for non-DFS channels.

So you may find uploads using DFS channels about the same and downloads may be a bit slower, but it's all relative to balancing out the interference from your neighbors anyway.

Just another thought however, since it looks like your Totalnet neighbor isn't using wide channels on 5ghz, and likely not using them at all, you can try using 40mhz 44-48, or for 80mhz, use a center/control channel other than 36 between 36-48. Or better like OE suggested on 157 on the other side since it looks like it's the guest network name on that side (even lower probability of usage there).
 

Sign Up For SNBForums Daily Digest

Get an update of what's new every day delivered to your mailbox. Sign up here!
Top