However, first it is always best to prove which channels are in use via inssider Home.

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Lewis Anderson
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1 Introduction You may be suffering from interference on your wi-fi channel. Try changing this to channels, but only use channels 1, 6 or 11. The reason why you can only use these three channels is covered in this article:- However, first it is always best to prove which channels are in use via inssider Home. Sections in this document Are you suffering from interference prove it first Changing channels - Huawei routers Changing channels - D-Link DSL routers Changing channels - HG635 Super Router Use the best wireless mode Other Options Poor wi-fi signal strength n Bandwidth (Apple devices particularly) Dual band routers inssider Home software Problems with other 2.4GHz RF devices (doorbells, keyboards & mice etc) Page 1 of 13 Date : 21/06/2015

Log on to your router To do this browse to your router at:- http://192.168.1.1 At the prompt:- Enter your admin username & password.

2 Log on to your router To do this browse to your router at:- At the prompt:- Enter your admin username & password. Unless you have changed this, the default is normally:- Username : admin password : admin Changing channels - Huawei routers First go into Advanced mode then go to:- Basic > WLAN Look at the option called Channel & try one of the ones suggested previously and click submit. Page 2 of 13 Date : 21/06/2015

In the resulting screen, untick the Enable Auto Channel Scan option and then change the Wireless channel option to

3 Changing channels - D-Link Routers Click the Setup tab at the top, then Wireless Setup on the left hand side. Then click the Manual Wireless Network Setup button. In the resulting screen, untick the Enable Auto Channel Scan option and then change the Wireless channel option to channels 1,6 or 11. On the 3780 the bandwidth option is in the "WLAN Performance" section, which is off "Advanced Wireless" down the left hand side:- Page 3 of 13 Date : 21/06/2015

4 Changing channels - Huawei HG635 Super Router This router is different to most others in the TalkTalk range, once logged on, click on the "Home Network" tab at the top. Click on "Wireless Settings" down the left. Scroll down the page to "Advanced Settings" & expand that if minimised. There you will find the channel setting, one for the 2.4GHz band and another further down for the 5GHz band. This is the one for the 2.4Ghz band:- Note: in some rare cases, after setting the 2.4GHz channel to a dedicated number, some devices can no longer detect the network name (SSID). If this is the case, also in the "Advanced Settings" section, set the n bandwidth to 20MHz and the n guard interval to Short in the 2.4GHz band. You may also need to set the n/ac guard interval to Short in the 5GHz band as well. Use the best Wireless Mode Most routers & devices these days can support the wireless mode n, with a few supporting the latest ac. However, some older devices may only support g, or even worse b n suffers less from interference than the earlier modes running at 2.4GHz, however this is still nowhere near as good as n running at 5GHz. You need a dual band router to make use of the 5GHz frequency band. To get the best performance each device should connect to the router using at least n, using the older b & g modes can be more susceptible to interference. If you router is set to allow connections from only n devices:- and all of your devices connect OK, that is fine. However, by default most routers will accept connections using any wireless mode. This makes the router more compatible, but if for example 5 of your devices can connect at n, but the best one older model can do is g, then all devices will be forced to connect at the lower mode of g. Page 4 of 13 Date : 21/06/2015

Other options Always try & avoid wireless modes 802.11b or g if at all possible, as they are outdated now. Most routers that can work at 802.11n, unless dual band, can only work in the 2.

5 Other options Always try & avoid wireless modes b or g if at all possible, as they are outdated now. Most routers that can work at n, unless dual band, can only work in the 2.4GHz frequency band. This may well be highly congested, not only with neighbouring routers, but other RF (Radio Frequency) devices in the 2.4GHz band, such wireless door bells, cordless DECT phones and one of the worst culprits microwave ovens. Of course those types of device only cause problems when they are on. If your router and ALL of your devices are capable of running n dual band, they should be able to connect to the router's 5GHz band SSID, which suffers much less from interference. Another possibility could be the physical location of your router, it might be more susceptible to interference where it is, but moving it a short distance could help. The general rule is to keep it away from cordless phone base stations, TVs & microwave ovens and site it as high as possible in the room, ideally near the middle of the property. Generally the signal from the router radiates out from the front panel:- Page 5 of 13 Date : 21/06/2015

Poor Wi-Fi signal strength This can be identified on a Windows PC by looking at the networking icon in the taskbar, where the more vertical bars that are white, the better the signal level detected

6 Poor Wi-Fi signal strength This can be identified on a Windows PC by looking at the networking icon in the taskbar, where the more vertical bars that are white, the better the signal level detected from the router:- If the signal received by the network card in a PC is low, this might be due to:- The router sending out a low level wi-fi signal. Some D-Link routers, have a low Wi-Fi signal output. interference reducing or blocking the signal (particularly from other RF devices in the 2.4GHz band). The devices network card not making the best of the available signal. In the latter case, if a PC rather than a laptop, phone, or tablet, it could be worth checking the network card itself. Some of them have external aerials and the orientation of these can dramatically affect the signal level received. An example of such a network adapter is shown below:- Page 6 of 13 Date : 21/06/2015

802.11n Bandwidth (Apple devices particularly) First what this parameter is for & then why some Apple devices do not like it. Traditional 802.

7 802.11n Bandwidth (Apple devices particularly) First what this parameter is for & then why some Apple devices do not like it. Traditional channels are 20 MHz wide, The ability to add a second channel was introduced with n, older standards b or g do not support this. It is supported in both the 2.4 & 5GHz frequency bands, but it works best in the 5GHz band. This is because there is only space for three traditional, non-overlapping channels in the 2.4GHz frequency band (channels 1, 6 & 11). Therefore, there is only enough space for one bonded channel in that portion of the RF spectrum. With 5GHz, there are over 20 non-overlapping channels, so you can have several bonded channels operating within close proximity to each other without co-channel interference. Depending on the make/model of router this can be called: n bandwidth 2. Channel width 3. Bandwidth 4. Channel bonding You may see your network card reporting a speed or bandwidth of 150 or 300Mbps in the connection status (see this example from Windows 7):- The settings for this (depending on make/model of router) is 20/40MHz or some combination of the two on Huawei routers. D-Link routers tend to have options such as "Up to 65Mbps", or "Up to 135Mbps" etc. Some routers now even off 60Mhz as an option (3 channels). Taking the Huawei as an example, if using the option "20/40MHz" the router will negotiate with the network card when a wireless connection between the two is established. Both devices will use the highest supported common setting. So if the network card only supports a bandwidth of 150Mbs, the they will both only work at 150Mbps, even though the router can run at a higher bandwidth. If the network card supports 150, 300 and greater bandwidth settings, the highest common one is 300Mbps. Page 7 of 13 Date : 21/06/2015

8 Assuming the router is setup to use wireless channel 6, and the router & network card have negotiated to use 40MHz. This means that channel 6 can handle a bandwidth of 150Mbps, but that it requires an extra channel to use, if the amount of data flowing across your network card exceeds 150Mbps. That extra channel it can then use is channel 10. This allows up to a total of 300Mbps when using both channels. Depending how technical you are, why am I one moment talking Mbps and then in frequencies MHz? Each channel on an n uses a 20MHz frequency band. Some D-Link routers show the setting as "Channel Width" and give it in Mbps. This all sounds great, unless you use any Apple devices, as they don't particularly like the 20MHz/40MHz n bandwidth. This can cause these devices not to be able to find the wi-fi network in question. Note: if this option is set to use only 1 channel, you will get slower speeds on these devices. To check this log into the router & follow as per the particular router. Huawei & some DSL-3780 routers Go into Advanced mode, then go to Basic > WLAN In there change the "11N band width" option from 20/40Mhz to just 20MHz & see how that goes. Page 8 of 13 Date : 21/06/2015

D-Link DSL routers & only some DSL-3780s Click the "Advanced" button from the initial summary screens & click on "Advanced" tab along the top, followed by "Advanced Wireless" on the left.

9 D-Link DSL routers & only some DSL-3780s Click the "Advanced" button from the initial summary screens & click on "Advanced" tab along the top, followed by "Advanced Wireless" on the left. Set the banwidth based on what is required, if it uses one channel this is the equivalent of 20MHz & two channels uses 40MHz. On the 3780 the bandwith option is in the "WLAN Performance" section, which is off "Advanced Wireless" down the left hand side:- Here the bandwidth option is called "Channel Width":- More details on this setting:- Page 9 of 13 Date : 21/06/2015

10 Problems with ipads & D-Link routers For some reason, ipads struggle to work with the D-Link DSL Signal Strength & Interference Guide Dual Band Routers These routers can run n in both the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz bands. They do this by using two separate access points (APs) within the same router, each with differing SSIDs. In some of these routers, if you SSID is set to MyNetwork, this will be seen in the 2.4G, but in the 5G AP it will be MyNetwork-5GHz, or similar. The Huawei HG635 is different, by default it uses the same SSID for both bands and you will possibly not know which one you have connected to. In this case give each band a different SSID. Both APs are active all of the time, any N dual band network adapters should be able to connect to the 5GHz band and all other lesser network cards connect to the 2.4GHz AP. The devices connected to the 2.4GHz AP will still be limited to the wi-fi mode of the worst device. So if devices 1 & 2 support b/g/n and device 3 only supports g, then all three will run at g. All ac routers should be dual band and in the 5Ghz band, if device 1 supports n or ac and device 2 supports only n, then they will both run at n in this band. HG635 no network name (SSID) detected In some rare cases, after setting the 2.4GHz channel to a dedicated number, some devices can no longer detect the network name (SSID). See the section on setting up a dedicated channel on the HG635. Page 10 of 13 Date : 21/06/2015

11 Further help - inssider Home (freeware) This is the easiest & best way to prove if you are suffering from interference from other wi-fi networks. I can help with this issue, but it depends on if your have a PC or laptop that connects via wireless that can run a program called "InSSIDer Home" (freeware), if you download it from the link below. There are various versions that cost money, but the freeware Home version is all you need. It is available in Windows, MAC OS & Android formats from:- Download & install it. You will see from the image below that it is freeware:- Then click on the Windows link above (or one of the other OS versions). You then get this screen:- Then after about 5 to 10 seconds you get the standard save file dialog box come up and you choose a location & click "Save". Note: MAC OS, apparently when you install the MAC version, it requires a license key. It is advertised as freeware, so I would have thought that it should be free to get this key from their website. However, I do not have any Apple devices and so cannot confirm this. This will look at just how well your Wi-Fi network is performing and crucially what other networks are in your vicinity and are they using the same channel as you. Page 11 of 13 Date : 21/06/2015

12 Using inssider Home Click on the networks tab at the top once it has loaded & let it run for 5 minutes. It may be worth taking several screenshots at different times of the day, to illustrate the problem. Unless you have a dual band network adapter on the device running inssider, you will not see any activity in the 5GHz band window (bottom right). Once done, please get me a screenshot of it & attach it to the post (or PM me if you prefer). Then I will be able to see just how congested your local area is with neighbouring Wi-Fi networks and what your signal strength is like. Hopefully then I will be able to make some recommendations for you. Note 1: this freeware version of inssider (V ) does not fully support ac so will always report 54 as the max. rate. Full support of ac was introduced in inssider V4, which is not free. Note 2: inssider Home is an Wi-Fi analyser, it cannot detect RF interference from non devices that operate at 2.4GHz (see next page). Page 12 of 13 Date : 21/06/2015

13 Interference from other 2.4G non devices Devices such as microwave ovens, video senders, door bells, DECT cordless phones, intruder alarms and wireless keyboards & mice all operate at 2.4GHz, but do not conform to the specifications. Therefore you will not see them with inssider. However, their background RF can interfere with the 2.4G band of , but you would probably need a spectrum analyser to see this. More information on these products:- 1. Microwave ovens 2. Video Senders 3. cordless (DECT) phones 4. Bluetooth devices 5. door bells 6. intruder alarms 7. wireless keyboards & mice 8. Video Senders 9. Car alarms/remote central locking General information on RF interference on wi-fi networks. Page 13 of 13 Date : 21/06/2015

screenshots from it. Then once you have sent them to me, I do the rest & make recommendations to help sort the problem.

screenshots from it. Then once you have sent them to me, I do the rest & make recommendations to help sort the problem. Introduction This is a large document, but there is a lot to cover on this subject. Plus where any configuration changes are outlined, this covers just about all TalkTalk routers, which in itself contributes