Wi-Fi Congestion

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thecaretaker
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Mar 2022 26 03:59

Wi-Fi Congestion

Even though I live in a rural area, I suffer badly with Wi-Fi Congestion. There are so many other Wi-Fi signals especially on the 2.4GHZ network that it is almost impossible to maintain a solid connection. Lord only knows how any of you living in a city cope I don't know.

Even in the middle of the night when some Wi-Fi signals are not working it is still cluttered. I have just taken these screen shorts 3.00am.

Thankfully there is an answer, I have been forced to use 2 x Tri-band routers and I'm able to connect to the 5GHZ channels. Most folk seem to have Sky or BT broadband and the standard issue routers from the larger ISPs are unable to access the lower and higher 5GHZ (DFS) channels only showing the normal 5GHZ channels which are also getting very congested. But how long it will be before they start using them is anybodies guess.

Apart from a Philips Air Purifier and an old webcam which can only see 2.4 GHZ, everything else in the house is now connected to the 5GHZ (DFS) signals from the router. The only downside to using the DFS signals is when it detects a radar signal which is extremely rare, the router switches automatically to the standard 5GHZ channels until it has been clear for a length of time when it switches back.

So, I have 6 Wi-Fi signals in total which I can connect to wirelessly and I have 4 of the 5GHZ (DFS) channels exclusively to myself. Nobody in the area seems to be able to use these channels (yet). It has taken some effort to set this all up and yes, I do consider it being greedy... but it really is dog eat dog out there these days. In the race to give complete home coverage, ISPs seem to be using more and more powerful routers which has the effect of creating even more interference.

For full speed 5GHZ the router actually uses 4 channels. By reducing the bandwidth to 600Mbps it only uses 2 which enables me to use all 4 available channels (channels 52-64) on the lower 5GHZ (DFS) see the image I uploaded below...

The other issue, with so many W-Fi devices in the area, I also have had to go beyond securing my routers with just a complex WPA2-PSK [AES] password. I have locked the router to only to connect to my designated devices and assigned them to only connect on specific IP addresses, any other connections are blocked and I use a none standard IP address range. I get alerted to any attempt to connect.

It really shouldn't be made this difficult to keep safe and get a reliable connection.

I'd love to hear from users living in a highly populated areas like major cities to see how you get on and what you have had to do? It must be much worse for you.

Some of the software I am using to monitor my setup is now listing Wi-Fi 6 as an available option. I'm not sure what that is exactly or how it works but there are a number of Wi-Fi 6 routers for sale at stupid prices.


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inspector
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Mar 2022 26 09:00

Re: Wi-Fi Congestion

Where I live is considered to be the most densely populated area of the Borough and I have no problems at all (TT)
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Keyolder
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Mar 2022 26 09:53

Re: Wi-Fi Congestion

Yes, there is a lot of Wi-Fi congestion where I live in London, we are overlooked on four sides by apartment buildings so its pretty busy here. We suffer the usual slowdowns dropouts and breaks of signal sometimes for minutes at a time but it does return again.
My router is quite old and has not got the 5Ghz capability, so for now I'm stuck on 2.4Ghz... [Disappointment.png]
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it... [Crazy.png]
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