# WiFi connection has a poor signal. Changing the channel and from BGN to N could improve its range?



## Leito360 (Mar 26, 2014)

Since like a year now, my brother's house wifi has sucked. It only works in the lower floor, when it used to work in the upper floor, and very well also.
During this period of time, his GF modified the wifi connection, because her tablet couldn't connect to it. That's when the troubles begin.

I think she just screwed it up when she did that. Also, a lot of wifi connections have been popping up in the neighborhood, and a lot of them use the channel 11.

So my question is simple... Changing the channel could improve the range of the signal?
Will it be better if I change the "standard" from 2.4 GHz B/G/N to just 2.4 GHz N?
I'm aware that this could make the tablets unable to hook up the signal, but I think the tablet it's broken, so there's no harm 

Here it is a screenshot with almost all of the connections of the neighborhood. Notice the channels they use. My wifi connection is highlighted.

http://i.imgur.com/EebZSpm.png


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## BUCK NASTY (Mar 27, 2014)

What model Encore Router? Maybe flash with DD-WRT and boost the output signal?


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## Leito360 (Mar 27, 2014)

encore enhwi n3

But to be honest I don't think a flash is an option, I don't want to screwed it up. Also, it has a pretty neat antenna attached to it. A TP Link, of 9dbi I think.


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## 95Viper (Mar 27, 2014)

First, make sure it is in area free of metal walls, not next to metal PC case, or other objects/devices/items.

Next, try changing your channel from 11 to, either, auto and set a scan rate for clear channel or try channel 1, channel 2, or channel 3, at least something everyone else is not using.
Make sure your TX power is set to 100%.
Set your channel bandwidth to 20/40.
And, test it with WMM enabled and dis-abled.

Oh and your RSSI (-118) is terrible if you are close to the transmitter.
Lower Received Signal Strength Indicator is better.
You look to be jammed up by the other stations on channel 11 with better signals.


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## Steevo (Mar 27, 2014)

Higher frequency has a shorter range.


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## Leito360 (Mar 27, 2014)

Steevo said:


> Higher frequency has a shorter range.


So should I move to 20MHz only?


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## Mussels (Mar 27, 2014)

Leito360 said:


> So should I move to 20MHz only?




doesnt work that way - thats not the frequency its on, that setting is saying to use two channels. so instead of 2.40 -> 2.42, its now 2.40->2.44 (those numbers are made up, but should be accurate enough for an example)

try channel 1, instead of 11.


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## remixedcat (Mar 27, 2014)

Use 20mhz if you are in a congested area. use a non-congested channel as well. Use InSSIDer/wifi analyzer to search for channels and check your RSSI. Best to use non-overlapping 1,6,11. 

40Mhz uses two channels and bonds them together to have more bandwidth at a cost of being subject to, and causing more interference with other overlapping channels like 2,4,etc. the 2nd channel it bonds to is what causes the interference.


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## Mussels (Mar 27, 2014)

my advice and what i do whenever i move house:



update router firmware/factory reset the router/set its default wireless settings - if someone screwed up a setting ages ago, that could be the cause of the problems now.

run a wired machine with a single very lage file (10GB is what i use, a blu ray rip)

connect over wireless, and download it - use something reliable for measuring the bandwidth (i use bandwidth meter pro)

record your speed.

repeat test on channels 1/6/11 with 40Mhz
repeat on 1/6/11 at 20MHz

pick the fastest one.


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## Aquinus (Mar 27, 2014)

I would try channel 9 or 2. There don't seem to be any other networks directly on those channels. Also, a lot of networks on one channel would decrease the SNR (louder noise (other networks) relative to your signal is bad), the actual signal strength wouldn't be less if a channel was congested, there would just be more collisions which in turn results in poor performance.

Edit: Since all signals appear to be kind of poor, the room you're in may be acting as a Faraday cage if you're in a big building that uses steel supports or any iron meshing for reinforcement.


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## Mussels (Mar 27, 2014)

Aquinus said:


> I would try channel 9 or 2. There don't seem to be any other networks directly on those channels. Also, a lot of networks on one channel would decrease the SNR (louder noise (other networks) relative to your signal is bad), the actual signal strength wouldn't be less if a channel was congested, there would just be more collisions which in turn results in poor performance.




anything other than 1, 6 and 11 overlap with other channels anyway - theres really only three channels, with the rest overlapping in various ways. doing that rarely works well with 40Mhz mode in my testing.

(to explain this for everyone: channels 1 through 5 overlap somewhat, 6-10, and 11-13)

yes, you can still use them - but results are rarely any better than the 'base' channel, which is why automatic router settings never choose it.


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## Aquinus (Mar 27, 2014)

Mussels said:


> anything other than 1, 6 and 11 overlap with other channels anyway - theres really only three channels, with the rest overlapping in various ways. doing that rarely works well with 40Mhz mode in my testing.
> 
> (to explain this for everyone: channels 1 through 5 overlap somewhat, 6-10, and 11-13)
> 
> yes, you can still use them - but results are rarely any better than the 'base' channel, which is why automatic router settings never choose it.



That entirely depends on how the networks around you are configured and how busy they are. I agree but, but that's not always the case. It's worth trying, even more so if you're only sticking with 20Mhz width.

You could have 10 networks on the same channel, but if none of them are being used a lot, it doesn't matter because there won't be many collisions. I think the SNR on channel 11 describes what's going on though if he isn't in a faraday cage like room.


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## Mussels (Mar 27, 2014)

Aquinus said:


> That entirely depends on how the networks around you are configured and how busy they are. I agree but, but that's not always the case. It's worth trying, even more so if you're only sticking with 20Mhz width.
> 
> You could have 10 networks on the same channel, but if none of them are being used a lot, it doesn't matter because there won't be many collisions. I think the SNR on channel 11 describes what's going on though.



i'd only ever test that if  the previous testing on the base channels wasnt good enough - lets say channel 1 was ok, but not great - he could then try 2/3/4/5 to see if they helped. waste of time to try every channel one by one, when nearby routers might well change their channels any minute anyway.


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## Aquinus (Mar 27, 2014)

Mussels said:


> i'd only ever test that if  the previous testing on the base channels wasnt good enough - lets say channel 1 was ok, but not great - he could then try 2/3/4/5 to see if they helped. waste of time to try every channel one by one, when nearby routers might well change their channels any minute anyway.



That still depends on the environment though. There are only two networks on channel 1, one of which is 802.11G which is only going to be 20Mhz wide which leaves one network that *might* add to your SNR if you use say, channel 2.

The counter argument for "network channels could change" is a reason to set the router to Auto and let it figure out on its own the best channel because any channel could theoretically become more or less busy.

Either way, I don't think it's going to matter, I think something is blocking the signal considering how poor all of the signal strengths are if I were to guess based on the site survey screenshot the OP provided. Either that or the wi-fi adapter and/or antenna is crap.


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## remixedcat (Mar 27, 2014)

Mabye you, can start, in your area a itty bitty kitty committy and everyone can plan out what wifi channels, width to use and make some guidelines... some areas are doing this.

Some HOAs are even implementing wifi guidelines as well.


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## Leito360 (Mar 27, 2014)

Aquinus said:


> Either way, I don't think it's going to matter, I think something is blocking the signal considering how poor all of the signal strengths are if I were to guess based on the site survey screenshot the OP provided. Either that or the wi-fi adapter and/or antenna is crap.



It could be the router... anyway...
Last night I moved from channel 11 to 1 and it was faster, I think it only was 4 or 5 signals in total, all of which were very poor. Still, it didn't improved range, but it helped with speed and ease of connection... I will keep doing some testing and see if I can find the cause of the problem.

Thanks everyone for the answers


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