How Best To Deal With WiFi Interference?

marciot writes "I live in a condominium where I get interference from my neighbors' WiFi. I understand that 1, 6 and 11 are the only non-overlapping WiFi channels, but how does this translate into real-life best practices? When you must overlap, is there a 'good' way to do it? With nine access points, for example, is it better to have three APs each on 1, 6 and 11, so that each completely overlaps with only two others? Or is it best to distribute those APs across nine channels such that they only partially overlap others (but potentially overlap more APs in total)? Do use patterns affect interference? For example, is it best to overlap a channel with multiple APs that rarely transfers data, or to share a channel with one person who downloads torrents 24/7? Does maximum data rate affect interference or robustness to interference? I found out by accident that setting my access point to '802.11b only' mode appeared to give me a vastly more reliable connection that leaving it in 'mixed 802.11b/g.' Is this a fluke? Or does transmitting at 10 Mbps when everyone else is using 54 Mbps (for their 3 Mbps DSL pipes!) give you a true advantage?"

Comments

Hack your AP

[Anonymous Coward]

Increase the power. Then only your neighbours will have interference problems.

Re:Hack your AP

[Shadow of Eternity]

magic.

Re:Hack your AP

[ChienAndalu]

Homeopathy.

Re:Hack your AP

[aliquis]

Homeopathy

Hey, magic had already been suggested!

Re:Hack your AP

[Dolphinzilla]

actually I found that since my neighbors had NO idea how to secure their AP's I went into each one with the default password (most were Linksys) I changed their frequencies all to 11 and made mine the loan AP on 1 - worked great !

Re:Hack your AP

[Lumpy]

Incorrect.

I took an AP and cranked it up to max power on 802.11g channel 1. (way over limit) and left it running that way for 2 months. I had my second ap set for the other end of the band and lived with crappy signal during that time.

when I revisited it in 2 month and I shut down my splattering and jamming AP and did a scan, EVERYONE moved away from the jamming frequency.

So I put my real AP at the jamming frequency and now have AWESOME signal.

you just need to presuade the neighbors to change their settings away from yours. you can ask, or you can force their hand by making them not have any Wireless connectivity until they change it.

Re:Hack your AP

[nizo]

Lastly, trying to move the units to different locations or reorienting their antennas...

For example, getting a long antenna cable so you can locate the AP's antenna right next to your machine(s) should work great.

Re:Hack your AP

[1u3hr]

and made mine the loan AP

Weren;t you trying not to loan your AP?

Re:Hack your AP

[Cookie_Monster_Troll]

"made mine the loan AP" who you loan it to?

Re:Hack your AP

[klparrot]

Too bad the default Kamikaze 7.09 OpenWRT firmwares kills any and all (six!) WRT54GL routers that I put it on (previously ran White Russian brilliantly).

You didn't learn after the first five?

Re:Hack your AP

[Fred_A]

Or an old micro-wave oven that you run with the shielding off.

Should do the trick nicely.

You have to wear gloves and googles though. Remember that power tools are dangerous.

Re:Hack your AP

[zorg50]

Too bad the default Kamikaze 7.09 OpenWRT firmwares kills any and all (six!) WRT54GL routers that I put it on

Did you expect something named Kamikaze NOT to kill itself?

Re:Hack your AP

[RichiH]

> But on a lighter note, from one who works in radios a lot[...]

Wow, you must be really small!

Stop interference at the source

[goddidit]

Hack your neighbours access point, turn wifi off and change all the passwords. Bonus points if you can upload custom firmware with different factory password so that even reset doesn't grant them access.

Re:Solution

[Anonymous Coward]

He lives in a condo. Going to wired may not be practical.

So, I recommend he place his router in a Faraday cage. His interference problems will be over!

Re:Solution

[UncleWilly]

You know, some people get fish for pets.

Re:Solution

[Anonymous Coward]

i'm pretty sure that his way prevent fish to eat them too ...

Re:Make a DIY Directional Antenna

[Ash-Fox]

In extreme cases I need to use the "foil sheet".

Don't listen to him! He's just trying to trick you into removing your tin foil hats!

Re:Solution

[LoadWB]

Lemme guess: Circuit City?

Re:Get directional antennas

[rhombic]

Also, great for making popcorn.

Re:Luckily Windows shows your neghbour's channel

[Bert64]

Ohh, but linux is hard, windows is easy and noone ever needs to use the commandline on windows... Commandline is so archaic!

Re:Luckily Windows shows your neghbour's channel

[Dr. Evil]

Shouldn't you be troubleshooting your soundcard or something?

Re:Solution

[Shakrai]

i'm pretty sure that his way prevent fish to eat them too ...

Fish are pretty dangerous too. The man wants us to believe that all those cable cuts were caused by anchors but those of us who have raised fish know better......

Re:Solution

[dem0n1]

I found that when I only had 3 cats that I had trouble with my connection, but since I got 5 cats it's been much better. I was recently told by a friend that 6 cats is even better.

Re:Or channel 14

[this great guy]

"My wifi card goes to 14."

Re:Solution

[dotgain]

Geez, you two sound like a twisted pair.

Re:Solution

[chrome]

How long did it take to coax that joke out?