router channel. leave on auto or pick a channel?
macgig
Contributor - Level 1

which is best? leave settings on auto or pick a channel? I can see what channels my neighbors are using and pick another one. should I do that or just leave it on auto?

thanks. 🙂

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Re: router channel. leave on auto or pick a channel?
Anti-Phish1
Master - Level 1

My experience has been that the router does not do a good job of picking the best channel.  I have seen it pick the most congested channel on numerous occasions. 

By setting the channel manually, you know for certain the router is on the least congested channel.  The downside is that channel congestion changes over time (neighbor adds a WAP, or neighbor's router auto-selects the channel you're on).

So turning off auto-select really depends on how you want to manage it.  If you want to set it and forget it, I say leave it on auto-select.  If you want check that you're on the optimum channel periodically or when speeds seem to go downhill, then go ahead and pick a specific channel.

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Re: router channel. leave on auto or pick a channel?
Anti-Phish1
Master - Level 1

My experience has been that the router does not do a good job of picking the best channel.  I have seen it pick the most congested channel on numerous occasions. 

By setting the channel manually, you know for certain the router is on the least congested channel.  The downside is that channel congestion changes over time (neighbor adds a WAP, or neighbor's router auto-selects the channel you're on).

So turning off auto-select really depends on how you want to manage it.  If you want to set it and forget it, I say leave it on auto-select.  If you want check that you're on the optimum channel periodically or when speeds seem to go downhill, then go ahead and pick a specific channel.

Re: router channel. leave on auto or pick a channel?
TomH121
Community Leader
Community Leader

Couldn't have been said any better.

I use VZ In Home Agent to "monitor" performance

WiFi Connection Wizard...Channel Interference.

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Re: router channel. leave on auto or pick a channel?
gs0b
Community Leader
Community Leader

I'll add that "inssider" is a great program for monitoring WiFi channels.  It's very useful for finding out how all the channels look at your computer.  If you're going to manually assign channels, this program makes it easy to decide what channel to use.

It used to be free before the last upgrade.  See if you can find the old version copy on the net.

Good Luck.

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Re: router channel. leave on auto or pick a channel?
macgig
Contributor - Level 1

changed to channel 11. same channel my brother uses on his in the house. best speed yet.

58.30 down,

34.99 up.

Smiley Happy

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Re: router channel. leave on auto or pick a channel?
CaptainSTX
Contributor - Level 3

I am a fan of inSSIDer, however, it doesn't give you the entire answer.  It tells you what channels are in use by various SSIDs, but not how much any of theses SSIDs are using the Internet.   Better to share a channel with five old ladies that just check their e-mail occasionally than with with a single user that is constantly streaming videos.

Use inSSIDer as a starting point and then experiment to see what channel works best for you.

As previously mentioned AUTO channel selection doesn't work that well in picking the "best channel"  and certain devices have problems connecting when the channel changes.

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