[sleah]

This is probably more IT, but maybe related to video

I seem to struggle at home with my WiFi signal being very weak - I work with IT/WiFi so I'm not a numpty and have tried pretty well everything obvious.
The signal strength appears OK, but sometimes I find running a broadband speed test shows rediculous speeds like 600k rather than the 9mb I get on a wired connection, so it is definately related to the wifi signal.
After trying different AP's with no luck, limited luck changing the wifi channel (using netstumbler to find clear channels) I have come up with a possible cause.

I live in a semi and my neighbour has a video sender on his cable tv box, which I can pick up very clearly using one of my receivers, so the signal is obviously strong.
My receivers are the standard 2.4ghz type.
So I am guessing that it is this strong (analogue) signal that is causing my wifi grief?
I only started thinking about it after getting the Line6 kit that can kill wifi signals........

Thoughts?

[ramdram]

Isn't there some "reg" about units NOT causing RFI and NOT succumbing to RFI.

Are you on good terms with your neighbour btw? It may be s/he is using some iffy import? Perhaps you can both agree to resite your own kit to best advantage?

[dosxuk]

I drew this graph a few years ago, but it's probably still accurate.


Across the top are the wifi channel numbers. You should be able to set these on your router. In pink and green are the four standard wireless video sender channels. These have a much wider signal, and is more powerful towards the edges, so despite being limited to the same output power as wifi, they're much more disruptive.

If you cand find out which frequency your neighbour is using, you can use that graph to find a clear(er!) channel for your wifi.

[Shez]

ramdram, on 25 April 2012 - 11:10 AM, said:

Isn't there some "reg" about units NOT causing RFI and NOT succumbing to RFI.

One man's signal is another man's interference... The downside to deregulated bands like 2.4G is that you can pretty much do what you like in there.

[sleah]

That's fab, thanks dosxuk

I find ch's 4 and 5 give me best results, although the sender is on (sender) ch1 (of the 4) so it kinda makes sense.
I'm actually not too fussed, not enough to even mention it to my neighbour. I use wifi rarely and then only for internet access so the speed reduction doesn't have much real world effect.
It was more out of interest and confirming my theory, which you all have.

Thanks!

This post has been edited by sleah: 25 April 2012 - 02:14 PM

[bigclive]

A friend bought a wireless CCTV system and it virtually wiped out his WiFi connection. That is indeed the peril of standardised frequencies.

[Andrew Edwards]

In my experience digi-senders do affect wifi. I have had it knock out weak wifi before. Conversely, if a laptop was in the same room as a digi-receiver then we would get noise on the TV screen. Ditched them in the end as the TV was unwatchable at tea time with all the darn microwaves nearby beggering it up. Seriously, every tea time for at least half an hour...

Are you getting poor wifi even in the same room?

I have had similar issues recent when I moved my desktop to a different room and dropped right down to 40% with 20% noise...on both 2.4 and 5ghz. My lovely new 100mb broadband was only 5 or 6 by the time it reached my iMac.

I faffed about with positioning for a while and then ended up buying a couple of 500mb homeplugs so I can hardwire over the mains.

For those who may not know, If you still want the benefits of wifi you can get homeplugs with wifi allowing you to have APs in as many rooms as you like.

We have had a few sets of line6 tour in and they didn't seem to affect our local wifi in any noticeable way.

[ramdram]

It wasn't so much the bands of frequencies per se, it is the Declaration of Conformity "regs"which apply to the kit:

Radio - EN300 328 and/or EN 301 893

EMC - En301 489-1 and/or En 301 489-17

H&S (really!) - EN60950 and/or EN 50731

Just for starters...and there's buckets of it:

http://www.etsi.org/...328v010801v.pdf

[Sully]

2.4Ghz is the badlands of wireless networking. Only three non-overlapping channels in the UK, loads of other stuff using it. We bought a Wi-Spy at work to track such issues down as non-wifi 2.4G interference is a complete pain in the posterior.

One option is to try and use 5Ghz wireless kit instead, if you have a mac or some high-end laptops you'll find you probably have a wireless adapter that does 5 Ghz already so by replacing the wireless Access Point you can revel in the fact that 5 Ghz is barely used in a home environment and it has 8 non-overlapping channels which even means they can be doubled up for 300M throughput if the AP and client support it.

Sully.

[Andrew Edwards]

Of course if one was to wait a matter of weeks then one could get kit based on the 11ac standard and languish in potential speeds of up to 1.3Gbps...