
Ask HN: What is your wifi setup? - jklein11
I live in an apartment building and have my wifi speeds shackled by the amount of interference around me. I know using ethernet as opposed to wifi makes a big difference, but sometimes I can&#x27;t be plugged in.. (ie chromecast, cell phone, etc.) What does your home setup look like?
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CyberFonic
I periodically use Wifi Analyzer (Android App) to see what's going on and then
setup both 2.4 & 5 GHz SSIDs on the least congested channels. You have to
remember that 2.4GHz is also used by microwave ovens and Bluetooth devices -
those won't show on the analyzer.

Have to watch out for strong signals on non-standard channels (i.e. other than
1, 6, 11, 14).
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels)
explains the situation well.

In my experience the "auto" channel selection option doesn't always work well.
Depends on the make and model of your WiFi A/P. WiFi repeaters might also help
if you have low signal in areas that you often use your devices.

~~~
Piskvorrr
Most "auto" channel selectors only pick the channel on AP boot, which is not
always the right time.

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charlieegan3
I also have home WiFi / lan issues.

I have a Plusnet 2704n router connected by cable to two other rooms with poor
wifi signal. The wifi on the router is switched off.

In the two other rooms there is are two TP-LINK TL-WA801ND used to create
access points - these run on different channels and have static IP addresses.

On to the problem. Sometimes the internet connection slows to an incredibly
poor speed - simple pages fail to load. This occurs with no apparent increase
in load (based on the traffic graphs on the access points).

I've not done any setup beyond what's described here.

I have a suspicion that the hub is unable to handle the number of total
connected devices (as much as 10) as it sometimes fails to list wired devices
on the settings page.

Any ideas on things I might try or buy? I'm aware the 2704n router is pretty
basic but I'd still like to work out what the issue is before replacing it.

~~~
CyberFonic
I too use TL-WA801's and I find them Ok. A couple of things I would check for.

\- Assuming you are running 2.4GHz, check for interfering devices, for
example, microwave running at the time of slow speeds. Offending ovens could
be in an adjoining unit or home. I find some BlueTooth devices can also cause
sporadic interference. Cordless phones, less so, but also possible.

\- Run speedtest.net when performance is good and when it is bad. This will
give you a sense of the underlying internet speeds you are accessing via your
router.

\- Are the different channels 5 channels apart? I would use 1 and 11 if
possible.

\- Are the A/Ps configured for different SSIDs? I find it easier to diagnose
things when they are different. Check that your device isn't connecting the
the weaker WiFi access point.

\- Do you use DHCP on both A/Ps? I would configure each to a different subnet,
e.g. 192.168.11.0/24 and 192.168.22.0/24 and yet another subnet for the
router.

\- Do you have a system plugged into an ethernet port on the back of the
router? I suggest that you do and do some comparison testing from there to
rule out issues with WiFi. Especially speedtest.net when the WiFi connected
devices are experiencing slowdowns.

\- If possible do a WiFi signal check, I like WiFi Analyzer (Android app). You
want to stay away from misconfigured channels. See my other post in relation
to this HN topic.

\- Double check that the WiFi is disabled on your router, just in case a power
cycle has rest it back to default configuration.

\- In my experience the router is rarely the problem, especially if you have
disabled the rather low grade WiFi that particular model has. It is also
possible the your internet service provider has some under-provisioned
equipment somewhere along the line. In some rapidly growing areas, DSLAMs are
connected to low capacity backbone connections or MLPS switches. You might
want to check what other users of your internet service provider are
experiencing.

~~~
charlieegan3
Thanks so much for this - I'll have a play around this weekend. Cheers.

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josh64
Have you tried using a dual-band wifi access point? 5GHz is a lot less
congested and doesn't travel through walls as well as 2.4GHz so you're less
likely to get interference.

It helped me a lot when I lived in an apartment and got a dual band Apple wifi
AP.

~~~
chatmasta
Ironically if you're in a modern apartment where everyone is using 5Ghz, you
might find 2.4GHz to be less congested.

It's worth scanning the wifi networks with either openwrt or a command line
tool and checking out which channels everything is on.

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flukus
An awful AP my ISP sent me sometime around 2010. Probably has a million
security holes by now and I should really upgrade, probably to something
openWRT capable.

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Piskvorrr
Two APs set to lowest transmit power.

