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The situation

When I was looking into improving my wireless connection I found that it may help to change the channel.

Example circumstances

I have narrowed my options down to two, but am not sure which one to pick:

  1. If I put the channel to 1 or to 6, I will have full overlap with one strong network.
  2. If I put the channel to 11, I will have full overlap with multiple weak networks.

My own strength is about -50dbm, the strong network is about -65 dbm and there are 4 weak networks around -85 dbm.

The question

Is it better to get interference from 1 strong network, or from multiple weaker networks.

I need to know which to pick in my current situation, but would appreciate a more general solution that can also be applied in the future.

My thoughts so far

I have concluded that as decibel is a logarithmic scale, the energy of the weaker network does not add up to that of the stronger network. As such the weaker networks may interfere less.

On the other hand, the number of requests sent by the weaker networks should definitely be higher than that of the stronger network. As such the stronger network may interfere less.

I searched around a bit but didn't find anything on the topic via this site or google.

Community
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Dennis Jaheruddin
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1 Answers1

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Is it better to get interference from 1 strong network, or from multiple weaker networks.

It would depend entirely on how busy those networks are, not so much the signal strength. Within a large degree, the signal either reaches your equipment or it doesn't. This is simplifying, but reasonably true.

The professional solution is long and complicated. Fortunately Peter Grace wrote an extensive set of Articles on how he did this for Stack Exchange, including using a Wi-Spy spectrum analyzer.

The less-professional solution is to try the three channels and test their bandwidth using something germane, file transfer or preferably something like iperf.

Chris S
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  • I think testing would require a significant period of measurements as to determine their average/maximum use with some accuracy (perhaps some networks are only used intensively on mondays or so). So, suppose we assume that each network is equally busy, would you then recommend overlapping with the 1 stronger one? – Dennis Jaheruddin Sep 10 '14 at 14:22
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    I would still recommend testing because I would know simplifications like "each network is equally busy" doesn't actually happen. Also, you should consider using 5GHz equipment as it's range is significantly less than 2.4GHz, and has less interference issues. – Chris S Sep 10 '14 at 14:25