Router: Manual setting for channel or auto

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Been reading lots of articles on routers and it seems like there are two philosophies or methods:

1. You either allow your router to “Auto Select” (this is usually the default) the channels.

…or…

2. You manually set the channel yourself in the routers settings (knowing which channel is least congested).

Comments or feelings about either method?

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If you live in an area of low Internet traffic, auto selecting the channel may be fine.

If you live in an area of high Internet traffic (big city, apartment building, etc), choosing the channel that is less used may save you interference. In general, I have found the 5-G band to be less congested than the 2.4-G band (and faster for communication within the network)

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Mike

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If you choose the channel you need to check regularly in case other routers haven’t automatically chosen that channel.

I’d stick to auto but use 5GHz.

cheers, Paul

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Mike

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There are other issues here too.

1. The channel width. On the 5GHz band, narrow widths are better in a crowded WiFi environment as it minimizes interference with nearby networks. On the 2.4GHz almost everyone uses the same narrow channel width, but some consumer devices violate this un-official standard
2. The channels to pick from. On the 2.4GHz band, you should only use channels 1,6 and 11. All the others interfere with each other. So a manual choice may be best if only to prevent a stupid router from using another channel. Three networks sharing channel 6 is better than one on channel 5, one on channel 6 and one on channel 7.

Get up to speed on router security at RouterSecurity.org and Defensive Computing at DefensiveComputingChecklist.com

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wavy, Mike

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My place is pre wired with Cat 6, so I take full advantage of that.

However, there are times when I need to use my router’s WiFi capability. When that time arrives, I simply scan the current WiFi landscape using an app on my cell phone that’s made for WiFi network detection. It tells me which channels are the best ones by level of congestion on the channels. I then select the least congested channel and set my router to begin broadcasting on that channel. Once I’m done, I then shut off my router’s WiFi until the next time.

If I were in a situation where I needed WiFi all the time, I’d follow @Paul-T ‘s advice above:

Paul T wrote:

I’d stick to auto but use 5GHz.

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Mike

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