How to change the Wi-Fi channel on the router - step by step instructions

Wireless networks in modern realities are very common. Imagine a house without Wi-Fi is almost impossible. But this technology has one significant minus. It cannot provide the maximum speed of Internet connection if the channel to which Wi-Fi is assigned does not use only your router. The fact is that on one channel as many routers as neighbors can hang. And the connection speed is naturally reduced. Therefore, users are also looking for information on how to change the channel on a Wi-Fi router. You can do it. But first you need to decide which channel to connect to. And we will tell about it. But first, some general information.

A bit about channels

In Russia and the CIS countries, routers are allowed to distribute Wi-Fi on 13 channels (from 1 to 13). And there are only 11 channels in the USA. Therefore, equipment brought from the United States often cannot connect to our networks, because it simply does not see channels 12 and 13. However, this is not the point. Typically, a router selects a channel automatically. But no one will guarantee that the routers of neighbors do not work on the same channel. And if this is true, then it is better to change it, since the data transfer rate in this situation will be extremely low. Therefore, you need to know everything about how to change the Wi-Fi channel on the router.

What channels can I count on?

It is worth considering that you can change channels only in the range from 1 to 13. Yes, and not the fact that they will all be free. Therefore, you also need to know how to choose a Wi-Fi channel on the router. Monitoring is carried out by special programs. They are able to provide comprehensive information about the channels and how many users are sitting on them. And right now we’ll be checking channels. Only after choosing the right one will it be possible to start configuring the router.

Finding the right channel with inSSIDer

InSSIDer can be used to view channels. It is completely free, and it can easily be downloaded from the developer's site. Moreover, it does not even require installation. You will only need to unzip the archive into a folder. After that, it remains only to run the utility. But it is mandatory with administrator rights, otherwise it will not be able to work. And the instructions for using this application are very simple. There she is:

1. First, turn on the Wi-Fi on the laptop and router and connect to it.
2. Then run the program as administrator.
3. In the program itself, go to the "Networks" tab.
4. A window will appear with a table in which all available networks (including yours) will be displayed.
5. We need to look at the "Channels" column. It displays information about all channels.
6. Analyze the situation and select the most free channel. Or one that is not busy at all (it is not displayed).

This is how you can view busy and available channels. And only after that you can start changing the channel on the Wi-Fi router. However, this is far from the only way to find out the necessary information. There is another application that is much simpler than inSSIDer. It may suit you better.

Finding the right channel using WiFiInfoView

This is another small utility that will help you figure out which channel to configure your Wi-Fi router. This program is also completely free and does not require any installation. You can download it on the official website of the developer. The user will only have to unzip the archive into some directory. After that, you can start monitoring the channels. It is very easy to work with the utility. Here is the instruction:

1. We connect Wi-Fi on the laptop and router.
2. Run the utility as administrator using the appropriate file.
3. The information we need will be displayed in the "Channels" column.

As you can see, managing this utility is very simple. Enough to just run it. The program will do the rest itself. The user only needs to analyze the busy and available channels and make the appropriate choice. Now you can talk about how to change the Wi-Fi channel on the router. We will provide instructions for the various router models.

Changing a channel on a D-Link router

First, let's talk about setting up the channel of the D-Link Wi-Fi router - as the most common among domestic providers. Typically, these routers are provided by providers along with home Internet tariff plans. Configuring them is quite simple, since the menu has a full-fledged Russian language. And the instruction for changing the channel is like this:

1. We launch the browser, enter 192.168.1.1 in the address bar and press the Enter button.
2. Next, enter the login and password in the corresponding lines to access the settings of the router. The default is admin / admin. Then click on "OK."
3. Now in the main settings window, select Wi-Fi.
4. Next, in the "Country" column, select the desired region, and in the "Channel" column, set the desired channel number.
5. Then click on the "Apply" button.

That's the whole setup. As you can see, changing the Wi-Fi channel in the settings of the D-Link router is very simple. And when choosing channels, the router provides information about the channel load. Very convenient. It’s a pity that not all routers have such an option. In others, as a rule, things are worse. In principle, you yourself will now see this.

Change channel on TP-Link router

These are the second most popular routers that our providers like to use. However, they are quite good and can provide a stable connection. How to change Wi-Fi channel on TP-Link router? Yes, it’s very simple, even though the Russian interface is not there. But everything is organized in such a way that it is impossible to get lost in the settings. Here is the instructions for changing the channel on these routers:

1. We launch the browser and enter the already known address 192.168.1.1 in the address bar. Then press Enter.
2. Usually enter username and password to access the settings. Remember that the default is admin / admin.
3. After clicking on the "OK" button, we get to the main menu. Here we click on the item "Wireless" in the left column and immediately go to the item "Wireless Settings".
4. The settings will appear on the right side of the window. In the column "Region" select the desired country.
5. In the "Channel" column, select the desired channel.
6. Click on the "Save" button.

After that, you can close the router settings. As you can see, everything is extremely strict and simple here. Even despite the lack of a Russian language in the interface. After all these manipulations, the TP-Link router will work on the channel that was selected. However, this is far from the only router. It's time to consider the configuration features of other devices.

Changing the channel on the ASUS router

These routers are not very popular, however, some users have installed them. And therefore, you must definitely consider the process of setting up a Wi-Fi router channel from this manufacturer. There is nothing complicated here, but it's worth providing instructions just in case. There she is:

1. The first steps are exactly the same - you just need to get into the settings of the router.
2. In the main settings window, just click on the item "Wireless Network".
3. A list of settings appears on the right side of the window. You just need to set the desired region and channel.
4. Then click on the "Save" button.

After that, the router will automatically reboot, and Wi-Fi will already be distributed through a completely different channel. Simple, right? Now you know exactly how to change the Wi-Fi channel on a router from ASUS. By the way, this router has a completely Russified menu, which allows you to apply settings faster without getting confused in their English names.

Changing the channel on the Zyxel Keenetic router

Routers from this manufacturer are among the fastest and most advanced. And their menu is incredibly simple. And there is also the Russian language. So with the setup no problems should arise. Nevertheless, for an unprepared user this process may seem complicated. Therefore, it is necessary to provide detailed instructions for changing the channel in these routers. There she is:

1. We launch our full-time web browser, enter 192.168.1.1 in the address bar and press the Enter button.
2. A window for entering the login and password appears. We type "admin" and in the password entry line - 1234. Click on the "OK" button.
3. Immediately we get to the main settings page. Here you need to move to the "Wi-Fi Network" tab.
4. In the "Access Point" will be all the necessary settings.
5. We set the region and the desired channel number in the corresponding column.
6. Click on the "Apply" button.

After that, the router will reboot automatically. All that remains is to reconnect all your devices to it. But with this, problems should definitely not arise. It is worth noting that the menu of this router is significantly different from all the previous ones, so it will be a little difficult to navigate for an untrained user (or someone who is used to dealing with other routers). But if you do everything according to the instructions, you will certainly be able to change the channel even on such a router.

Conclusion

So, to summarize and summarize the whole verbose philippics. We tried to answer the question of how to change the channel of a Wi-Fi router. It turned out that this is not so difficult. The main problem is to find an unoccupied channel. But this program will help the user. Of course, routers from different manufacturers have different settings menus. Therefore, I had to consider several solutions to the problem on the most popular routers. If your router is not in this list, then do not despair. The instructions are universal in some way. They may be suitable for other devices. There will simply be slight differences in terms of menu items.