It often happens that for a long time the Internet over the wireless network works fine, but at one point the connection speed starts to decrease, the pages load slowly, and watching videos and downloading large files starts to pose significant difficulties.
Do not rush to buy new equipment or call the provider - as practice shows, this problem can be solved by setting a different data channel in the settings of the router. Why such situations occur and which channel to choose for WiFi will be described in this article.
Why is Internet speed slowing?
Now it is very difficult to imagine life without wireless devices - smartphones and tablets, as well as laptops and computers with WiFi modules, are firmly in everyday use. Therefore, a wireless router that distributes a home WiFi network becomes a necessary item in every home.
True, WiFi, in contrast to the wired Internet, is not the most stable technology, its operation depends on external factors.
Many of us live in apartment buildings, and almost everyone has a router. Most routers operate in the 2.4 GHz band and support 13 channels. There is a pattern that the more devices work on the same channel, the more it is overloaded, respectively, this greatly affects the connection speed. Users are wondering which channel for a WiFi router to choose and how to determine the least loaded frequency.
When you need to change the channel
It makes sense to change this value if you regularly observe the following problems:
- The speed of the Internet decreases, and when measuring the speed, the values are far behind the providers stated in the tariff plan.
- The network signal is high, and when you move away from the access point, devices stop connecting to it.
- The connection to the wireless network periodically disappears, while it does not disappear from the list of available ones.
These are the most common network problems that may arise due to congestion in the data transfer channel, then you need to decide which channel to choose for WiFi in the router settings.
Auto Channel Selection
In Russia, it is allowed to use 13 bands of a wireless network. Going into the settings of the router, you can select one of 13 channels. Which channel for WiFi is better to choose?
During the initial configuration of any router, its interface will definitely have the item "Wireless settings" (depending on the firmware, the name in the menu may be different, but the essence is the same).
By default, as a rule, Auto is set to - when this item is set, the router selects the least loaded channel automatically with each new reboot and sets it exactly. True, not all models of routers are able to correctly determine which channel to choose for Wi-Fi, especially with regard to more budget ones, so it makes sense to set these settings manually.
Many people forget or don’t know that the router works stably if you regularly restart it on power, so if you suddenly encounter a decrease in the speed of your Internet connection, it’s best to start by rebooting the equipment - then the router is most likely to choose the desired channel itself.
If this does not help, you need to manually change the channel value through the settings of the router.
Change channel in settings
Enter the settings of the router by its management address through any browser. The IP address can be seen on the sticker on the bottom of the router case, or you can enter standard data (they are suitable in most cases) - 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1.
Log in through the start page with the login and password (enter them also from the router case, or use the basic parameters - admin / admin). You will be taken to the router settings interface.
Depending on the model and firmware, the menu items may be called differently, but, as a rule, the interface is intuitive. If difficulties arise, you can use the emulator or instructions on the manufacturer’s website.
In the settings interface you need to select Wireless or "Wireless Network" and go to the main settings menu.
Using the most common TP-Link router firmware as an example, this will look like the one shown in the photo.
As you can see, in the Channel line (in the Russian version "Channel") there is an automatic value. Change it to another, most unloaded and save the settings. You can determine which channel for WiFi to choose in several ways, more on that below.
It is important to remember that if you use Apple devices or other equipment certified for distribution in the United States, you need to select channels in the range 1-11, if you select 12 or 13 channels, the network will not be displayed in the list of available ones.
Which channel is best?
There is no universal answer to this question, because in each case, devices are connected in different ways. In order to find out which channel is best suited, you need to analyze the available frequencies for the degree of congestion.
You can use the blind selection method, choosing new channels, then to check and find out what result it brought, but this method is ineffective and takes a lot of time.
It is much easier to use free applications and utilities that allow you to scan a wireless network and determine for yourself which channel for Wi-Fi will be most optimal.
For Android devices, they use the WiFi Analyzer application, which has an intuitive interface and shows both the most preferred channel and the load values of all the others.
For computers, the InSSIDer utility exists. It provides much more information, in it you can see not only which channel for WiFi to choose, but also conduct a deeper analysis of wireless networks in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.
In conclusion
We examined the main ways of which channel to choose for 2.4 GHz WiFi if there are problems with Internet access.
If changing the channel does not work, it is better to contact the provider or replace the equipment - there may be problems with the router itself or on the network of the service provider.
Where a large coverage area is required or a large number of devices are regularly used, you can use a router that runs on a 5 GHz network - today this network is not widely used, and is usually not loaded. However, not all devices can operate at a given frequency.