Wifi problems since lockdown

bobblebob

I noticed that since the COVID lockdown my wifi has been less stable, to the point once or twice a week i have to reboot my router as no device will connect to it wirelessly, although wired works fine. I have a fairly old router so cant use the 5ghz frequency. Ive used a wifi analyser and there are 3 routers within range on channel 1 (the one im using), 3 on 6 and 2 on 11. I

Is it possibly more people being home, with more devices attached to their network is clogging up the 2.4ghz wifi frequency and causing instability? Ive changed my channel to 6 to see if this helps

Browntoa

I was going to suggest changing channels , but you've done that

bobblebob

Yea will see how it goes. From what ive read, wifi congestion issues usually mean speeds are effected. Mine arent, instead it will go from working fine, to just losing connection and refusing to connect. The SSID is still being transmitted though so there appears to be something there, but it wont connect.

Is that a congestion symptom?

MinuteNoodles

bobblebob said:

Ive used a wifi analyser and there are 3 routers within range on channel 1 (the one im using), 3 on 6 and 2 on 11. I

Is it possibly more people being home, with more devices attached to their network is clogging up the 2.4ghz wifi frequency and causing instability? Ive changed my channel to 6 to see if this helps

I'd have avoided 1,6 or 11. Sure there's some overlap with the others but they'll work just fine, much better than 1,6 or 11 with multiple wifi networks on those three channels.

bobblebob

MinuteNoodles said:

bobblebob said:

Ive used a wifi analyser and there are 3 routers within range on channel 1 (the one im using), 3 on 6 and 2 on 11. I

Is it possibly more people being home, with more devices attached to their network is clogging up the 2.4ghz wifi frequency and causing instability? Ive changed my channel to 6 to see if this helps

I'd have avoided 1,6 or 11. Sure there's some overlap with the others but they'll work just fine, much better than 1,6 or 11 with multiple wifi networks on those three channels.

Wouldnt going on a channel with overlap risk more congestion?

wongataa

bobblebob said:

MinuteNoodles said:

bobblebob said:

Ive used a wifi analyser and there are 3 routers within range on channel 1 (the one im using), 3 on 6 and 2 on 11. I

Is it possibly more people being home, with more devices attached to their network is clogging up the 2.4ghz wifi frequency and causing instability? Ive changed my channel to 6 to see if this helps

I'd have avoided 1,6 or 11. Sure there's some overlap with the others but they'll work just fine, much better than 1,6 or 11 with multiple wifi networks on those three channels.

Wouldnt going on a channel with overlap risk more congestion?

Not necessarily.  While you might not get the best signal due to some interference from overlapping channels the fact that the peak of your signal will not be overlapping with anyone else's means it should be able to be received more easily.

bobblebob

wongataa said:

bobblebob said:

MinuteNoodles said:

bobblebob said:

Ive used a wifi analyser and there are 3 routers within range on channel 1 (the one im using), 3 on 6 and 2 on 11. I

Is it possibly more people being home, with more devices attached to their network is clogging up the 2.4ghz wifi frequency and causing instability? Ive changed my channel to 6 to see if this helps

I'd have avoided 1,6 or 11. Sure there's some overlap with the others but they'll work just fine, much better than 1,6 or 11 with multiple wifi networks on those three channels.

Wouldnt going on a channel with overlap risk more congestion?

Not necessarily.  While you might not get the best signal due to some interference from overlapping channels the fact that the peak of your signal will not be overlapping with anyone else's means it should be able to be received more easily.

OK thanks will try that. If its congestion, does it matter how many devices are attached to a nearby router, or doesnt that effect it? Just seems odd how ive only had this issue in the 4 or so week since lockdown

naf123

When your WiFi has issues is your hardwired internet still ok?

arciere

bobblebob said:

MinuteNoodles said:

bobblebob said:

Ive used a wifi analyser and there are 3 routers within range on channel 1 (the one im using), 3 on 6 and 2 on 11. I

Is it possibly more people being home, with more devices attached to their network is clogging up the 2.4ghz wifi frequency and causing instability? Ive changed my channel to 6 to see if this helps

I'd have avoided 1,6 or 11. Sure there's some overlap with the others but they'll work just fine, much better than 1,6 or 11 with multiple wifi networks on those three channels.

Wouldnt going on a channel with overlap risk more congestion?

Yes. If you stick to 1, 6 and 11 (the only 3 non-overlapping channels on a 2.4 Ghz network), all the radios transmitting on the same channel can talk to each other and coordinate (for those interested, google CSMA/CA, carrier-sense multiple access with collision avoidance).
If you use odd channels, like 3 and 4, you will be overlapping with other channels, but not completely. In this case, CSMA/CA can't do its job because it's missing a portion of the transmission (when we say, for example, channel 6, we are actually covering channel 6 and adjacent channels, not just 6).
"Some overlap" is exactly what you want to avoid, in wireless networks. You either get no overlap or full overlap, some overlap will only cause more interference.

arciere

bobblebob said:

Yea will see how it goes. From what ive read, wifi congestion issues usually mean speeds are effected. Mine arent, instead it will go from working fine, to just losing connection and refusing to connect. The SSID is still being transmitted though so there appears to be something there, but it wont connect.

Is that a congestion symptom?

Your router's DHCP could be running out of available IP addresses due to a long lease. By restarting the router, you reset the leases.
I'm not saying this is what's happening, but it's worth checking.

bobblebob

naf123 said:

When your WiFi has issues is your hardwired internet still ok?

Yes, wired remains fine

Just wondering if the router is getting old and showing signs of its age, and maybe time to upgrade