Channel Shopping

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jbkt23
DD-WRT User


Joined: 31 Dec 2018
Posts: 57

PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2023 12:49    Post subject: Channel Shopping Reply with quote
Do folks in dense urban areas have to change channels often to get good signal quality from their AP's? When I do Site surveys there are at least 20 or more AP's with medium to strong signals in my neighborhood competing for the available channels. It seems that the 2.4G band is the most susceptible to signal clash. When I set up my 2.4g band a year ago I thought I had picked the least used band but recently my ssid's in that band were not showing up so I changed to another channel in the 1-11 range (US) and now they show up right away. But who knows if this will last.
I haven't had issues in the 5G band.
Now when my guests complain about connection I know what I may have to do.

This falls into the unsolvable annoyance category but just wondering if this is an experience others have.

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ARCHER-C7v5 | v3.0-r54604 std | AP Gateway
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Alozaros
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 16 Nov 2015
Posts: 6388
Location: UK, London, just across the river..

PostPosted: Wed May 31, 2023 11:14    Post subject: Reply with quote
when debugging your errors and want to consult the other forum members...
-tell us which build number you have
-expose as many details as possible
-pic of your wi-fi(advanced) and security wifi page (cover the sensitive data)
-its better to use the Atheros WiFi guide, as a starting point and than fiddle with settings until you
get the best out..

I use Channel 11+7 lower (HT40) country domain Haiti or Canada, Short Preamble, Short GI ,WPA2 AES 128Bit for encryption and ect. you can also enable noise immunity setting to try out...ACK time 3150, 900 or 450..

_________________
Atheros
TP-Link WR740Nv1 ---DD-WRT 55179 WAP
TP-Link WR1043NDv2 -DD-WRT 55303 Gateway/DoT,Forced DNS,AP Isolation,Ad-Block,Firewall
TP-Link WR1043NDv2 -DD-WRT 55303 Gateway/DoT,Forced DNS,Ad-Block,Firewall,x4VLAN,VPN
TP-Link WR1043NDv2 -Gargoyle OS 1.15.x AP,DNS,QoS,Quotas
Qualcomm-Atheros
Netgear R7800 --DD-WRT 55363 Gateway/DoT,AD-Block,Forced DNS,AP&Net Isolation,x3VLAN,Firewall,Vanilla
Netgear R9000 --DD-WRT 55363 Gateway/DoT,AD-Block,AP Isolation,Firewall,Forced DNS,x2VLAN,Vanilla
Broadcom
Netgear R7000 --DD-WRT 55363 Gateway/SmartDNS/DoH,AD-Block,Firewall,Forced DNS,x3VLAN,VPN
NOT USING 5Ghz ANYWHERE
------------------------------------------------------
Stubby DNS over TLS I DNSCrypt v2 by mac913
Gameman Advanced Kid
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 18 Nov 2012
Posts: 1158

PostPosted: Wed May 31, 2023 18:38    Post subject: Reply with quote
Need Router model, Build version, and firmware version. you can find this is Status > Router.

Also need to know whats your internet speed.

There is a program, AKA "app", you can use thats on the android playstore called "WiFiAnalyzer" (Open-Source) by the folks at "Vrem Software Development". It can show you list of access points, channel rating, channel graph, and time graph. I found it to be useful at some of the urban sites I go to.

I would use 5ghz as your primary radio and the 2.4ghz as the secondary. 5ghz has higher capacity and the latency is usually lower. its also got WAY more channels than 2.4ghz so less chance of bumping into someone else.

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barryware wrote:
It takes a "community" to raise a router..


Internet Connection 1
Some Techicolor modem > Linksys WRT3200ACM

Internet connection 2
Ubiquiti Powerbeam Gen 2 > Netgear R9000

Official (but not really) dd-wrt General Discussion element/matrix chat

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jbkt23
DD-WRT User


Joined: 31 Dec 2018
Posts: 57

PostPosted: Thu Jun 01, 2023 1:17    Post subject: Reply with quote
Router and version are in my Sig. I researched and used the settings recommended here:

https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=324014 after perusing the originating threads that produced the said document.

But this was more an anecdotal statement because I don't believe in perfect settings, otherwise there wouldn't be so much debate in those threads. My Archer C7v5 has a finicky 2.4G ath9k radio that from research is known to be flaky. I only use the 5g band and have great connectivity for this cheap consumer router used as a gateway|AP|dnsServer. If I felt I had an issue I would have posted in the Atheros thread.

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ARCHER-C7v5 | v3.0-r54604 std | AP Gateway
WNDR4000|v24-52189_NEWD-2_K3.x_mega|Inactive Spare
Gameman Advanced Kid
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 18 Nov 2012
Posts: 1158

PostPosted: Thu Jun 01, 2023 4:11    Post subject: Reply with quote
There are always a different set of settings to use in each area. Like with me, I can "get away with murder" on the 5ghz band by having my channel width set to 160mhz and still get good speeds since I live in a semi rural area.

Since you asked, I only experienced 2.4ghz stopping on my R7000 but it was something about the 2.4ghz chip overheating. We started using the 5ghz band as our primary band a few months later since we had 300mbps package at the time. nowadays we are at 600mbps.

If you want, you could either change to a tri-band router or use VAPs on the 5ghz band for your guests.

BTW, your signature does not have your internet speed package.

_________________
For people who are new to the dd-wrt forums >> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#rtfm

barryware wrote:
It takes a "community" to raise a router..


Internet Connection 1
Some Techicolor modem > Linksys WRT3200ACM

Internet connection 2
Ubiquiti Powerbeam Gen 2 > Netgear R9000

Official (but not really) dd-wrt General Discussion element/matrix chat

https://matrix.to/#/#dd-wrt-private-non-offical:matrix.org
Alozaros
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 16 Nov 2015
Posts: 6388
Location: UK, London, just across the river..

PostPosted: Thu Jun 01, 2023 15:24    Post subject: Reply with quote
hmm i dont know much about Atheros QCA9563 radio finickiness, but my (1043v2) Atheros QCA9558 radio is rock solid...it could be due to bad client compatibility too...I do always suggest people to drive either Mercedes or an old reliable car...get R7800 forget for the wifi problems... Cool
_________________
Atheros
TP-Link WR740Nv1 ---DD-WRT 55179 WAP
TP-Link WR1043NDv2 -DD-WRT 55303 Gateway/DoT,Forced DNS,AP Isolation,Ad-Block,Firewall
TP-Link WR1043NDv2 -DD-WRT 55303 Gateway/DoT,Forced DNS,Ad-Block,Firewall,x4VLAN,VPN
TP-Link WR1043NDv2 -Gargoyle OS 1.15.x AP,DNS,QoS,Quotas
Qualcomm-Atheros
Netgear R7800 --DD-WRT 55363 Gateway/DoT,AD-Block,Forced DNS,AP&Net Isolation,x3VLAN,Firewall,Vanilla
Netgear R9000 --DD-WRT 55363 Gateway/DoT,AD-Block,AP Isolation,Firewall,Forced DNS,x2VLAN,Vanilla
Broadcom
Netgear R7000 --DD-WRT 55363 Gateway/SmartDNS/DoH,AD-Block,Firewall,Forced DNS,x3VLAN,VPN
NOT USING 5Ghz ANYWHERE
------------------------------------------------------
Stubby DNS over TLS I DNSCrypt v2 by mac913
jbkt23
DD-WRT User


Joined: 31 Dec 2018
Posts: 57

PostPosted: Sat Jun 03, 2023 17:53    Post subject: Channel Shopping Reply with quote
Channel Survey 2.4Gz band. As can be seen the signal to noise is pretty high where I am.
MrJCD posted his in the r52720 atheros thread and he has it good.



2_4GZ-ChannelSurvey.png
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2_4GZ-ChannelSurvey.png



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ARCHER-C7v5 | v3.0-r54604 std | AP Gateway
WNDR4000|v24-52189_NEWD-2_K3.x_mega|Inactive Spare
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