Knowledgebase

Sometimes, Router issues may be caused by interference between your Router and other devices. This may appear to be an Internet issue, but it may also just be a router communication issue. For example, if your router is on a similar channel to a wireless baby monitor, or to your wileless game controllers, or cordless phones, or a channel that is too close in frequency to the Antenna on your roof, or even a channel that is interfering with a nearby neighbor - that all can cause interference and can potentially all cause problems.

If that is the case, you may be able to resolve this by changing channels on your router, and/or by changing channel widths on your router. If you have a 'Dual Band' router, then you may also be able to change bands entirely. If your router offers both 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz 'Dual Band' operation, then it may be possible to turn off the interfering band and to only use the non interfering band, and that can in many cases increase performance too. On the downside, these changes to your Router may require matching changes to your wireless devices that connect to your Router (like your computers, tablets, etc) and in some cases that might be something that you can accomplish easily, while in other cases that might be difficult for you to manage you device.  That will all depend on what devices you have, what their capabilities are, and how much you know about your network.

Now, there are many companies that make routers (DLink, LinkSys, NetGear, TrendNet, NetGear, Apple, Cisco, etc) and each of those companies can have many dozens of models and revisions of each. Each of them is different in features and they all are differnt to program. Now - we do not directly support routers - they are part of your network, just like your computer(s), your tablet(s), your printers, your cameras, your scanners, etc. There are simply too many different makes and models of all these devices for us to even come close to knowning them all.

That all being said, we can give some guidance. - for example: here is a good starting place for DLink routers - you can narrow this down by knowing the exact model number of your router, and DLink's website should have step by step instructions on how to change channels, or change bands.

http://www.dlink.com/uk/en/support/faq?q=change+channel

Generally speaking - you'll want to be as far away as possible from the channel that we use for our Antenna on your roof. There is no 'universally perfect channel' to pick, but we can give you some specific guildines as for what we recommend in your pariticular situation. You'll also want to be as narrow as channel as possible - so typically use a 20 Mhz wide channel and NOT use a 40 Mhz wide or a 'TURBO' channel. The router manufacturers often say that using a TURBO or a 40Mhz wide channel is better for higher performance (and in theory that is true) but that's only in ideal circumstances and in the absence of any interfernce. In the real-world, using a 40 Mhz wide channel will be much more likely to interfere with all other devices in, on, and near your home, and it can often result in lower perfomance instead of higher performance.

So - for example - if our Antenna on your roof is in the 2.4Ghz band, and if it is on Channel 1, then you'll want to have your router on Channel 11 and set to 20Mhz width (or set to 'non-TURBO' mode). That will lessen the interference potential between the two. Or if possible, you'll want to have your router on the 5Ghz band and not the 2.4Ghz band at all, and that will eliminate interference between the two. Likewise, if our Antenna on your roof is in the 5Ghz range, then you'll want to limit as much as possible the 5Ghz interference, and that again would be to set the channel width to 20 Mhz instead of 40Mhz/TURBO modes, and would again to pick a channel that is as far away as possible from the channel we are using on our equipment.

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