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Forum Discussion
RS500 - Auto 5 ghz channel setting picks up DFS channel?
My neighborhood is pretty crowded with 5 Ghz channels. The auto 5 Ghz channel selection setting picks up channel 100 which is a DFS channel. This channel also has lower transmit power than the non DF...
The RS500 is choosing channel 100 in my case, literally every time if I change to auto channel setting. Although the DFS channel spectrum is clear, it has lower signal strength and doesn't give higher speeds downstairs (I have the router in the first floor). The 2.4 Ghz is terribly congested to be effectively usable by non IOT devices, so I always prefer the auto channel selection in this band, though the selected channel interferes with many other neighbors.
I was suggesting to avoid the DFS channel selection in auto mode since these channels are limited in transmit power, which undermines the strength of a whole home router.
Users have the choice to set manual channels and are not under any requirement to use AUTO channel selection. Manual maybe needed and sometime IS preferred to use. I've been using manual channels 1 and 40 here based on my closest nieighbors and testing experiences for my main home netowrk. I do run a 2nd network and that is kept at far appart channesl 11 and 48. So even though DFS is support and used by the system, you don't have to use it. Why there are options users can select manually. Been like this for years. DFS has been around for years as well. Only Auto channel selection on 5ghz is fairly new to NG routers in past year or so for some NG router systems.
Yes, I am only talking about the auto mode since most users don't change the default settings. This will lead to poor performance in the 5 Ghz band due to DFS channel selection.
Maybe however that maybe based on what the system finds and seens in each users wifi environment. Not every will have same environment so we can't presume that all RS routers will pick same channels when set to AUTO.
I would assume that most 5 Ghz environments would be crowded in the channel spectrum 36-48 and 149-161 since they are most commonly used channels. Would you be able test this in your environment and check the wifi performance?