Problem with setting a channel

[Will_T]

It was suggested in another thread that one of the setup things I do is take the router off of "automatic" channel and set it manually.  So I set the wireless to channel 6 which was one of the best channels when I did it.  Things seem to be working OK, but as you can see from the attached screenshot, when I use wifi analyzer app it shows channel 6 as being terrible now that the Orbi router is on it.  Can anyone explain what might be going on?  Thanks.

[CrimpOn · Accepted solution]

WiFi analyzer programs look at the signal strength of access points broadcasting on each channel and find the channel that has the lowest aggregate signals being broadcast.  When the Orbi is set to channel 6 and the WiFi analyzer device is anyplace close an Orbi, it says, "gee whiz, channel 6 has somebody really strong broadcasting on it."  (The Orbi)  That is what you want.

In order for a WiFi analyzer to be of value, it must be run while the Orbi is not turned on.  Basically, that is what happens when the Orbi is set to "Auto".  The Orbi does a brief scan of WiFi channels and says, "hmmm. this particular channel has the least interference, I'll set myself to it."  This is also why Orbi sometimes choses one of the "overlapping" channels.  Everybody is probably aware that the nice folks who designed 802.11 (WiFi) put the channel frequencies too close together and broadcasting on channel 1, for example, bleeds over into channels 2 and 3.  Channel 6 bleeds over into channels 4, 5, 7, 8.  But, channels 1 and 6 do not overlap at all.  But, what if there are a ton of WiFi's close by that are set to 1 and 6?  Maybe 3 or 4 actually has more capability than adding to the traffic on 1 or 6.

[FURRYe38]

Any wifi neighbors on chl 6? 

Try a different wifi analyzer app

[Will_T]

Don't have close neighbors. There are only a couple weak wifi networks I can ever see.  Not sure if they are on 6.  I tried another app. Also showed 6, which I am connected to as being weak.  Says 1 or 13 are strongest. Odd thing is that 6 was one of the 3 strongest before I connected the Orbi to it.  I can try manually setting to 1 or 13 and see.

[FURRYe38]

Maybe an app issue rather then a Orbi or wifi issue...

Is the wifi working for you when your on chl 6? 

[Will_T]

Yes everything seems to be working well.  Speed testing shows great speeds.  More than anything I am just trying to figure out and understand what I am seeing.

All wifi analyzer apps just show that weak channel 6.  Right now there are no networks showing other than my Orbi.  Odd thing is that one of the apps told me there was a lot of interference and overlap on channel 6.  When I had it show me all those, they were all my Orbi.  Twelve total, 6 of them were variations of the main Orbi wireless network and 6 of them were variations of the Guest Orbi network I set up.  Although it showed me as connected only to one of the main Orbi networks.  

I will manually change the router to channel one and see if that one then is shown as weak.

[Will_T]

So yes, I changed the router to channel one which was showing perfect.  Once I changed the Orbi to channel one, now that channel shows as being poor, with overlap and interference and channel 6 now shows as perfect.  So the wifi apps are all picking up numerous instances of my Orbi network and assuming they are all interferring and overlapping.  I don't know enough about all this to understand what is going on, but maybe it does not matter.  

Is there a reason why setting the channel to auto is not recommended?

[FURRYe38]

If you don't have any wifi neighbors that are close by, you can use Auto. 

[Will_T]

OK.  Do you have any explanation as to why when I set a channel manually, that channel goes from being excellent to very poor once the Orbi is connected to it?  Setting it to auto probably will not help that?  It seems whatever channel it is set to becomes bad.

[CrimpOn · Accepted solution]

WiFi analyzer programs look at the signal strength of access points broadcasting on each channel and find the channel that has the lowest aggregate signals being broadcast.  When the Orbi is set to channel 6 and the WiFi analyzer device is anyplace close an Orbi, it says, "gee whiz, channel 6 has somebody really strong broadcasting on it."  (The Orbi)  That is what you want.

In order for a WiFi analyzer to be of value, it must be run while the Orbi is not turned on.  Basically, that is what happens when the Orbi is set to "Auto".  The Orbi does a brief scan of WiFi channels and says, "hmmm. this particular channel has the least interference, I'll set myself to it."  This is also why Orbi sometimes choses one of the "overlapping" channels.  Everybody is probably aware that the nice folks who designed 802.11 (WiFi) put the channel frequencies too close together and broadcasting on channel 1, for example, bleeds over into channels 2 and 3.  Channel 6 bleeds over into channels 4, 5, 7, 8.  But, channels 1 and 6 do not overlap at all.  But, what if there are a ton of WiFi's close by that are set to 1 and 6?  Maybe 3 or 4 actually has more capability than adding to the traffic on 1 or 6.

[Will_T]

Thanks - That is a good explanation.  Also explains why when 6 shows as so bad, 5 and 7 are also less than optimal.  Seems like I can just leave it set to 6 and not worry about it.

[FURRYe38]

Possible behavior of the app. Something to ask the app Mfr about. I typically don't use that feature in an app. I use the live channel signal feature to see what SSID is online and what channels they and neighboring SSID are using.