How can I stop the hub from changing channels?

[zebillem]

I am finding that the Hub will change channels, stopping all wifi for about 20-30 seconds and causing huge frustration if anyone is watching, listening or playing online at the time.

I've set the 5Ghz channel to Manual, chosen one of the options (say 48) and disabled channel optimisation.  And then it will go down and when I log back in it's been set back to Auto and onto another channel.  In time, this will also go down and be put to yet another channel.

Has anyone got an idea of how I can make this STOP!!!

Thanks

Bill

[chris_s]

Sounds like DFS is active. Try selecting channel 36 and see if it sticks.

Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) is a WiFi function that enables Wi-Fi routers/devices to use 5GHz frequencies that are generally reserved for (weather) radars. 

One main benefit of using DFS channels is to provide more Wi-Fi channels and allowing larger Wi-Fi channels, thus providing faster speeds and less interference.

However, there is one main drawback with using DFS channels, and that is if your Wi-Fi router detects a radar. If it does, then the Wi-Fi router will automatically switch to another frequency. When it switches, it may cause a loss in signal for 10 seconds, or more, thus you will lose your Wi-Fi signal on your devices.

If you were on a Zoom call, or online gaming, and a DFS Event occurred, your call or game will be interrupted. 

https://support.giga.net.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/360017257998-5GHz-Wi-Fi-DFS-Dynamic-Frequency-Selectio... 

[jbrennand]

You tried this...
______________

Go into the Hub’s settings. Type in  http://192.168.0.1  into your web browser’s url box and login with settings password on the Hub's base sticker (or your own if you changed it). Then in Advanced>wireless signal >smart wifi - tick the disable “channel optimisation” box or “Smart Wifi” box and save settings.  May be different pathways and wording on the 3 Hub types
Then, go to advanced>wireless signal>security, rename the 2.4 & 5 GHz network ssid's.  Just type over to change 'em to whatever you like and something that will differentiate them (e.g - Billybob2 & Billybob5) Try to avoid spaces and periods in the SSID names as they can cause issues with certain devices. Use the same password for simplicity,  Then, apply settings and restart the Hub.  Your 2 wifi networks will now be clearly separated - and you can then select the network you want each device to connect to… individually from the "available networks" list on each of your devices. 

Note all your wifi devices will need re-connecting to the new SSID's and passwords.
All things being equal, 5 GHz is always better/faster and subject to less congestion/interference (and is better for iDevice speeds than the 2.4 one - although the 2.4 one has the better "range" and will be needed when the 5 GHz drops out of range and some older/cheaper/dumber devices can only use this one. 

You should also use a wifi analyser App (or Airport Utility on iOS) to check which 2.4 channels are being heavily used around you and move yours to one of numbers 1,6,11 that is least so, but it wont help if there is other interference.

See if these changes help - you will lose any “seamless roaming” benefits but it may not matter and you can always change the settings back by doing a " pinhole factory reset " if you prefer the way it was - or it doesn’t help.

[zebillem]

Thanks for the idea.  Where can I find out if DFS is enabled on the Hub 3?  Don't suppose you know?

[zebillem]

That's all done.  I chose channels that were not used but the hub switches them out (not sure why exactly)

[Tudor]

Have you turned off smart/intelligent WiFi? This can reset any settings you have made.

[zebillem]

Hey

I did turn off the intelligent WIFI but did not reboot it after.  I've now done it ... will see if that works

Thanks for the tip

[Tudor]

Good, that one of the mods to the firmware that VM did for their pods.

[Andrew-G · Accepted solution]

Be aware that VM hubs have a bad habit of ignoring or over-riding some user settings.  We usually attribute this to bug laden firmware (VM develop their own firmware for the hubs, what could possibly go wrong?).  If the problem continues then that will be your likely explanation, and your options then are to tolerate this, change ISP, or invest in your own wifi gear.