@Oyster wrote:
I havent read all the sticky posts so maybe I am repeating what has already been said.
I keep seeing posts where people are saying the same thing,
wifi dropping out, wifi intermittent, etc etc
I'm not saying I have full answers but my job in life is to diagnose and maintain
networks for various companies. With home networks using wifi, I can tell you now,
things are slightly more complex. (dont know about Apple phones but) if you have an android phone you can get various apps that will show you what your neighbours networks are called and what band or channel they are using etc. They usually give you a graph to show you what channel within a wifi band they are using. The object is to access your router and make your devices connect to your router on the least used channel. To describe how to do this for every router and device would be impossible.
I thought it might be worth saying though, because in my experience routers tend to default to the midrange channels like 4,6, or 8
research it try 11 or 2 or 9, because it often works. Radio can get congested
If you search these forums you might notice that several of us have already mentioned the use of various Wi-Fi analyser/scanning/survey apps, often referring people to them. Some of us also have professional versions and tools like a spectrum analyser - useful in identifying noise other than other access points. I've thought about adding some notes as a 'sticky' thread but then many posters here don't bother reading those anyway!
You say you don't know about iPhones - one can use the Apple Airport Utility for Wi-Fi scanning on those (though that is not as 'pretty' as the free apps available for Android or, say, NetSpot on a Mac).
In my experience domestic routes/access points default to channel 6 on 2.4GHz and the 'smart' or 'intelligent' software algorithms are generally coded that way.
I wouldn't recommend using channels 2 and 9 in urban/suburban/congested environments in the UK - better to use 1, 6 or 11 to avoid overlap. As you probably know, channel usage does vary by country and the correct country code is important.
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I know a bit about Wi-Fi, Telecoms, and TV as I used to do it for a living but I'm not perfect so don't beat me up... If you make things you make mistakes!