Switchiang channels and AP's???

jeff

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Apr 5, 2004
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I put up a post earlier about connecting multiple laptops wirelessly and
whether or not they would affect each other, as my cordless phone
disconnects my connection when I talk on it. However, I was assured that I
could hook up as many connections wirelessly without affecting each other,
but was recommended to set the AP to a different channel. Unfortunately, I
have no idea what this means, or even how to do it. Here is a response I
received: "But if you have a lot of AP's around that are on the same
channel they will screw everything up even with different SSID's. That is
why you always try to set your AP to a different channel than what is near
you. Preferably using channels 1,6 or 11. Do a search for nearby AP's and
figure out which channel is strongest and use another channel at least 5
channels awayfrom that for best performance. Can anybody help??? Thanks
 
G

Guest

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Each channel is centered on a different frequency. However, broadcasts on a
given channel are detectable on frequencies above and below those. So,
broadcasts on channel 6 can also be heard on channels 5 and 7. Overall,
this effect extends about 2 channels each way and channels 1, 6, and 11 are
considered nonoverlapping for this reason.

In order to have clear communications between wireless devices, there should
be no other wireless devices on the same channel or overlapping channels.
So, if you have a neighbor whose access point is on channel 6 (that's
usually default out of the box), you may experience better results if you
use channels 1 and 11. The problem is seeing what channels are in use. I
do not think that Windows XP has a built-in program for that, but there are
such programs available elsewhere. You would need something that sees both
wireless devices that broadcast their SSIDs and wireless devices that do
not. Then, you would put your network on a channel that is not in use by
any device whose signal comes in strong. The channel is configured on the
access point.

A given access point generally only operates on one channel. All devices
connected to it share the same bandwidth. Thus, things get slower the more
devices use the same access point. Given that you do not want to use the
same channel on access points that are close to each other, if you want to
lessen the bandwidth problem, you could add a second access point on a
nonoverlapping channel.

Finally, you could have the network set up perfectly, but many other devices
operate at 2.4GHz (e.g., cordless phones, microwave ovens, garage door
openers, etc.). Their use can interfere with devices operating on all
channels.

-Yves

"Jeff" <jeff.2002@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:ssHTe.17792$vN.554056@news20.bellglobal.com...
>I put up a post earlier about connecting multiple laptops wirelessly and
>whether or not they would affect each other, as my cordless phone
>disconnects my connection when I talk on it. However, I was assured that I
>could hook up as many connections wirelessly without affecting each other,
>but was recommended to set the AP to a different channel. Unfortunately, I
>have no idea what this means, or even how to do it. Here is a response I
>received: "But if you have a lot of AP's around that are on the same
>channel they will screw everything up even with different SSID's. That is
>why you always try to set your AP to a different channel than what is near
>you. Preferably using channels 1,6 or 11. Do a search for nearby AP's and
>figure out which channel is strongest and use another channel at least 5
>channels awayfrom that for best performance. Can anybody help??? Thanks
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: (More info?)

> I put up a post earlier about connecting multiple laptops wirelessly and
> whether or not they would affect each other, as my cordless phone
> disconnects my connection when I talk on it. However, I was assured that I

You could have just continued with the earlier thread. :)