Very popular among Internet users, in particular wireless, is the question of choosing and changing the Wi-Fi channel. These actions can be performed by looking at the settings of your router. The fact that such a problem occurs very often is not at all surprising.
The reason for this is the occurrence of many interruptions in the Internet due to interference on the channel. This is what users complain about most often: low data transfer rates, the Internet is jerky (that is, there is no access), sometimes the Wi-Fi connection is interrupted for a long time. All these snags have one root cause - the congestion of your channel.
As another negative consequence of increased load, you can call the following problem: your computer stops seeing this particular Wi-Fi network while it sees others.
How to find another channel, make the transition from the old to the new, how to do all this, we will tell you later in the article. We will review the solution based on the parameters of the most popular router models. Among them you can find such as Tp-Link, Asus, D-Link, Zyxel, as well as Tenda
The essence of the Wi-Fi channel. The need to change it.
Let's start our debriefing with the most basic one. A bit of theory about wireless channels. Currently, most routers are tuned to the frequency 2.4 GHz... So this figure is considered standard. There are more numbers - for example, 5 GHz, but they are found on recently released models, so there are still fewer of them.
The 2.4 GHz frequency assumes the possibility of using the following channel range: from the first to the thirteenth. It is easy to conclude that any Wi-Fi router operates on one of these thirteen channels. This applies to countries such as Russia and Ukraine. In America, things are different: they can only use 11 channels. Take this feature into account, because when purchasing any American device, you can easily face the fact that it will not see Wi-Fi 12th or 13th channels.
Problems with channel overload occur when several networks are connected to it at once. How does this happen?
- You set, for example, the 5th channel.
- The neighbor nearby also decides to make a choice in favor of the 5th channel.
- Thus, several networks have already used the 5th channel. Imagine when there are several such neighbors.
- The channel is overloaded.
This problem is very common in apartment buildings, and less often in private ones, since the distance to neighbors is long.
The initial settings are as follows - when the router is turned on, any channel is automatically selected (the one that is less loaded). When you turn off and turn on the router again, another channel is already selected.
Of course, you can set this setting - when turned on, the router will connect to a specific channel, for example, the second one. This will always happen. But one day this channel may turn out to be heavily loaded, and you will face the problems that we talked about at the beginning of the article. Therefore, automatic channel selection has the advantage. You can always reboot the device, and it will find another option, more free.
A useful thing is special programs that are designed to keep track of which channels are busy and which are free. We will talk about them further.
But still, the easiest and most affordable way to deal with wireless connection problems is this -. If after the first time you cannot solve the problems, then do it again. You can also experiment with the settings:
- if you have chosen to install a static, that is, constant, channel, go to automatic selection;
- if, on the contrary, the router automatically selected the channel, set its specific number - first try 1,6 and 11.
Such manipulations help to cope with the problems that have arisen.
If attempts were unsuccessful, you can turn to special programs. They're called inSSIDer, WiFiInfoView. Helpful helpers will inform you about the free channel to which you can connect.
However, interruptions to the Internet are not always related solely to the congestion of a particular channel. Sometimes there are problems with the power system, interference from other gadgets, breakdowns of individual parts.
How to work with special programs?
When your device (be it a laptop, smartphone or something else) shows that there are many different networks in the nearby radius, use special programs that will indicate to you the presence of a free channel.
The most famous program for this purpose is rightfully considered inSSIDer. Its main advantage is free access, that is, it is absolutely free. There is no menu in Russian, English will be easy to understand.
A good alternative is WiFiInfoView (I advise you to use it).
Channel search in inSSIDer program
The algorithm of actions within the framework of this program will be as follows:
- First you need to download it. Home version 3.0.3.53 (for now) for Windows 7 and Windows 8.
- Next comes the installation. Run the installer, follow the recommendations suggested in the instructions.
- Launch it by clicking on the appropriate shortcut (the shortcut will be on the desktop).
- The program can be easily installed not only on computers, but also on phones (based on Android / iOS).
- Turn on Wi-Fi.
- After starting the program, go to the tab NETWORKS... Your gaze will be presented with a list of available Wi-Fi networks that are nearby, including yours. You can find out about the connection to the latter if there is an asterisk next to it.
- Pay attention to the Channel, namely, what is displayed under this tab (information about busy channels).
- We make a choice in favor of one or the other.
A small recommendation: when you analyze busy channels, pay attention to such as 1, 6, 11. If other networks have not chosen them, then first try to configure the router for them. This is due to the fact that these three channels never intersect, which cannot be said about others, for example, about 10 ... When the network is configured for it, it turns out to be busy 2 before and 2 after, that is, channels 8 to 10. For example: 8,9,10,11,12.
Channel selection using WiFiInfoView program
This program is even easier to learn than the previous one. You don't even have to install it. Yes, it will give you less information, but it will be enough.
- Opening the downloaded file. Running WifiInfoView.exe.
- Column Channel contains information about which channel is being used by the network.
- We analyze the employed, make a choice in favor of the most free. We set the number in the settings of our router. Here's how to do it.
Changing the channel on the Tp-Link router
In the case when your router is Tp-Link brand, follow the instructions below if you want to change the channel:
- We establish a connection to the router (wireless or wired - no difference);
- In the browser line, enter the following numbers - 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.1 .
- A window will pop up asking for data entry. The standard values are admin, admin... In your case, they may be different - suddenly you changed them.
The further path is as follows: Wireless — Wireless Settings(Wireless - Wireless Settings) - Channel(Channel) - select a channel.
Before that, it is worth checking the correctness of the specified region. To do this, look at the tab Region- it is here.
Changes are saved when clicked Save... Next, you need to reboot the router and check how well the Internet is working. For a little more information on Wi-Fi passwords and change login, see the article: ““.
D-Link: change channel parameters
For routers of this brand, the algorithm will be, in principle, the same: Connecting to the network - entering the settings - entering the address 192.168.0.1 and data ( admin and admin). Are you having difficulty? Use this one.
D-Link has a great tooltip in the settings. You can see at the same time which channel you are using and the occupancy bars of other numbers. A clear diagram allows you to make a better choice. You don't even need to install special programs that we talked about earlier.
What about Asus?
Working with Asus routers is no different from the options discussed above. We also make a Wi-Fi connection, enter the settings (the same address - 192.168.1.1 , both name and password are admin, admin). More detailed steps can be found by opening this one.
Tab Wireless network, indication of the channel number, Apply- ready. The router will reboot automatically.
What are the steps for a Zyxel Keenetic router?
We establish an Internet connection. Open the settings page, which is located at the standard address 192.168.1.1 ... Enter the required data. Here the default password is not admin, but 1234.
In the settings window, go to the tab called Wi-Fi network, edit the region (if necessary), and then set the desired channel. For the specified parameters to take effect, you need to click Apply.
We set a specific channel on Tenda routers
To get to the settings page, you must specify the address 192.168.0.1 ... Standard fields - login and password - will be as follows: login - admin, password is an empty cell. Go to the tab Wireless settings... In the Channel line, put the selected number. Let's save the changes - Ok.
conclusions
If your situation has not changed in any way after all the methods that were proposed in this article, there remains one solution - to buy a more powerful router, exactly the one that we talked about at the beginning - with a frequency of 5 GHz. In practice, there were such cases, and no manipulation of changing channels helped to resolve the problem with interruptions.
Also remember that sometimes problems can be of a technical nature - some element can break in the router. Then no action to change the settings will be helpful.
The article turned out to be very informative and useful for all users of the world wide web. In it, we tried to analyze the easiest and most affordable ways to eliminate the most common problems with the Internet and wireless connection to Wi-Fi.
There is a router in almost every home today. But such an abundance of Wi-Fi routers could not but affect the quality of the signal.
Very often networks overlap one another and there are interruptions to the Internet signal... And this despite the fact that he is strong and nothing visible should interfere with him.
The reason may just be the overlap of several access points on one channel. This problem is especially relevant for apartment buildings. Only the user should distinguish between signal and router problems. This is very often confused with the complete freezing of a smartphone on the Android platform at the stage of downloading torrent files. Here the reason is different.
Wi-Fi breaks can proceed as follows:
- A tablet, a smartphone behave as they want - when they normally connect to the network signal, when they do not connect at all;
- A sharp drop in download speed for no good reason (and low speed is also observed on internal resources);
- Communication is lost at a certain place in the apartment, where there are no barriers.
The reason for all these troubles is precisely the use of the same communication channel by many points of wireless routers. In the future, the congestion of this channel leads to low speed and communication breaks.
To fix the problem quickly means to change the channel. Most users do not even know how to analyze such a situation and how to change the "Auto" parameter on their router.
You can read about how to change the communication channel on different types of routers at this link.
Free programs that can be downloaded without problems on the Internet for:
- smartphones with different platforms;
- laptops and PCs.
There are thirteen channels for signal transmission in Russia in total. So, of these 13 channels, the first, sixth and eleventh channels do not intersect. But not all countries use 13, in the USA, for example, only 12 are allowed. Different versions of the operating system have their own peculiarities in the use of certain channels.
So Windows 10 does not see channel 13, and in the settings of the router it is impossible to change the region to Europe in order to fix access to this channel.
OS version 7 also does not see channels greater than 12. Therefore, when choosing another unloaded channel, this must be taken into account.
These are the programs - analyzers that are needed to identify free channels, configure the router for them and work calmly.
If the user has a problem with connecting to any channel or lags the signal due to congestion of the channel, then the answers to your questions can be asked to the technical support of the official Windows website.
The most convenient and simple programs analyzing the fullness of communication channels are as follows:
- inSSIDer 4 - download;
- Free Wi-Fi Scanner - download;
These programs will help you find out other useful information about networks. You can recognize the type of security, signal speed. Convenient charts help to analyze the signal. The figure below shows how different users overlap the channels and which access point has the highest signal.
An example of network analysis with InnSider
When downloading the program from the official website, the user should pay attention to the terms of use. Very often today only demo versions of programs are offered with a term of use no more than a month. after that you need to buy the program.
As you can see from the picture, after the analysis, you can clearly see that the most crowded channel is 6. That is, you should disconnect from it and select free 2, 3, or 4, or any other other than the first and eleventh, which are also already occupied.
Network analyzer for Android
Most convenient for a smartphone on the Android platform, use the Wi-Fi Analizer program... No problem finding and downloading. The user enters the Google Play service through his phone and through the search finds this application and downloads it. When the smartphone is turned on, the application can also be downloaded via a PC.
After installation, you can go into the program and analyze the communication channels. It will immediately be seen at what frequency the router is operating, and on which channel. All this will be indicated on the available charts. It is enough to select in the settings - channels and properties.
That is, in an illustrative example, nothing needs to be changed, since the signal does not intersect with almost anyone. In the same program, you can select the "channels" tab in the properties and see on which channel the highest and best signal. The rating is indicated by asterisks.
The example shows that the best signal without interference is on channels 12, 13 and 14. The program is quickly installed and quickly erased. Therefore, users should not be afraid that the application will take up a lot of memory on the device.
There is another convenient tab in the same application that will show the signal frequency. With such a pointer, you can move around the apartment and choose exactly the place where the signal will be the strongest.
How can I change the automatic channel selection on a D-Link router?
There are a lot of routers on the market today. But according to statistics, the most frequently purchased model is the D-Link. How to remove the channel autoselection on it?
To do this, we type in the address bar of the Internet address 192.168.0.1... In the window that opens, type admin in both the login and password. Unless the user has changed them himself. The standard login and password are always written on the back cover of the box from under the router.
A window appears, in it "advanced settings" are selected, and then the basic ones, as in the picture above. After choosing the basic properties of the wireless network, in the window that appears, find the "channel" ruler and select that free channel in it, which was shown by any program for analyzing communication channels.
After that, the connection may be interrupted for a short time and restarted again. If this does not happen, you need to check the router settings again, and if a dialog box with a request to save the changes hangs in the upper right corner, you need to click and save it. After that, the data transfer and download speed should increase.
With the help of such simple manipulations, any user can today fix small errors in the operation of the wireless network in his apartment without calling the masters and without paying for their services.
So, how to choose it this most high-speed and high-frequency wireless communication channel?
- Run the analyzer program;
- Determine a free channel;
- Find a place in the apartment with the highest reception frequency
- Check non-overlapping channels (1,6,11 - if they are free) on this frequency, for example, the speed of reception and hopping;
- Set the selected free channel with a high receiving frequency - reconfigure the router, accept the changes.
Thus, it turned out to be very simple to fix the problems with the lost signal and the lost speed, you just need to clearly follow the above steps.
Troubleshooting wireless network problems can be risky. Thanks to Wi-Fi analyzers for Windows 10, you can detect rogue hotspots and perform site polls, among others. If you manage a wireless network, then you know that it is just as important as the other assets of the organization. For this reason, it is at least important to keep an arsenal of Wi-Fi troubleshooting tools at your disposal.
Best Wi-Fi analyzers for PC
NetStumbler
NetStumbler is a classic utility for discovering 802.11 a / b / g wireless networks. The program assists in checking the configuration and identifying weak signals. NetStumbler allows you to:
- Make sure your network is configured as you planned.
- Find locations with poor WLAN coverage.
- Detect other networks that may interfere with your network.
- Detection of rogue access points in the workplace.
- Help direct directional antennas for long-range WLAN lines.
- Use it to relax in WarDriving.
Wireshark
Another free Wi-Fi analyzer is Wireshark, which boasts a huge user community as well as fast updates. Although it is best known for its Ethernet analytics, Wireshark also supports 802.11 and helps troubleshoot wireless network issues and block security configurations.
Acrylic
Acrylic by Tarlogic Security comes in both free and premium versions. The Wi-Fi scanner supports monitor and promiscuous mode to help you monitor network traffic. It also includes a password cracking feature to check password strength. It displays a list of SSIDs and their corresponding details at the top of the application window. It also displays WiFi hotspots and shows details of security mechanisms and gets shared WiFi passwords using plugin system. The tool collects information from 802.11 / a / b / g / n / ac networks.
Peculiarities
- Access points: Wi-Fi network information (SSID / BSSID) and connected users.
- Signal Strength: Signal quality charts for WiFi channels and detected devices.
- Inventory: Naming known Wi-Fi devices.
- Passwords: WiFi passwords and default WPS keys (password check).
- Channels: Scanner for WiFi channels and WiFi networks over 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channels.
- Safety. Learn about network authentication and security for Wi-Fi, WPA, WPA2, and Enterprise (802.1X) networks.
- Hardware: No special hardware is required to run it.
NetSpot WiFi
NetSpot WiFi is among the popular Wi-Fi scanners for network management and troubleshooting. Originally available on Mac, this tool recently came to the Windows platform with WiFi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac support.
The tool allows you to monitor and manage all SSIDs associated with your network with ease. It displays all working channels that connect to an SSID, as well as all SSIDs that communicate with each other. It also works to monitor signal strength.
NetSpot also detects and remediates vulnerable access points, detects rogue workstations, avoids channel-to-channel interference, and gets rid of false positive intrusion alerts. You can also check the security settings (Open, WEP, WPA / WPA2 Personal / Enterprise), non-transferable SSID and Wi-Fi signal strength with the tool.
Peculiarities
- Quickly export active visualization to PDF
- Fast save heatmaps as PNG
- Customizable Enterprise-Level Report Builder
- It is not necessary to export only the tested portion of the map
- Importing and Exporting BSSID Aliases
- Sharing survey data
- All survey data can be exported to CSV
- Configurable proximity of detection for access points
- Configurable AP LEDs with a specific level of detail
- Automatic predictive multi-pole positioning AP
- Multidimensional and custom grouping SSID / BSSID
- Setting a guess range based on area type
- Easily see which area your survey really covers and where you need to take additional measurements
- Basic graphics editor for quick area maps
- Report 2.4 and 5 GHz separately, AP by AP coverage
- Non-broadcast SSID support
- Autosave project
- Shared settings to simplify management of multiple copies of NetSpot
The tool is available for download from its website.
Wi-Fi Analyzer
Wi-Fi Analyzer has three tabs, namely "Connected", "Analysis" and "Networks". Connected provides information about the current WiFi connection. It displays a graph of the connection quality based on channel speed and signal level in negative dBm at the top of the window. In addition, there are icons that show bad link speeds, weak channel, bad connection, no internet connection, and unsecured connections.
The Analysis page allows you to make changes to improve the strength of the joint. It provides access to charts and channel ratings, allows you to switch between channels, and allows you to switch between frequency bands. It also provides full access to customize graphics colors and SSID / MAC. In addition, it is possible to filter the SSIDs shown in the graph according to signal bands, bandwidth, overlap, WiFi method and network type.
The Network tab contains a list of all available SSIDs. It allows you to filter the available connections according to their name and signal.
WiFi routers have appeared in almost every home. This is not surprising given the rise in popularity of mobile devices and the potential to reduce cable connections within an apartment. But the high density of wireless networks leads to the fact that the level becomes extremely low, and the connection begins to drop at the wrong time. The only way to solve the problem is to choose the right WiFi channel with the least load. This eliminates the situation where a neighboring network is using the same cell in the range, creating interference.
WiFi Analyzer will help you solve the problem. This is a free application for tablets and smartphones with Android OS, which allows you to search for the least loaded channels, determine the signal level, etc. At its core, it is a WiFi network scanner with additional functions and statistics.
How do I find free WiFi channels?
The first step is to install the application from the market and launch it on your mobile device. WiFi scanner has a simple interface that allows a user of any skill level to deal with the program.
In order to find the most free WiFi channels, we will do the following steps:
- We launch the Wi-Fi analyzer. The main screen will show the networks and cell numbers in use.
The screenshot shows that the network named home has the highest signal strength and uses 9-11 cells in the range.
Important! In the Russian Federation, only the first 13 channels can be used, while 1.6 and 11 of them are non-overlapping.
- We switch to the channel rating. It is indicated by stars. The more stars, the better the reception.
After analyzing these programs, it is easy to choose a free channel, while you should not switch devices to other regions and open access to the 14th channel. Such help will be especially useful for residents of megalopolises, where the WiFi frequency is clogged with networks belonging to individuals and organizations.
Advice. Choose the most free channel with the highest number of stars in order to achieve the highest level of speed and stability of the connection.
Now on the Internet you can find many references to such a program as Wifi Analyzer. Many people have it on their phones.
But for others, Wifi Analyzer is just a set of some incomprehensible symbols and graphs.
Therefore, it would be useful to understand what kind of program it is, what it does and whether there is a version for Windows.
Without going into details, let's say that the existence of Wifi Analyzer is due to the fact that even with free and public (no password) Wifi networks, all of them very rarely provide sufficient speed.
And the reason for this phenomenon is that each channel is too busy, that is, too many people connect to one Wifi network at the same time.
Therefore, it cannot give everyone who connects enough speed.
Then the Wifi Analyzer comes to the rescue, which analyzes all the available networks in order to determine which of them is the most free, that is, to which Wifi network the least number of people are connected.
This, accordingly, will give the most speed.
Where can I download?
First of all, Wifi Analyzer exists for Android phones and is easily downloaded on Google Play.
On the page, the screenshot of which is presented below, there is a single "Install" button.
Accordingly, to download such a program for yourself, you just need to click on it.
Also Wifi Analyzer is available for PC. True, such a program is installed only on Windows 10, but it is completely free.
As you can see in Figure 2 in the green frame, to install this program, you must have an operating system up to Windows 10.
After that, the Get Application button will be available in the same place. Thus, it is simply impossible to install Wifi Analyzer for Windows 7 and earlier.
But for them there are no less good alternative programs that have similar functionality and perform the same functions.
One of the most popular among them is called inSSIDer. True, Acrylic WiFi Professional is more advanced in search engines.
Most users prefer to use the second one, although very many of them simply do not know about the existence of the first one.
A huge advantage of alternative programs is that Wifi Analyzer for Windows is not available in Russian.
On the Microsoft page it is written that there are only 8 languages in which their program is available, but Russian does not appear among them.
How to use
As for Wifi Analyzer for phones, its interface looks very simple and straightforward. To use, you just need to launch the application.
Once launched, it will automatically scan for all available Wifi networks and display the graph shown in Figure 3.
On a computer, everything is very similar.
As you can see, all Wifi networks are shown here as inverted parabolas. Signal strength along the ordinate in these graphs.
Accordingly, which parabola is higher from those shown in Figures 3 and 4, that signal is better. Dealing with the program is extremely simple.
Another huge advantage is that Wifi Analyzer will also be very easy to download.
Analogs of the program
inSSIDer
As for alternative programs, it won't be so easy to deal with inSSIDer.
There you can find a free version of the program for Android. True, it only works for 30 days. After that, you will have to buy a license, the minimum cost of which is currently $ 20.
The program interface looks as shown in Figure 5. Here the main column is called "Signal", which is highlighted in the picture above with a red frame.
The lower the signal value there, the better.
In addition, a huge number of different settings are available here, some of them are used by advanced users, while others are available to ordinary users.
Acrylic WiFi Home
