Hey! Very often, when I respond to various comments on articles on configuring routers on this blog, I need to describe how to do a certain procedure, for example, change the channel on the router. Already several times advised to do this in the commentary. And I decided to put such a small piece of advice in a separate article, it may be useful to someone else, but I will only give a link and will not describe the same thing every time. That's how lazy I am :).
Let's first understand what it is "channel" in the router settings, what it does and why change it.
How would I explain this, so that it would be clear and truthful :). Channel, this is a "sub-frequency" of the main frequency 2.4 GHz on which Wi-Fi routers work (but not all and not only routers). This 2.4GHz frequency is divided into 11-14 channels. A channel is such a road from your router to a computer.
In the router settings, you can set the channel on which your Wi-Fi network will be broadcast. The routers that come for sale in Europe have 13 channels. And for example, in devices for the USA there are 11 channels. What is a channel, I hope you figured it out.
Why change the channel on a Wi-Fi router?
Everything is very simple. If, for example, there are two routers whose signal intersects and operates on the same channel, then a variety of errors can occur in the operation of these routers, or rather in the operation of wireless Wi-Fi networks. Such as a constant disconnection with the router, low Internet speed, and many more very different and incomprehensible problems.
I am often asked the question that the Internet works on devices only when they are close to the router (approximately within the room). And when you move away, the device network is kept, but the Internet does not work. I do not know the exact reason why this problem occurs, but it seems to me that the problem here is just strong interference. Perhaps there are already so many networks that there are simply no free channels. Well, technical problems with the router do not need to be ruled out in this case.
Now take your laptop or phone and see how many wireless networks you have available for connection. The neighbors probably have routers installed, not only you have Wi-Fi :), although everything can be.
And maybe one of those wireless networks works on the same frequency as yours. And because of this, there may already be a low speed, an unstable connection, etc.
It's good when in routers from TP Link By default, the channel selection is set to Auto. This means that the router itself will look for a free channel and use it. But as far as I know, in popular routers D-Link channel is set by default 7 . And here are two (and possibly more) such D-Link with standard settings will already work on one channel.
What channel to set in the router settings?
If you don't have many or no Wi-Fi networks nearby, then you don't have to worry about changing the channel. And install as desired. But I advise you to still install a static channel, not Auto. Why? I don’t know if this is true, but I noticed that I have 1 channel, the signal is stronger than with automatic channel selection.
If there are many channels, or if all 13 are full, then I advise you to set automatic search and select a freer channel.
There is a good computer program called inSSIDer. With its help, you can see which channel you have is free, which one is busy and how much is busy in total. Thus, you can determine the free channel and specify it in the router settings. I will write about working with the inSSIDer program in a separate article. Although the program itself is simple and understandable.
Changing the channel on the router
We figured out why and when to change the channel for a wireless network, let's now figure out how to do it.
On TP-Link routers
We go to the control panel. The address (usually 192.168.0.1, or 192.168.1.1) and data (login and password by default admin and admin) To enter the settings, you can look at the bottom of the router.
Go to tab Wireless. And opposite the point channel set the desired value.
To save the changes, click the button Save. Reboot your router. This can be done directly from the control panel. Paragraph System Tools – Reboot, button "Reboot".
On D-Link routers
In the router settings, go to the tab Setup – Wireless Setup. If set, or the checkbox next to the item is already set Enable Auto Channel Selection, this means that the router itself selects a free channel. To set a specific channel, you need to uncheck the box next to Enable Auto Channel Selection and specify the desired value next to Wireless Channel.
Save settings by clicking on the button “Save settings”.
As for other routers, I think that this process does not differ much in them. Look for the channel change on the Wi-Fi network settings tab.
We accept all questions in the comments and on the forum :). Good luck!
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How to change the channel on a Wi-Fi router? Why change the channel? updated: June 7, 2013 by: admin
Users typically use a wireless network at home to connect their mobile devices to the Internet. Unfortunately, due to the large number of routers installed at the subscribers of provider companies, there is a drop in speed for the end user, and sometimes there are problems with the Internet. Often this is due to incorrect configuration of the network device.
Reasonable questions arise: how to fix the current situation, how to change the wifi channel on a home router. Let's look at this in more detail with specific examples.
Almost all modern routers support the 2.4 Hz wireless frequency standard. In Russia, 13 values are allowed at this frequency. When the user sets up a wireless connection on the home equipment, the value is set automatically. The speed decreases depending on the number of clients using the network. The more connected devices, the lower the speed of the Internet over wi-fi.
After the user changes this parameter, the throughput for data transfer in the "global network" will increase.
The channel change on the router is done through the web interface. Below, instructions with screenshots will be given on how to change this value with well-known manufacturers of network devices.
How to find out a free Wi-Fi channel
To find a free channel and change it, you need to use software tools. The most famous of them is inSSIDer. The application is free only for the Home version. It is recommended to download it from the site, and then run it. The condition for the program to work is the presence of a wi-fi adapter at the workstation. In laptops, it is built-in, and for PCs it is purchased separately.
- After starting the software, go to the Network tab. All available wi-fi connections will be displayed there. The connection used by the client is marked with an asterisk.
- The Channel column contains the numbers used by each wireless device. Carefully review them, choose a rarely occurring figure.
- Next, go to the router configuration. In the "Wireless network" section, set the value manually to the desired channel.
If the values in the Channel column are specified as, for example, 1+5, this means that the user has changed one of them manually, and the second one is automatically selected by the network device.
Separately, it is worth noting that routers never use three digits: 1, 6, 11. They are always free.
An alternative to the above program is the WifiInfoView utility, which is an archive. After unpacking it, you should run the program.
The principle of operation is similar to InSSIDer. Only then does WifiInfoView display detailed information about each wireless network. After its launch, it will scan the surrounding space, display a list of available connections, indicating the distance to each of them. Thus, it is quite realistic to find the least loaded wi-fi network to connect to it.
Changing the channel on the router
Now let's look at how to change the channel of a home router from different manufacturers of network devices. There are several main ones: TP-Link, D-Link, Asus, Zyxel and Huawei.
In order to change the parameter, you need to go through the browser to the equipment web interface. On the reverse side of the router, as a rule, its IP address and credentials - login and password - are indicated for access. If for some reason they are not there, it is recommended to visit the official website and find this model there. The instructions on the portal will tell you in detail how to enter the administration panel of the router, change the value in the Channel field.
TP Link
To change the wi-fi channel on the tp-link router, you need to go through the web interface to the Wireless section, or in Russian - “Wireless Network”:
By default, the value in the Channel field is "Auto". Using the above program, you need to find a free number at the moment. After that, change the status "Auto" to the found value, click the "Save" button. Next, you need to reboot the hardware for the changes to take effect.
D-Link
To change the channel on the router from the manufacturer D-Link, you need to go to the Wi-Fi menu - "Basic settings". At the bottom, the “Advanced settings” item should be lit with a green backlight:
Next, select the "Channel" field, change the value based on the InSSIDer program. Click the "Save" button to save the configuration change. You will need to reboot the device to switch the wireless module to the new settings.
Unfortunately, the manufacturer D-Link uses several interfaces for its network devices. But in order to change the channel manually, you need to go to the advanced wireless settings, find this parameter there.
Asus
Changing the Wi-Fi channel on an Asus router is quite simple.
- Go to the Advanced Settings menu - “Advanced Settings”, Wireless section, Channel parameter:
- By default, the value is Auto.
- To manually change to a number from the built-in list, click the arrow on the right and select a value.
- Then click on the Apply button.
- Now the equipment needs to be rebooted, to do this, click Reboot - "Reboot".
Zyxel
To change the wi-fi channel in the settings of Zyxel routers, you must do the following. Go to the "Wi-Fi network" menu, select the "Connections" section. The Channel field has the status "Autoselect". In order to change it, press the arrow on the right, select the digital value found through the InSSIDer program:
Huawei
To change the wi-fi channel on a router from the manufacturer Huawei, you need to go to the WLAN menu, select the WLAN Advanced Configuration section on the left:
In the Channel field, enter the value found using a special program to change the parameter to another. Then click Apply, reboot the network device to save the changes.
findings
If you change the communication channel to a less loaded one, this will increase the speed and “fix” the stability of the Internet.
This problem often occurs in apartment buildings, as a large number of wireless equipment is located quite close to each other. As a result, the same communication channels are used.
One of the standard tips on what to do when there are problems with a wireless connection and low Wi-Fi speed is to change the router channel to one that is freer, since the presence of a large number of networks (yours and neighbors) on the same same channels can lead to poor performance of these networks.
Finding free Wi-Fi channels is quite simple with the help of special programs for analyzing wireless networks. Wi-Fi analysis apps for Android and programs for Windows or MacOS are available. This article will consider the first two options, which are likely to be sufficient. After you have found a free channel, it may come in handy:.
Search for a free Wi-Fi channel using Android applications
I recommend this particular way to find a free channel for the router, since most people now have Android phones (a tablet is also suitable), and applications for analyzing Wi-Fi on them are completely free and are available in Russian (for Windows, these two factors are more difficult) .
WiFi Analyzer
The first and, at the same time, the free and easiest application for analyzing Wi-Fi networks that allows you to find free channels - Wifi Analyzer, available on the Play Store here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com .farproc.wifi.analyzer (be careful, there are many more applications under similar names, this is fully working and with the best reviews).
After installing and launching the application, click on the eye icon at the top and select "Channels schedule".
On the graph, you will see a representation of your own and neighboring networks (keep in mind that the network, for example, on the 6th channel, also affects neighboring channels): their channels and power. At the top left of the graph, you can switch the band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz).
For example, the screenshot above shows that three networks are simultaneously located on one (6th) channel, and channels 9-13 will be the freest (here it is worth remembering that there are devices that do not see networks on channels after the 10th , and on the router to be able to select these channels, you need to set the region of the Russian Federation). And the network on the 3rd channel is quite low-power (the router is probably far away), i.e. if you choose the 2nd or 3rd channel with communication, everything will probably be in order.
If you cannot choose the best channel yourself, look at the “channel rating” (also by clicking on “Eye”). Channels with the highest number of stars are preferred.
It's not the only Android app with the ability to view busy and free channels, but there aren't many good ones. If you are not confused by the English language of the interface, you can also try the Fritz App WLAN (available for free in the Play Store) - also a decent tool for analyzing Wi-Fi networks.
We are looking for free Wi-Fi channels on a laptop or Windows computer
There are also programs for Windows 10-7 that allow you to analyze wireless networks and find a free Wi-Fi channel.
InSSIDer
The most popular of these programs is InSSIDer, but it is paid. Nevertheless, by entering your data on the official website https://www.metageek.com/products/inssider/, you can get a trial key for the program for 7 days: this is quite enough to find a free channel. To obtain a trial license, click on the Download Trial button, enter the data and wait for the key to e-mail (it may take several minutes: I received it in 15 minutes).
By launching InSSIDer, you will see a list of wireless networks in two bands, as well as a graph of their distribution by channel and power, similar to what can be observed in WiFi Analyzer.
If you wish, you can change the aspect ratio of the panels in the program to view information about available wireless networks in more detail and select a free channel for your network.
Acrylic WiFi Home Free
Another similar Windows program available for free for home use is Acrylic Wi-Fi Home Free, which can be downloaded from the official website https://www.acrylicwifi.com/ru/
In terms of finding a free channel, it is very similar to other such programs, but if you want to see a graphical representation of Wi-Fi networks by channel and power, open the program settings menu and turn on Advanced Mode.
After that, the program will be able to switch views, including the display of wireless networks with their occupied channels for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.
As you can see, finding free Wi-Fi channels (if available) is quite simple. But if they are absent, then it may make sense to think about purchasing a router with support for the 5 GHz band, which is still freer.
