Hi guys,

From a basic wifi analyser I can that there is a neighbours network with a single SSID but it is covering all 13 channels using 3 individual MAC addresses. The SSID is a Sky one and it looks like whoever this equipment is hasn't change the default name.

Is this normal for equipment to take up all channels, and what would be the reason for this? I can see the power level is quite high (nearly as high as my own router) and is present in the majority of the house. The scanner is showing many networks around, but this one stands out.

Keeping a log of the FTTC power levels too as I did get another drop to 2.4db between 7pm & 11pm Tuesday. However, this time you could see massive spikes on the TB quality monitor at the corresponding times.

In reply to a post by gary333:

From a basic wifi analyser I can that there is a neighbours network with a single SSID but it is covering all 13 channels using 3 individual MAC addresses. The SSID is a Sky one and it looks like whoever this equipment is hasn't change the default name.

That can happen with repeaters. You might find they have a Sky "boost" service so they have the main router near the Openreach socket, and boosters in other places. All transmitting the same SSID but on different channels. It is one of many reasons that 2.4 GHz is becoming "saturated".

However having a network SSID being broadcast doesn't mean you will have poor performance unless it is also being USED by devices (laptops, phones etc).

Can your scanner check the 5 GHz channels? Many of the free apps on Android can do both.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by gary333:

From a basic wifi analyser I can that there is a neighbours network with a single SSID but it is covering all 13 channels using 3 individual MAC addresses. The SSID is a Sky one and it looks like whoever this equipment is hasn't change the default name.

That can happen with repeaters. You might find they have a Sky "boost" service so they have the main router near the Openreach socket, and boosters in other places. All transmitting the same SSID but on different channels. It is one of many reasons that 2.4 GHz is becoming "saturated".

However having a network SSID being broadcast doesn't mean you will have poor performance unless it is also being USED by devices (laptops, phones etc).

Can your scanner check the 5 GHz channels? Many of the free apps on Android can do both.

Unfortunately the only Android device I have is the kids rubbish Amazon Fire tablets and they don't have 5ghz.

Oh, I see with regards to the wifi mesh, i didn't realise they would take all 3 main 2.4ghz channels. Doesn't seem like a very good idea for anyone else other than the user.

NOTE: The mesh and channel occupancy might explain the wifi issues, solution shift your self to 5 GHz where possible.

It does explain issues with the other devices though i.e. 2.4 GHz will just affect 2.4 GHz unless there is a massive fault with the electronics driving the wireless devices.

In reply to a post by gary333:

Oh, I see with regards to the wifi mesh, i didn't realise they would take all 3 main 2.4ghz channels. Doesn't seem like a very good idea for anyone else other than the user.

It could be a mesh, but they usually self organise, and if your network was "quiet" (ie, not many devices transferring data) they could have used all of these channels. I suspect it actually just cheap repeaters, Sky have a service where they provide "boosters" which are repeaters. These are not normally self organising.

In the UK 2.4 GHz can be a problem, as our house density is higher than the US (outside cities !), so indoors you get high signal strengths from your neighbours. 5 GHz has less range so in many cases solves this problem.

there are some free/demo versions of WiFi scanners for Windows, e.g. the free app on the Windows 10 store:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/wifi-analyzer/9nbl...
If you are on Mac there is a (paid) app on the Mac App store which is very good.

Unfortunately iPhone has limited choice, the Apple Air Port Utility for iOS has a very crude ability to report, but it has no graphics, so it is very hard to interpret.

Edited by jchamier (Thu 07-May-20 14:00:16)

For Android, "Wifi Analyzer" is pretty good.

It also happens with Sky Q and a minibox operating as hotspots with Sky broadband because they operate on two channels in the 2.4GHz band. If the Sky hub is set to a 40MHz channel witdh it would cover the entire band.

In reply to a post by simon194:

It also happens with Sky Q and a minibox operating as hotspots with Sky broadband because they operate on two channels in the 2.4GHz band. If the Sky hub is set to a 40MHz channel witdh it would cover the entire band.

Good point, the minibox is working as a repeater.

Many 2.4 GHz access points offer the 40 MHz width as a way to increase throughput. This is useless if you have any Apple products in the home as they won't use any more than 20 MHz, in an attempt to help with the conflict.

Setting any 2.4 GHz access point to 40 MHz mode is "not neighbourly".

Last night I managed to catch the (edit* noise margin )reducing in real time (never seen this before, it's always either been 6.* db or 2.* db as I have no way to capture this from the device without logging in to the router admin page and watching.

What I found odd was at bang on 10pm the (edit* noise margin) started to reduce in 0.1db increments every 10 seconds until it made it's way down to 2.3db (from 6.2db) where it remained flat until after midnight. Not sure when it returned as went to sleep.

Is it usual to see a steady decline in level from local interference within house / neighbour or would you expect a sudden dip from the offending article?

I ordered a basic AM/FM radio from eBay and didn't realise it was coming from China so still waiting to perform the radio test. I've also replaced the Evohome with Tado.

Edited by gary333 (Mon 01-Jun-20 13:48:29)

In reply to a post by gary333:

What I found odd was at bang on 10pm the power started to reduce in 0.1db increments every 10 seconds until it made it's way down to 2.3db (from 6.2db) where it remained flat until after midnight. Not sure when it returned as went to sleep.

Did you mean power as thats not normally measured in decibels