Wi-Fi channels that can be used in the UK

Having a bit of an issue with buffering on a NowTV but my connection speed is back up 3.4 Meg.

Run a Wi-FI survey app and the routers surrounding me seem to be running on either channel 1 or 11 with one on channel 6 which I've now switched my router to in the hope of it being less congested as it was selecting channel 1 when left on auto.

My router is set to Europe and allows selection of channels 1 to 13 but which are legal to use in the UK without causing issues for others around me?

13 is "OK" but some devices may not play nicely with it and so if dealing with non-home environments it is not always a clever idea as you want to make sure everyone connect. In a home environment you are welcome to try because you probably have control over all the devices and you can quickly change channel if you do have a problem.

My general uneducated advice (I'm probably knocking myself a bit there - I have a fair bit of experience with wireless) is:

(1) ,(6), or (11 - but if at home, by all means try 13 and check performance/compatibility).

Many cases the improvements from changing to less crowded channels are marginal - and the simple fact is your router is too far away and your NowTV box sitting behind the TV etc etc means it's not getting the best of signal, but by all means give it a try.

Thanks for the reply.

Switching to channel 6 seems to have cracked the problem (the router on channel 6 had a 1 star signal strength rating on the survey app so think its further up the road)

The NowTV boxes (have three of them) have always registered signal as excellent, even upstairs with no direct line of sight to the router (a Billion 7800N)

Edited by techguy (Thu 08-May-14 22:40:00)

Be aware that you are only allowed streaming to 2 devices at any one time.

I presume you mean NowTV? If so was aware, thanks.