I have a total of 7 APs in a 2500sqft house; 3 of them outside/in the garage. I suspect that that many APs transmitting at fuil power on 2.4Ghz is likely causing interference for myself and my neighbors.
Since any WiFi devices are likely to be pretty close and unobstructed from an AP, is it a good idea to lower the transmit power on 2.4Ghz? If so, is that even possible in RouterOS?
Re: Lower power on 2.4Ghz for better overall performance?
unfortunately in that scenario if you lower your power problem can be worst for you, if environment is already dirty you want to use the highest power possible in a way that neighbor AP can hear your AP transmiting and share some airtime for your devices
you will never obtain a good performance in such environment
so consider going to 5ghz band
you will never obtain a good performance in such environment
so consider going to 5ghz band
Re: Lower power on 2.4Ghz for better overall performance?
Lowering the TX Power on MT is easy.
Look in the interface status what the current power setting is.
(There is probably nothing in "Current TX Power", but in Status it is in the channel line. Something like "2412/20/gn(17dBm)".
If nothing in the config was explicitly set besides default, then this is the MAX value that that device in that set region will ever use. ( ! )
Set "TX Power" on "all rates set" , and then use this (17dBm in this case) value, or a lower value.
It is not a given that a lower TX power will help you. It all depends !
Look at the "Noise Floor", it reads something like -103dBm. 20 dBm above that makes any signal, strong enough to make your AP (or client) wait for a lower or absent signal, before transmitting on its turn.
It is well known that the usable range of 2.4GHz wifi ( AP or client) is much smaller than its long range where it causes interference.
This means that the signal will probably be unusable before it is weak enough to stop interference.
Lowering TX power can reduce the interface rate used, because the signal is weaker, and SN ratio at the client therefor is smaller.
So overall it can be worse or better. Details matter. As long as it is co-channel interference only (everyone on channel 1, 6 or 11) then it might be better to have the stronger signal and faster rates.
Some reading to understand what is happening.
https://blogs.arubanetworks.com/industr ... ter-wlans/
Look in the interface status what the current power setting is.
(There is probably nothing in "Current TX Power", but in Status it is in the channel line. Something like "2412/20/gn(17dBm)".
If nothing in the config was explicitly set besides default, then this is the MAX value that that device in that set region will ever use. ( ! )
Set "TX Power" on "all rates set" , and then use this (17dBm in this case) value, or a lower value.
It is not a given that a lower TX power will help you. It all depends !
Look at the "Noise Floor", it reads something like -103dBm. 20 dBm above that makes any signal, strong enough to make your AP (or client) wait for a lower or absent signal, before transmitting on its turn.
It is well known that the usable range of 2.4GHz wifi ( AP or client) is much smaller than its long range where it causes interference.
This means that the signal will probably be unusable before it is weak enough to stop interference.
Lowering TX power can reduce the interface rate used, because the signal is weaker, and SN ratio at the client therefor is smaller.
So overall it can be worse or better. Details matter. As long as it is co-channel interference only (everyone on channel 1, 6 or 11) then it might be better to have the stronger signal and faster rates.
Some reading to understand what is happening.
https://blogs.arubanetworks.com/industr ... ter-wlans/