But as I share next, there’s an alternative frequency band that’s far less congested. In apartment buildings, storefronts, and shared office buildings it’s almost impossible to get a clear channel. What makes 2.4GHz even worse is that currently it is the most used frequency band by far for Wi-Fi. If you have more than three APs, you can certainly reuse these three channels, but make sure APs on the same channels are far enough apart that their coverage does’nt overlap. For instance, you could overlap the signals of three APs that are using channels 1, 6, and 11. You want the signal of each AP to overlap so there are no gaps in coverage, but make sure that the overlapping signals are from APs on different non-overlapping channels. If you have multiple APs, make sure they don’t interfere with each other. They are the only channels that don’t overlap. When setting the channels on your APs, try to stick with 1, 6, or 11. For instance, if you set a wireless router or access point (AP) to channel 6, it actually uses channels 4 – 8
Keep in mind there is overlap between the channels. There are up to 11 channels (in North America) that Wi-Fi devices can use in the 2.4 GHz frequency band, but as you’ll see, that number is very misleading.
Wi-Fi is also only half-duplex as well-only one device can transmit at a time on a given channel-so interference-free channels and high speeds are important. Unlike wired networks, Wi-Fi networks are susceptible to interference from neighboring wireless networks and even noise from other RF and electronic devices-some of which you may have no control over if coming from a neighbor. Wi-Fi is much more sensitive than Ethernet.