Wireless networking...

[sean]

Could a huge number of wireless networks cause each one to run slower due to interference? I got a new router today, and I'm hoping it works better than my old one, since the old one was kinda...old, but I'm wondering whether the fact I can see twelve networks from my laptop would have anything to do with connection issues?

[Indigo]

It can if they're using the same frequencies. Unfortunately there's only a few to choose from, and some brands will pick the same band as someone else, so you can get a lot of interference. A lot of users don't take the time to set the band to a higher number - 11 is widely unused and offers a greater performance benefit than 6 or 9 in my testing. Try setting yours "above the rest" and see if that helps out.

[flyboy2112]

As far as I know, there are only two frequencies: 2.4 GHz for B/G and 5 GHz for N.

[Infernux]

right but the frequency, while a range, has channels within that range, and so putting a wireless network on a channel different than that of surrounding networks, will cause less interference.

[Indigo]

and as I stated in my original post, I did differentiate between bands and frequencies. Next time, pay a little more attention to what I said than nitpicking what the meaning was.

[Infernux]

Let me clarify what I was trying to say with my post.

Most people say that wireless networks run at 2.4ghz, but they really run between 2.41ghz to 2.49ghz. That is where channels come into play. Every 5 mhz, starting from 2.412ghz, there is another channel.

Now, how does wave interference work? Waves that come in contact, that are idealy of the same frequence, will destructively interfere, meaning that they will cancel eachother out. While this doesn't happen more often is because not all the waves are at the same point in their waveform when they meet. However, any two wireless networks running at the same channel would have a chance for destructive interference.

So the trick would be to pick a channel, such that its specific frequency, has the lowest probability of destructively interfering with channels, not just on its own frequency, but on the others too.