Wifi 6 Router Stuck On 2.4 GHz Channel 1

dwh367

Do these Wifi 6 routers only have 2 hard coded channels programed into them when they're manufactured (one for 2.4 GHz and one for 5 GHz)? Apparently they do not channel scan as mine is stuck on channel 1 which is also what my next door neighbor and my neighbor across the street is on. I know there's no option to manually select a channel but I've tried other methods to see if it would pick another channel and it absolutely refuses to do so. As you probably know having 3 APs crowded together on the same channel, in such a tiny area, isn't doing anyone any of us any favors when it comes to throughput. Also the Wifi 6 routers are hard coded at 40 MHz. The neighbors are running at 20 MHz so they've probably got it worse than me due to my bandwidth being double what theirs is.

Renee_T

Hello @dwh367

The routers do have multiple channels that they operate on, though our interface is almost identical to what you have within the My Spectrum app, so we are not able to adjust the channel or channel width settings from our end either. If you feel that our equipment is not suitable for your needs or you would like additional functionalities or controls that our routers do not provide, you can use a router that you've purchased with the service to allow you full control. This would also allow the $5 monthly WiFi charge to be waived.

HT_Greenfield

I don’t think any of that is “hard coded,” per se. The access point is most likely auto-selecting the least contentious channel in its air space regardless of what other BSS’s may happen to be on the same channel. How much contention there is on any channel varies according to how busy any BSS’s thereon may be. With 2.4-GHz 802.11b/g/n, it’ll increase accordingly with however many non-HT (802.11b/g) devices may actively be connected. A single BSS on one channel could be more contentious than multiple BSS’s on another. Anyway, most wireless router access points are pretty good about auto-selecting the least contentious channel and being able to change channels ongoingly on the fly based on contention and interference but you can re-up the auto-selection any time by restarting it. 

Forget about 2.4-GHz 802.11n 40-MHz operation. It can’t be forced and is almost never going to actually happen and, anyway, when it does happen, the secondary (adjacent bonded) 20-MHz channel has no disaffect on the primary 20-MHz channel. The 40-MHz parameter you see only means it hasn’t been barred, not that is has been effected. Even when it hasn’t been barred in the access point settings, the only way it could ever actually be effected is, first of all, if an adjacent channel is absolutely contention-free (which is highly unlikely in town) according to 802.11n 2.4-GHz co-existence friendliness standards and then, second of all, only if one or more 802.11n devices are connected and not a single one of them is 40-MHz intolerant. You’d be hard-pressed to find any 802.11n devices that aren’t 2.4-GHz 40-MHz-intolerant and even harder pressed to find any that could be changed from that.

dwh367

Got home this morning and saw where my router FINALLY jumped over to channel 6 and the neighbor next door's router jumped over to channel 11. Made a noticeable difference on the very few devices we own that only run on the 2.4 GHz band. Thanks for the assistance.