Channel interference and how to circumvent?

[ajax]

I share an ADSL line with 2 other guys over wifi. All 3 of us are about 160 away from each other. I kept getting interference and had to change the channel every few months. Yesterday, having been unable to get a ping through in 24 hours, I got an idea to reduce my transmission speed to 1 Mbit/sec by manually setting this on the router. This worked like a charm! Also my router was set to 50 mW originally and I tested the connection down to 5 mW, no packet loss!

What is the exact reason? Is there more power per Hz bandwidth or is it that each bit is transmitted for longer thus giving a higher chance of being received?

 

[Q20]

Hi ajax

160? meters i assume...
I'm noob at this but your post does bring back memories, so giving you my limited experience.
Based on the mW and meters, sounds like you using basic equipment with the antenna attached and running on 2.4 gHz range.
Problems you may be facing:
- for the best results, wifi needs line of sight, you using your equipment indoors
- Stellenbosch, trees will kill your wifi
- your antenna is not directional so the higher your mW the more interference you pick up
- i am not an expert but your mW is low, your equipment seems to generate noise/is faulty
- 2.4 range has lots of interference eg microwave ovens, remotes, ...

160 meters is very close.... our 7km links run at 32mb, our 24km link runs at 10mb

advice:
make sure you have line of sight (there are no obstructions between the routers), go for directional antenna's to avoid noise, get your equipment outside, change your equipment (we used quite a bit of different equipment and mikrotik was the best solution).

 

[ajax]

Hi ajax

160? meters i assume...
I'm noob at this but your post does bring back memories, so giving you my limited experience.
Based on the mW and meters, sounds like you using basic equipment with the antenna attached and running on 2.4 gHz range.
Problems you may be facing:
- for the best results, wifi needs line of sight, you using your equipment indoors
- Stellenbosch, trees will kill your wifi
- your antenna is not directional so the higher your mW the more interference you pick up
- i am not an expert but your mW is low, your equipment seems to generate noise/is faulty
- 2.4 range has lots of interference eg microwave ovens, remotes, ...

160 meters is very close.... our 7km links run at 32mb, our 24km link runs at 10mb

advice:
make sure you have line of sight (there are no obstructions between the routers), go for directional antenna's to avoid noise, get your equipment outside, change your equipment (we used quite a bit of different equipment and mikrotik was the best solution).

160m yes, there are 2 trees in the way. Will be moving one of the antennas to get around one tree. Using Linksys WRT54GL routers both sides. My antenna is a 18 dB grid, the other dude who has the ADSL line has a omni. There are actually 3 of us connected on the WLAN. The 3rd guy is also 160 m away in a different direction, also using the same router and 18 dB grid. He has virtually no interference problems. All channels we've been on thus far has worked for him. He is lucky, I think, his antenna is effectively pointing out of town on the edge of town. Mine is pointing into town.

As said, we'll first move the omni to get better LOS, I'm guessing I will get 3 to 5 dB more signal. If that doesn't work I thought of trying to connect a 18 dB grid to the one open antenna port of my friend's router. So the omni will be on port 1 and the 18 dB grid on port 2. The router should choose the higher gaan grid when communicating with my router, so hopefully that will be an extra 10 dB of gain.

 

[Q20]

Hi ajax

Havn't used linksys in a while but if I remember correctly, although there are two antenna ports, you can't connect 2 different antenna's to the same router. Get another router, cable connect the routers and point the directional antenna to you.

Yes, trees will kill your wifi, make sure you have los, get more guys connected if you need to get around the trees.

160 meters is not far, we have an 8db omni that is doing a 8km link. If you have los and you still have a problem, make sure your equipment not faulty (we had 2 linksys that seemed to work but was busted, had stable pings but died when there was traffic). Swap the equipment around to check.