3 ms·

5GHz is significantly better than 2.4, but I still get latency spikes that make it unacceptable for gaming. And my range it atrociously bad. It’s an old buil

5GHz is significantly better than 2.4, but I still get latency spikes that make it unacceptable for gaming. And my range it atrociously bad. It’s an old building, and I live on the top floor just below a roof with assorted antennas. I think there’s some microwave gear up there that would explain my issues. I’ve wanted to do a site survey for awhile to figure out what’s up, but have just lived with the Ethernet cable across the floor.

jorvi 3y ago
But that means your distortion issue is not 5GHz networks. Way back when I was still in university, if I would walk out of my room and close the door (which would put a few cm thick wooden door, some plaster wall and about 14m between me and my router) I would already have a significant reduction in connection strength. Even with the ridiculous walls Americans use for their homes, there is just no way a neighbors 5GHz signal is strong enough to cause significant distortion. And if there somehow is, there is enough room on the spectrum to choose a different band. Thinking on it, almost all civilian microwaves also only operates at around 2.4GHz. And since you mention sudden spikes, I would check for radar interference and if you are on a band that’s radar-assigned.
- haswell 3y ago
  > Thinking on it, almost all civilian microwaves also only operates at around 2.4GHz. I spent a number of years as a network engineer working with consumer microwave gear, most of which was in the 5.2-5.7 GHz range. There is plenty of this stuff around. And I’ve seen what a poorly aligned backhaul can do to the wireless networks in the vicinity. That said, I’m not committed to a specific reason it’s not working well, it’s just not. The point was that wifi is not a good option for me for some use cases given the apparent spectrum use here. I think it’s probably a combination of factors since I live in a dense city. Radar is certainly a possible factor.

jorvi 3y ago

But that means your distortion issue is not 5GHz networks. Way back when I was still in university, if I would walk out of my room and close the door (which would put a few cm thick wooden door, some plaster wall and about 14m between me and my router) I would already have a significant reduction in connection strength. Even with the ridiculous walls Americans use for their homes, there is just no way a neighbors 5GHz signal is strong enough to cause significant distortion. And if there somehow is, there is enough room on the spectrum to choose a different band. Thinking on it, almost all civilian microwaves also only operates at around 2.4GHz. And since you mention sudden spikes, I would check for radar interference and if you are on a band that’s radar-assigned.

haswell 3y ago
> Thinking on it, almost all civilian microwaves also only operates at around 2.4GHz. I spent a number of years as a network engineer working with consumer microwave gear, most of which was in the 5.2-5.7 GHz range. There is plenty of this stuff around. And I’ve seen what a poorly aligned backhaul can do to the wireless networks in the vicinity. That said, I’m not committed to a specific reason it’s not working well, it’s just not. The point was that wifi is not a good option for me for some use cases given the apparent spectrum use here. I think it’s probably a combination of factors since I live in a dense city. Radar is certainly a possible factor.