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I just used a WiFi analyzer and in my 70 unit apartment building see 31 APs on 2.4Ghz fighting over 3 channels. 40 APs fighting over 5GHz. and exactly ZERO devi

I just used a WiFi analyzer and in my 70 unit apartment building see 31 APs on 2.4Ghz fighting over 3 channels. 40 APs fighting over 5GHz. and exactly ZERO devices using 6GHz which is VASTLY larger than the other two bands. The 2.4GHz band is tiny and also is just pure noise at this point and the 5Ghz band can be pretty congested in urban areas. 6GHz gives WiFi a huge amount of extra bandwidth. So much that you could use only WiFi to network a dense office of PCs pretty effectively if you used sophisticated smart WiFi access points that effectively allocated the 6GHz channels.

lazide 2y ago
That could also be due to the high attenuation at 6ghz. Unless your neighbor has a device transmitting on it, it’s way less likely you’d see it.
- duskwuff 2y ago
  I mean, that sounds like it'd be even better for high-density environments like apartments.
  - lazide 2y ago
    It is - but much worse for doing a census of networks within x feet of where you are standing.
    - UltraSane 2y ago
      The census is the number of networks close enough to potentially interfere with my 6GHz AP.
seba_dos1 2y ago
It's only a matter of time when 6GHz networks become wide enough that there's going to be similar congestion there as currently on 5GHz. I remember when available 5GHz spectrum was oh so much wider and oh so empty as well; now you can have 160MHz channels there :)
- ahoka 2y ago
  As others had said: the higher the frequency, the less it penetrates walls, so congestion will be less of a problem.
  - giantg2 2y ago
    Then why not build solutions to congestion if that's the problem? If you had all APs adjust their power based on the other networks in range, then you could dynamically reduce power output to reduce congestion. If your AP knows you're in a congested area, then it could adjust its behavior accordingly - reduce power, select the least used channel, etc.
    - cesarb 2y ago
      > If you had all APs adjust their power based on the other networks in range, then you could dynamically reduce power output to reduce congestion. Reducing power also reduces the range. It would be very annoying if my neighbor putting a new AP next to the shared wall meant my AP reduced its range to only half of the room, instead of just sharing the bandwidth while keeping the same range like it currently does.
      - giantg2 2y ago
        Why on earth would it do that? It would need a lot of congestion, not 1-2 APs.

lazide 2y ago

That could also be due to the high attenuation at 6ghz. Unless your neighbor has a device transmitting on it, it’s way less likely you’d see it.

duskwuff 2y ago
I mean, that sounds like it'd be even better for high-density environments like apartments.
- lazide 2y ago
  It is - but much worse for doing a census of networks within x feet of where you are standing.
  - UltraSane 2y ago
    The census is the number of networks close enough to potentially interfere with my 6GHz AP.

seba_dos1 2y ago

It's only a matter of time when 6GHz networks become wide enough that there's going to be similar congestion there as currently on 5GHz. I remember when available 5GHz spectrum was oh so much wider and oh so empty as well; now you can have 160MHz channels there :)

ahoka 2y ago
As others had said: the higher the frequency, the less it penetrates walls, so congestion will be less of a problem.
- giantg2 2y ago
  Then why not build solutions to congestion if that's the problem? If you had all APs adjust their power based on the other networks in range, then you could dynamically reduce power output to reduce congestion. If your AP knows you're in a congested area, then it could adjust its behavior accordingly - reduce power, select the least used channel, etc.
  - cesarb 2y ago
    > If you had all APs adjust their power based on the other networks in range, then you could dynamically reduce power output to reduce congestion. Reducing power also reduces the range. It would be very annoying if my neighbor putting a new AP next to the shared wall meant my AP reduced its range to only half of the room, instead of just sharing the bandwidth while keeping the same range like it currently does.
    - giantg2 2y ago
      Why on earth would it do that? It would need a lot of congestion, not 1-2 APs.