What wifi can connect you to

How to Choose the Best Wi-Fi Channels for Your Network

An MIT graduate who brings years of technical experience to articles on SEO, computers, and wireless networking.

Michael Heine is a CompTIA-certified writer, editor, and Network Engineer with 25+ years’ experience working in the television, defense, ISP, telecommunications, and education industries.

In This Article

What to Know

• Wi-Fi connections often perform equally well on all channels. If not, test each channel individually and choose the one that works best.
• Advanced: Use a Wi-Fi/network analyzer to test a local area for existing wireless signals and identify a channel based on results.
• To change channels on a router, log in to the router configuration screen and look for a Channel or Wireless Channel setting.

All Wi-Fi network equipment communicates over specific wireless channels designated by a number. Under normal conditions, you don’t need to worry about these settings, but if you want to change the Wi-Fi channel number to avoid interference, you can do it.

How to Choose the Best Wi-Fi Channel Number

In many environments, Wi-Fi connections perform equally well on any channel. Sometimes, the best choice is to leave the network set to defaults without any changes. Performance and reliability of connections vary across channels, however, depending on the sources of radio interference and the frequencies. No single channel number is inherently best relative to the others.

In the U.S., for example, some people prefer to set their 2.4 GHz networks to use the lowest possible (1) or highest possible channels (11) to avoid mid-range frequencies because some home Wi-Fi routers default to the middle channel 6. However, if neighboring networks do the same, interference and connectivity conflicts result.

In extreme cases, you may need to coordinate with your neighbors on the channels each uses to avoid mutual interference.

More technically inclined home admins run network analyzer software to test a local area for existing wireless signals and identify a safe channel based on the results. The WiFi Analyzer app for Android is a good example of such an application. It plots the results of signal sweeps on graphs and recommends appropriate channel settings at the push of a button.

Less technical people may test each wireless channel individually and choose one that seems to work best. Often, more than one channel works well.

Because the effects of signal interference vary over time, the best channel one day may turn out later not to be a good choice. Periodically monitor your environment to see if conditions have changed such that a Wi-Fi channel update makes sense.

There are 11 channels on the 2.4 GHz band, with channel 1 operating at a center frequency and channel 11 operating at a higher frequency. Popular 5 GHz channels include 36, 40, 44, and 48; each channel is separated by 5 MHz.

How to Change Wi-Fi Channel Numbers

To change channels on a home wireless router, log in to the router’s configuration screens and look for a setting called Channel or Wireless Channel. Most router screens provide a drop-down list of supported channel numbers.

Other devices on a local network auto-detect and adjust their channel numbers to match the router or wireless access point with no action needed. However, if certain devices fail to connect after changing the router’s channel, visit the software configuration utility for each of those devices and make matching channel number changes there. The same configuration screens can be checked at any time to verify the numbers in use.

2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Channel Numbers

Wi-Fi equipment in the U.S. and North America features 11 channels on the 2.4 GHz band:

• Channel 1 operates at a center frequency of 2.412 GHz.
• Channel 11 operates at 2.462 GHz.
• Other channels operate at frequencies in between, evenly spaced at 5 MHz (0.005 GHz) intervals.
• Wi-Fi gear in Europe and other parts of the world also supports channels 12 and 13 running at the next-higher frequency levels of 2.467 GHz and 2.472 GHz, respectively.

A few additional restrictions and allowances apply in certain countries. For example, 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi technically supports 14 channels, although channel 14 is only available for old 802.11b equipment in Japan.

Because each 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi channel requires a signaling band roughly 22 MHz wide, radio frequencies of adjacent channels significantly overlap each other.

5 GHz Wi-Fi Channel Numbers

The 5 GHz band offers more channels than 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. To avoid problems with overlapping frequencies, 5 GHz equipment restricts available channels to certain numbers within a larger range. This approach is similar to how AM and FM radio stations within a local area keep separation between each other on the bands.

For example, popular 5 GHz wireless channels in many countries include 36, 40, 44, and 48, while other numbers in between are not supported. Channel 36 operates at 5.180 GHz with each channel offset by 5 MHz, so that Channel 40 operates at 5.200 GHz (20 MHz offset), and so on. The highest-frequency channel (165) operates on 5.825 GHz. Equipment in Japan supports a different set of Wi-Fi channels that run at lower frequencies (4.915 to 5.055 GHz) than the rest of the world.

Reasons to Change Wi-Fi Channel Numbers

Many home networks in the U.S. use routers that, by default, run on channel 6 on the 2.4 GHz band. Neighboring Wi-Fi home networks that run over the same channel generate radio interference that can cause network performance slowdowns. Reconfiguring a network to run on a different wireless channel helps minimize these disruptions.

Some Wi-Fi gear, particularly older devices, may not support automatic channel switching. Those devices can’t connect to the network unless their default channel matches the local network’s configuration.

To forget a Wi-Fi network on Mac, select the Wi-Fi icon in the top-right > Open Network Preferences > Wi-Fi > Advanced > choose Wi-Fi network > select minus (-) sign > OK. In macOS 13, select the Wi-Fi icon > Wi-Fi Settings > select three dots next to Wi-Fi network name > Forget This Network.

Open the Ring app > select three lines in upper-right > Devices > choose your Ring doorbell > Device Health > Change Wi-Fi Network.

To change the name of your Wi-Fi network, open your web browser of choice and log into your router. Find the Name or SSID field with the current Wi-Fi name, then enter a new name and Apply or Save changes.

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How to tell if you have 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz WiFi network

All Nexx Smart Devices work on 2.4GHz WiFi network frequency only.

Look at your available networks

1. Open up your WiFi menu on your phone or computer and see if there are multiple options with your WiFi’s name.
2. See if there are multiple similar network names, for example:
   • «home_wifi» and «home_wifi_5G»
   • «home_wifi» and «home_wifi 5.0»
   • «home_wifi» and «home_wifi5»
   • «home_wifi 2G» and «home_wifi»
3. If there are multiple similar networks, pick the one with either 2G, 2GHz, or nothing extra in the name. That is most likely the 2.4GHz WiFi network.

If that is not the case, try the following options. We recommend you check through a computer as easiest.

There is no information on iOS regarding the network band, so we recommend you check your network through a computer. See the instructions for Apple or Windows computers.

If you don’t have a computer here are some options for finding out your network band on an iOS:

1. Install a WiFi analyzer app from Apple Play.
2. Obtain the information via your router settings. For more information on this process, please consult your specific router’s manufacturer or user manual for more details.

1. Click on the WiFi icon in the top nav bar while holding down the Option/Alt key.
2. You will see detailed information in grey about your Wi-Fi. In the middle it will show which channel your Wi-Fi is using.
3. “Channel” will either say in the brackets 2.4GHz or 5GHz.

1. From Notification Panel press and hold the WiFi icon until you enter WiFi settings screen.
   
2. Select the network properties (tap the gear icon or menu icon).
   
3. Depending on the Android version check:
   • Read the “Frequency” setting – shows as 2.4 or 5GHz.
   • Read the “Network speed” setting – if speed is over 400 Mbps then you are using 5GHz network.

1. Connect to the WiFi network.
2. Open your networks panel from your taskbar (click the WiFi icon in the bottom right).
3. Click on “Properties” of your WiFi network.
4. In the new window that opens, scroll all the way down to “Properties”.
5. “Network Band” will either say 2.4GHz or 5GHz.

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