What wifi channel to select

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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3 steps to find the best WiFi channel for your router

If you’ve ever had the unfortunate encounter with spotty WiFi, you may know that the common fixes like relocating closer to your router and fully rebooting it don’t always solve the problem. Sometimes, it takes adjusting your router’s settings to do the trick— and a key router setting that helps dictate your network’s WiFi signal strength is the WiFi channel.

WiFi channels explained

A WiFi channel is a small band within a larger frequency band, which is a certain radio wave frequency range that your router uses to transmit wireless signal. There are one of two WiFi frequency bands your router can use (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or both if your router is dual-band), but there’s a catch:

Sometimes it’s best to use one of these WiFi frequency bands over the other, and on that same note, one WiFi channel over the others.

There’s a tradeoff between WiFi coverage and speed

One of the main differences between the 2.4 GHz WiFi frequency band and the 5 GHz is the WiFi coverage and WiFi speed they provide. Because 2.4 GHz WiFi transmits signals at a lower frequency, it is able to extend WiFi coverage further— easily penetrating your home’s walls and solid objects. Meanwhile, the higher 5 GHz WiFi frequency supports much faster speeds, allowing you to upload and download files faster for better performance.

Certain WiFi channels cause more WiFi interference

Now as we’ve already touched upon, WiFi channels are the smaller bands within each WiFi frequency band. There are 11 WiFi channels in the 2.4 GHz WiFi frequency band and 45 in the 5 GHz band. With that being said, it’s important to note that some of these channels cause more WiF interference than others because they overlap.

Each channel on the 2.4 GHz spectrum is 20 MHz wide. The channel centers are separated by 5 MHz, and the entire spectrum is only 100 MHz wide. This means the 11 channels have to squeeze into the 100 MHz available, and in the end, overlap. [MetaGeek]

The example MetaGeek uses here is what is called Adjacent-Channel interference— where neighboring WiFi channels overlap with one another. Other forms of interference also include Co-Channel— where numerous client devices are competing with one another on the same channel— and Non-WiFi— where other common household devices, like microwaves, compete for signal on one of the WiFi frequency bands (2.4 GHz).

WiFi channel selection: Finding the best WiFi channel for your router

With these WiFi frequency band and WiFi channel aspects in mind, you can now find the best WiFi channel for your router. Follow these steps:

While you may be inclined to choose 2.4 GHz WiFi for the better WiFi coverage, consider the area you are trying to cover first. If your home has many floors and rooms to reach, 2.4 GHz is likely where you should stay. But, if you have a more open floor plan with less objects and walls in the way, 5 GHz will likely provide the better WiFi experience.

Using the results from Steps 1 and 2, you can now select a non-overlapping WiFi channel for your router. For the 2.4 GHz band, this would be channels 1, 6, or 11. For the 5 GHz band, this would be one of the 24 non-overlapping channels here. Choose one of these channels based on the WiFi frequency band you chose to use and the insights you gleaned about your neighboring access points.

For example, if you are trying to choose a channel for the 2.4 GHz band and found there is a lot of congestion near you on channel 6, set your router to either channel 1 or 11. Apply this same methodology to the 5 GHz band.

And while we’re on the topic of finding the best WiFi channel for your router, it’s important to note that many routers today are designed to automatically choose which WiFi channel to use. However, at Minim, we did observe that routers don’t always choose the best WiFi channel available and so this shouldn’t be trusted entirely. Rather, following the steps above will help ensure you router is using a WiFi channel that can deliver better, if not the most achievable, WiFi performance without the addition of other WiFi boosting devices.

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