The effect of a Microwave on 2.4Ghz WiFi

PhilipDAth
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

The effect of a Microwave on 2.4Ghz WiFi

This is a very interesting post of the effect of a correctly safe operating microwave on the 2.4Ghz WiFi spectrum.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/8xu89b/why_my_microwave_makes_me_lose_wifi_connect...

5 REPLIES 5
BlakeRichardson
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

All I can say is thank god for 5Ghz even if you don't get as much signal distance as you do with 2.4ghz

I think we might be reaching (or passing) the point where although 2.4Ghz signal travels further, the quality of that signal is so poor that 5Ghz actually as better range when considering actual throughput.

I think we passed the point years ago, simply running wireless scanning software at home and I find a crazy amount of 2.4Ghz networks. I would imagine it would be a hundred times worse for those that live in apartment blocks.

@BlakeRichardson For work I was put up in a flat for 3 months.

 

I was very kindly supplied a BT line. The connection in the evening/weekends was horrible.  I felt like that episode of the simpsons where the shop ower was downloading that "adult" picture line by line. It was so bad I tethered at my own personal expense.

 

After some extensive digging I found my usage and PC were fine, but the line bandwidth was being chewed harder than a beaver at a damn. The clue for me was in high channel utilisation on a channel I was not using.  To my amazement on the BT (and Virgin) routers they have a second OS running that is completely isolated from my network used for "customer sharing". But there is no load balancing and it cannot be restricted. 

 

This is on by default and is what allows you to connect to other BT "hot spots" out and about. And to turn it off you need to submit a request and explain why you want to opt out of it. And you lose your ability to use other hot spots. 24 Hours after this request, my line was one of the most stable connections I had worked with.

 

I feel sorry for other BT customers in high density/public areas who may not be aware of this.

 

 

Thanks,
Peter

Blake, that's true. I live in a city which is overwhemingly ultra-high-density apartments due to space constraints in Asia, and all the residents have started buying "high power APs" thinking that they'll get better signals. Then there comes the parade of manufacturers advertising 160Mhz channels to make their APs sound faster. What a radio nightmare!
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