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Ask any devices or smart home question in the Devices/Security or Network Troubleshooting Categories.
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Patchy WiFi reception around my house
Hi I've just downloaded Fing hoping it can help me diagnose some network issues and not sure if this tool will be of any help. I have very patchy WiFi reception around my house at different times of day. Generally I get an average 46Mbps Download speed on Oookla, but intermittently it crashes to below 1Mbps for hours on end. This can happen to am otherwise stable connection in the same location in the house, or can vary wildly when I move the device very slightly (like a couple of feet). How can I diagnose the cause of this? Appreciate any advice
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Any advice @kltaylor @rooted @Pixelpopper @Marc
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@Tezza you might start with Wifi Analyzer, it's an app that will show you your wifi signal strength as you move around. It will also show you other traffic around you so you can find a unused or litte used channel.
There are tons of things that could cause problems at different times of day. The list is so long, here is a good place to get the basics.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-things-that-might-be-slowing-down-your-home-network/
I still have the problem to resolve that our ISP (BT) drops frequently. Can my fingbox or the fing app track, log and report this problem. Would the Fing premium app help?
@tmc1942 The iPhone version of anything is so limited by what apple allows apps to do especially network and wifi related, I don't know what to tell you. I just did a quick search on my iPad and nothing even looked like it did a proper wifi survey. Maybe somebody else knows of something I'm missing. You could find a used old Android phone that would give you far better info than what I'm seeing for iOS
@tmc1942 there is definitely software that will work on there, but everything I've ever used on a laptop used external antennas and the software was expensive. It was used to get heat map readings which is what you really want. It maps out exactly what it was reading all over your house.
Various things that can help idenfity the issues at play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&hl=en_GB
https://www.metageek.com/products/inssider/
https://www.fing.com/products/fingbox
https://help.fing.com/knowledge-base/wi-fi-speed/
Depending on the property and the outcome of any tests, also consider adding in additional WiFi access points to improve coverage.
I would suggest newer WiFi5 & WiFi6 devices, making sure to limit the channel bandwidth on all devices in the property to 20MHz and possibly lower the output power to a stable/usable level if possible, or enabling Automatic power control if an option is available.
Manufacturers are often in the habbit again of defaulting to the highest 40/80/160MHz channel bandwidths so that they can claim how fast their devices can operate. Most people don't need more than the basic 20MHz bandwidth.
Having multiple devices in close enough proximity with the WiFi cranked up to the max bandwidth and power just hurts everyone as they're all shouting over each over.
Depending how receptive your neibours might be, If you see their devices hogging the bandwidth, it can also be worth chatting to them about the issues you are facing as they may be seeing similar.
True DECT phone's shouldn't be causing an issue as they are not on the same frequency. In the past, some cordless phones have been known to use the 2.4GHz spectrum. If you happen to have some of these ditch them.
Try to focus on making sure all devices are 5GHz WiFi capable (N or ac being preffered). If so, then look to disable 2.4GHz radios in Access points/routers and see how coverage and stability look. In most instances I find 5GHz doesn't go as far, but you get better speeds where you get reception, hence the advice to look at installing addtional Access Points to remedy coverage issues.
Another issue to contend with is DFS and Radar (https://wifinigel.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-5ghz-problem-for-wi-fi-networks-dfs.html#:~:text=5GHz%20has%20far%20more%20channels,of%20its%20potential%20impact%3A%20DFS. )
DFS should be enabled, but channels can also be set which avoid the issue depending on your region. I live near some airfields and depending on conditions my AP's occasionally detect the radar and start backing off or switching channels (I have channels set to auto).
If not set correctly or if implemented poorly in the firmware this could also be an issue.
I use the Fingbox to see if the intermittent drops are down to the WiFi or my ISP. I have my Fingbox hard wired into the router and can then use the Fing speed checker to verify the internet connection from the router. I also use Ookla from the laptop/iPad/iPhone and can compare the two. Of course speed from the phone will be slower than the speed measured by the Fingbox - but what I look for is whether drops in speed from the device are matched by drops in speed at the Fingbox. And I then have a rough idea of whether the problem is my network or the ISP.
I use the WiFi Scanner to check which channels have the best quality, then use the Router settings to change channels manually to ones that (according to Fing WiFi Scanner) are good. Once the Router has adjusted the channels to my requests, the Fing WiFi Scanner identifies those channels as Bad Quality. If I change the Router again to set it to the channels with the best available quality again, the same thing happens: the moment the channels on the Router have changed the new channels I have set it to are now listed as Bad Quality and the channels I was on previously show as Average or Good Quality.
Not sure how to fix this problem so that I get the right channels and don't chase my tail every time!
Regarding the fact that the channels become "Bad Quality" simply because I've changed to them makes sense - though I wonder if that means I simply have too many devices soaking up the bandwidth? I wonder if there's a way to remedy that also.
I'll have a check-out and read-through of Rampart - thank you! I am always up for learning more about my system (and how to do reasonable self-remedies to fix annoyances such as this one).
Cheers!
For Apple devices, the only option is Apple's Airport Utility. Once installed, you will need to go into the Settings app, Airport Utility, and enable the Wi-Fi Scanner feature. Then back in the App, at the top right corner will be Wi-Fi Scanner - click on that to scan the network. https://iphone-tricks.com/tutorial/6941-using-airport-as-wi-fi-scanner-on-iphone gives a good overview of the steps with screenshots - otherwise Google is your friend to learn more about it as well.
How many wifi devices do you have? How many you can support would depend on how good your router is. I currently have 60 devices showing on my home network.
Most IOT devices should not be using a lot of bandwidth. Analyzing bandwidth would be a whole different can of worms...
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk02p1TAm8tuKZqCa5bOmS43a1wasCA:1601045421028&ei=rQNuX6yOAeKj_QaMsZOADw&q=wifi+analyzer+for+iphone&oq=wifi+analyzer+for+iphone&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzICCAAyAggAMgIIADIECAAQHjIECAAQHjIGCAAQBRAeMgYIABAFEB4yBggAEAUQHjIGCAAQBRAeMgYIABAIEB46BAgAEEc6BAgAEA06BggAEA0QHjoICAAQDRAFEB46CwgAEA0QBRAeEIsDUN9bWKZiYOhnaABwAngAgAFbiAGWAZIBATKYAQCgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6yAEIuAECwAEB&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwjsmNv8xoTsAhXiUd8KHYzYBPAQ4dUDCA0&uact=5
You can put your Fing box in a mode where it will monitor your network and give you a traffic check for every device. That will tell you more about possible congestion.
For Apple devices, the only option is Apple's Airport Utility. Once installed, you will need to go into the Settings app, Airport Utility, and enable the Wi-Fi Scanner feature. Then back in the App, at the top right corner will be Wi-Fi Scanner - click on that to scan the network. https://iphone-tricks.com/tutorial/6941-using-airport-as-wi-fi-scanner-on-iphone gives a good overview of the steps with screenshots - otherwise Google is your friend to learn more about it as well.