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Question

Neighbor's signal overwhelms mine

Aug 14, 2017 4:44PM PDT

My neighbor has his router about 30-40 feet from my bedroom (where I stream stuff) and his signal frequently overwhelms mine. Is there anything I could use to "get his attention" Happy?

The problem is that his LAN was probably set up by a grand- or great grandkid and the neighbor has no clue, so even though I know his SSID, he probably doesn't.

I've tried changing channels but that hasn't helped.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
How far to your router? Must be half that.
Aug 14, 2017 5:32PM PDT

You'll need to shout it down by keeping your router at half the distance (15 to 20 feet.) Physics tell us that will give your router 4 times the signal power of the neighboring router.

If that's not possible you need to setup powerline connections. Example unit I like since it has wired and WiFi.

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Powerline
Aug 15, 2017 4:08PM PDT

Is that an Ethernet cable between the router and the powerline adapter?

Do you recommend Powerline 500?

Thanks.

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It's a pair of devices.
Aug 15, 2017 4:44PM PDT

The line is Ethernet.
The dotted line is Powerline.
There's also WiFi at the end unit so it's a favorite for many reasons.

I've nodded to this one many times.

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Answer
Wifi Signal from neighbor interfering with router
Aug 14, 2017 8:50PM PDT

In an ever increasing Wifi traffic domain, interference of Wifi signals from a neighbor's router can be a challenging issue to resolve. Repositioning your router so it is farther away from it's current location is one solution to such an issue. However, changing your router's Wifi channel is the best way to resolve Wifi frequency interference problems where a nearby router has the same or overlapping Wifi frequency. You will have to change the Wifi channel of your router by an interval of 5 to ensure it does not overlap with your neighbor's modem's Wifi signals.

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New Channel
Aug 15, 2017 4:12PM PDT

It's on ch 6 now. 1 and 11 are pretty busy.

Could a strong signal on ch 1 interfere with a relatively weak one on ch 6?

Thanks.

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Absolutely. Here's why.
Aug 15, 2017 4:52PM PDT

Look at the pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels

In 40MHz OFDM there are all of 2 non-overlapping channels in the 2.4GHz WiFi band.

Since your neighbor's router is not under your control the only options are to move to 5GHz 802.11ac if your router and devices support that and it's not too far from the router as 5GHz tends to drop off fast and is degraded more than 2.4GHz through walls.

This is why I think a powerline link is best.

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Answer
Router
Aug 16, 2017 1:05PM PDT

Can you run an ethernet cable from your pc to the router?

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Connect PC w/Ethernet Cable
Aug 16, 2017 2:41PM PDT

I already have my PC connected to my router with an Ethernet cable. But that doesn't help get good reception on my Roku or phone or tablet when they are far from the router.