Changing wifi channels and neighbors are following me

[star72]

I changed my wifi channel to 1 because thats what window's wifi analyzer recommends me so i change it to 1 but after a minute 5 other wifi channels in my street all change to 1 from 6 with me so then i changed to channel 9 (my wifi router apparently does support channel 11 for some reason) and same thing happened, other wifi channels switched to 9 with me.
Is there something wrong with wifi analyzer or do i change every other channel on my street with me?

[REZ₪NIK]

I would not be too concerned if another Wi-Fi network is using the same channel. Sure, it's best to have a channel all to yourself but your neighbor's router could be using auto-channel selection and "following" you by coincidence.

On the other hand, I would be concerned if a neighbor's Wi-Fi device (e.g. smartphone or laptop) successfully joined your network. Use Genie (Netgear) or log into the router and look at the list of attached devices. Make sure you recognize all of them.

Finally, be sure you have Wi-Fi security enabled on your network. WPA2 is the most secure and should be used if at all possible. Use a strong Wi-Fi password, at least 8 characters or longer. Personally, I use 16 characters or more. If you saw an attached device that you didn't recognize, then change your Wi-Fi password immediately. You should also change the admin password for the router to prevent anyone from logging into your router and changing its settings.

[star72]

Originally posted by REZ₪NIK:

I would not be too concerned if another Wi-Fi network is using the same channel. Sure, it's best to have a channel all to yourself but your neighbor's router could be using auto-channel selection and "following" you by coincidence.

On the other hand, I would be concerned if a neighbor's Wi-Fi device (e.g. smartphone or laptop) successfully joined your network. Use Genie (Netgear) or log into the router and look at the list of attached devices. Make sure you recognize all of them.

Finally, be sure you have Wi-Fi security enabled on your network. WPA2 is the most secure and should be used if at all possible. Use a strong Wi-Fi password, at least 8 characters or longer. Personally, I use 16 characters or more. If you saw an attached device that you didn't recognize, then change your Wi-Fi password immediately. You should also change the admin password for the router to prevent anyone from logging into your router and changing its settings.

it says im currently using wpa2-psk, whats the difference between wpa2-psk and wpa2?
Thanks

[just.kamk /idle]

Try a dedicated wifi analyzer, that is very odd indeed, and doesn't make any sense.

I.e. some smartphone app, like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&hl=en

More important how many other networks there are, and with that i mean in your vicinity. Could be that you switch from 1 > 2, which results in nearby ones switching from 2 > 3, forcing the more far away ones, which are close enough to the old #2, from 3 > 1 - hope you get my point.

[star72]

Originally posted by kamk /idle:

Try a dedicated wifi analyzer, that is very odd indeed, and doesn't make any sense.

I.e. some smartphone app, like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&hl=en

More important how many other networks there are, and with that i mean in your vicinity. Could be that you switch from 1 > 2, which results in nearby ones switching from 2 > 3, forcing the more far away ones, which are close enough to the old #2, from 3 > 1 - hope you get my point.

I don't really get it

Originally posted by Dr Doom:

The reason to change channels is to avoid interference the distribution of frequencies supported for 2.4Ghz bands has a limited set of available channels some countries have 14 and some have 12.

https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/connectivity/wifi-ieee-802-11/channels-frequencies-bands-bandwidth.php

To me it sounds like your neighbours might be frequency hopping they do this to avoid interference strange how they hop to the same channel as you there must be people on the other channels more people so it has to make a compromise. Wifi current technology implementation also known as 802.11n (older) and 802.11ac are both contention based this means that when one device is talking the others have to basically wait for their turn. This is significantly changing with 802.11ax which can avoid contention very well.

Main sources of wifi interference are other 2.4Ghz devices in the area. Some antennas blast out much more powerful signals from their antenna (bare in mind this isn't recommended) no matter how loud you make your signal it will still be running on contention. Wifi isn't full-duplex you are probably thinking huh? Well this is why MIMO was created MIMO allows you to take multiple wave-forms and overlay them into a carrier signal as a result using signal processing you can take the sub-channels which are used by MIMO often OFDM (Othogonal Frequency division Multiplexing) splitting channels into multiple signals polarized in a specific direction.

It also depends on band "fatness" normal 2.4Ghz channels are 20Mhz wide, which is why they refer to wifi-channels are "non-overlapping" whereas you can cheat this system by making a very wide wifi-channel I can create a 160Mhz wifi 2.4Ghz bands which mean it overlaps with multiple wifi-channels (this is not a wifi authorized technology)

But doesnt overlapping other channels reduce speed and stuff? And should I change my wifi from 40mhz to 20?

[Washell]

Most Wifi routers are set to auto select channel by default. If you select channel 1, you're forcing (simplified) the nearest set of routers to use either 6 or 11, and the ring around that to 1. Likewise with 9. So yes, you are changing every other channel on the street.

As a home user, it's best to leave it on auto for best performance. If it's really congested, move to/invest in 5Ghz.

[[☥] - CJ -]

Using 40mhz has benefits and negatives, but most if not all 2.4ghz routers start off by default on 20mhz unless the user specifically changes it to 40mhz. 40mhz is usually used in a Wifi heavy area so sometimes it can help, sometimes it doesnt,

Best thing would be to do a test of the speed and signal differences between the two.

if you have a lot of Wifi users in your area then you should have a Dual Band router to make use of the Upper 5GHZ frequencies.

[Dryfter]

If theyre switching to match that quickly, theyre stealing your wifi. Change your passwords and network name.

[[☥] - CJ -]

Old thread dude

And automatic channel switching is a feature MANY Routers have
Doesnt mean 5 neighbors are trying to steal your crap

[rmzalbar]

3 years late, but for anyone looking for help with this, what you are seeing is all of YOUR devices connected to your wifi changing channels to follow your router. They must obviously use the same channel. It's easy to forget this when seeing your wifi survey with what looks like alarming crowding of your channel.

[_I_]

Originally posted by rmzalbar:

3 years late, but for anyone looking for help with this, what you are seeing is all of YOUR devices connected to your wifi changing channels to follow your router. They must obviously use the same channel. It's easy to forget this when seeing your wifi survey with what looks like alarming crowding of your channel.

no

wifi analyzer shows the ssid and channels and mac of each ap (ap, router, repeater, bridge)
repeaters and bridge can be on different channels from the ap/router, and even have different ssid and pass