
If yo’re in a situation where there’s just too much traffic, it’s better to put a second WAP (Like a WiFi extender) closer to where you use your devices. Try a free 30-day trial of Network Performance Monitor wireless analysis tool. Let your WAP (aka your “router”) handle the channel selection. Optimize your Wi-Fi to get the best connection with Wi-Fi analyzer software. WiFi Channel Scanner is a free WiFi network scan tool, it can quickly search and identify WiFi hotspots around you. Yes, you can actually make the problem worse!

The problem with selecting your own channel is that the WAP won’t automatically switch to another when the one it’s manually configured to use becomes saturated with traffic. So, what you “capture” today and determine what’s the best channel now might change the next day or even later that afternoon! Bluetooth devices, wireless peripherals, our phones and devices are all crowding the airwaves. Modern WAPs (wireless access point) auto select the best channel for you based on existing traffic and this can change continually given the explosion of wireless devices which we are using every day. Unless you’re using a 10+ year old WiFi router that doesn’t handle automatic channel switching well, there’s no need to do this. Trying to find which channel to use is pointless nowadays. There are many apps that you can use from the built in Network Diagnostics to commercial grade WiFi mapping and analyzers.
