I've had DSL from the same provider (Windstream) since 2007. Since 2010, I've used whatever modem/router combo unit they provided (several Sagems and now an Actiontec T3200). All have had intermittent problems with WiFi interference. I'm in a semi-rural area with maybe 25 homes total within one-quarter mile of me and all but 6 of them are more than 500 feet away. At any given moment I can see at least 8 and as many as 15 wireless networks around me...all of them in the 2.4ghz band and almost all using channels 1, 6 or 11. I currently have 8 networks overlapping ch. 3 that I am now using. When the interference is bad, my wireless desktop located in the same room as the modem can't even see my own wireless network, let alone connect to it. I'm convinced that interference from other networks is the only problem.
Though my knowledge is limited, I'm going to make a guess that the modems/routers in use by these other networks probably are not more powerful than they are supposed to be and by themselves are not causing the interference. But...could a WiFi repeater be powerful enough to cause it? If not a repeater, what else might cause such interference and why might it be intermittent and not continuous?
Any info appreciated.
Though my knowledge is limited, I'm going to make a guess that the modems/routers in use by these other networks probably are not more powerful than they are supposed to be and by themselves are not causing the interference. But...could a WiFi repeater be powerful enough to cause it? If not a repeater, what else might cause such interference and why might it be intermittent and not continuous?
Any info appreciated.