5ghz wifi power - Hi / Med / Low
- Thread starter Ice Tea
- Start date
Man of Honour
Yes. This will depend on your router but there's no need or reason to lower the power level from the default max performance setting typically. If you transfer files over the LAN often or have a 200Mb+ WAN line, then it's wise to leave the 5GHz band alone, at the least set it to 40 or 80MHz for maximum throughput.
With 5GHz being polarised and line of sight i wondered if the power setting made much difference to the speed only being a few feet away but i can't test at the moment as i'm on a superhub 3 while i move things about.
Pretty sure my TPLink router defaults to medium power on WiFi.
Pretty sure my TPLink router defaults to medium power on WiFi.
Soldato
If you're in the same room it won't make a blind bit of difference.
5Ghz will penetrate less than 2Ghz but it's not strictly line of sight nor is it that precise.
5Ghz will penetrate less than 2Ghz but it's not strictly line of sight nor is it that precise.
I did wonder if Beamforming on a consumer router was just marketing hype as it's not exactly a large mast array.
Soldato
Adjust the transmit power to give you the RSSI figure you consider acceptable. As a courtesy to other WLAN operators, you should only use as much transmit power as you need.
I personally think -70dBi is about the limit of acceptable so I start off with everything at low power Tx and see what I get. Generally, low power Tx on 2.4GHz is plenty but I often need Medium Tx power for 5GHz.
I’ve yet to come across a phone or tablet that can Tx back to a UniFi access point at the limit of range when the Tx power is set to high on the access point. And that’s the issue. The access points can blast signal out which phones and tablets can hear, but when they send ACK signals back to the access point, the access point can’t generally hear them and no connection is made. So, if you feel you need more Tx power, you generally actually need another access point to improve coverage. Low and Medium Tx power also encourages phones and tablets to switch to stronger access points faster, which is what you want really.
I personally think -70dBi is about the limit of acceptable so I start off with everything at low power Tx and see what I get. Generally, low power Tx on 2.4GHz is plenty but I often need Medium Tx power for 5GHz.
I’ve yet to come across a phone or tablet that can Tx back to a UniFi access point at the limit of range when the Tx power is set to high on the access point. And that’s the issue. The access points can blast signal out which phones and tablets can hear, but when they send ACK signals back to the access point, the access point can’t generally hear them and no connection is made. So, if you feel you need more Tx power, you generally actually need another access point to improve coverage. Low and Medium Tx power also encourages phones and tablets to switch to stronger access points faster, which is what you want really.
Virgin Media's seems to have other ideas when it comes to courtesy of covering your house in boosters.
Soldato
That is because their remit/guarantee is to get WiFi around your house. No part of it says it will be good, set up well or considerate of other parties.