Use Interference Robustness?

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Level 2

245 points

Use Interference Robustness?

I'm temporarily operating in a place with a LOT of visible wireless access points. Airport is neatly automatically selecting channels, and I'm not noticing any problems, but I'm wondering about the "Use Interference Robustness" check item in the pull-down under the network selection place on the main menu bar.

Can someone tell me what this does and how I might know if I need it? Any side effects? I've tried turning it on but I don't notice any change one way or the other.

Thanks for any help!

MacBook 2.0GHz Core Duo, Mac OS X (10.4.11), MacBook 2.16 Core 2Duo, ruby iMac; Airport, Windows-free home since 1984

Posted on Mar 9, 2008 10:25 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Kappy

Level 10

361,731 points

Mar 9, 2008 11:24 AM in response to Michael King

It helps reduce interference from neighboring channels by reducing bandwidth and overall signal strength. You would only notice a benefit if you were experiencing problems such as dropped connections or varying signal strength that is caused by interference. If you don't notice such problems, then enabling it will only reduce your bandwidth unnecessarily.

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Answer 2

Michael King Author

Level 2

245 points

Mar 9, 2008 4:48 PM in response to Kappy

Interesting. That led me to try speed testing (speakeasy.net/speedtest) which showed no significant difference - really no difference at all - with or without Interference Robustness, so that link is apparently not the slowest in the system (I suspect the low-option cable service here). Absent some other compelling reason, I might as well leave it on, it seems.

Thanks!

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Answer 3

Mar 9, 2008 5:05 PM in response to Michael King

Well, the internet speed test on the WAN may show no difference, but if you do a lot of file sharing on your wireless LAN between your computers, then you may notice some difference.

To check the reported link speed of your Airport use /Applications/Utilities/Network Utility.app Maybe it will show no difference either.

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Answer 4

Michael King Author

Level 2

245 points

Mar 9, 2008 7:26 PM in response to Glen Doggett

Link speed from Network Utility is 54MB either way, which is the best my MacBook and AP Express will do. Net Utility doesn't seem to have any real-time info on effective transfer speed. speakeasy.net/speedtest reported 800MB+ download, and 200MB+ upload, which I think is the most basic Cox Cable option in this area, and considerably less than the same hardware records at normal home base. Only a little use for peer-to-peer file sharing, so that's not a significant issue.

Thanks!

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Answer 5

Kappy

Level 10

361,731 points

Mar 9, 2008 7:55 PM in response to Michael King

That would likely be because no interference is present. It does nothing until there is sufficient interference to bring it into play. Also, I should have mentioned, it only works in conjunction with an Apple Extreme Base Station.

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Answer 6

Michael King Author

Level 2

245 points

Mar 11, 2008 4:16 PM in response to Kappy

Ah, well - the AEBS issue certainly caps the question for me. Regrettably poor documentation, as far as I could find, on this point.

Thanks!

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