Setting up multiple AirPort Extremes - Question

Is my channel set up appropriate?

Yes for 2.4ghz if you are going to use set channels.

No.. for 5ghz. Not sure where you are in the world but I think USA

36, 40, & 44 on 5GHz

You need to understand that AC wireless requires 80mhz of bandwidth to get full speed.

Please read carefully the wiki article which is very good.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels

The channels you have selected are all used up by one Airport.

So if you set an airport to any channel 36-48 .. it will use all of those channels.. so it matters very little which you choose.

All the channels 50-148 are under DFS control.. meaning they can be used but ONLY under conditions where the router handles channels directly.

The next block of channels 149-161 gives you another 80mhz block. Again it does not really matter which channel you choose in that block.. it is just difference in the polling channel.. but the entire block must be used for transfer of data.

Some routers allow user to select DFS channels. But the router will still control if that is getting interference from weather or military radars. If it does then it must swap to a different channel.

You can use a free tool like netspot or the built in wireless diagnostic in Mac OS to find out what is going on.

I have an airport time capsule and an Asus RT-AC88U pretty much next to each other in the next room.

You can see the signal level on the Asus is much better than the Airport. And I have deliberately set the Asus to use 112 which is DFS channel which is fairly stable in my area. Some other DFS channels are not. The airport has picked 157.

This is from my location in the basement.. upstairs the 5ghz signal from the Synology is dominate and a lot more signal from neighbours shows up.

If you are going to do channels manually do it intelligently.. using the tools to run a wireless survey and find out how much signal you get in each area of the house.

Or as Bob recommended.. set to Auto.

I personally prefer to set one or two routers manually and let the others use auto. That seems to work better. I have seen the Airports when I run multiples of them all use adjacent channels which is not giving the best results. Note that the airports will swap all the time when you do use auto as will all the neighbours around you more than likely. I think it does a check hourly.

AirPort Extreme (Middle of house) is on channels 1 & Automatic -- Analyzer says that it picked channel 149

AirPort Extreme (Back of house) is on channels 11 & Automatic -- Analyzer says that it picked channel 149

I guess I am a bit surprised that they chose to use the same channel.

Signal level is crucial.. you may find at the Extreme in those two positions have sufficient drop of signal that it can happily run two units on the same channel..

*** Note***

There are only two available "channels" with 80mhz total bandwidth without using DFS channels.. and you cannot manually set DFS channels on an airport router. So you were always going to end up with two Airports using the same 80mhz even if they adopt different channels within the 80mhz range.. i.e. one on 149 and one on 161 is effectively going to use the same 149-161 for data transmission anyway. The only bad spot will be exact balance position if a client gets identical signal from both.. which would be very unusual.

My experience is the Airport will never pick DFS channel on startup. So two of the Extreme MUST use the same channel.

It can however use it after a few hours when all the routers play musical chairs to determine their channels. And that will not be the same time.. as each one will be slightly different.

My next scan on netspot shows the TC5e 5ghz is now on DFS channel 132.

As Bo indicated the setup is very dynamic.. but with the range of 5ghz being fairly limited, I would not waste a lot of time worrying about it. Airports are great in the same room.. usable in the next room and pretty much that is the end of it.

So, in going to automatic for 5GHz channels, I guess I am a bit surprised that they chose to use the same channel.

As I noted, sometimes AirPorts will use the same channel and sometimes they won't. As far as 2.4 GHz, I have a number of other networks around me and channels 1, 6, and 11 are always crowded. Some routers default to channel 1, so in general that is usually to most congested channel at any given time.

As I check now, two of my AirPorts are using Channel 4 and the other is using Channel 7. If I check again in a few hours, that will likely change, since other routers are scanning and changing their channels as well.

You can spend an hour trying to find the absolute "best" channels to use, and in a few hours they won't be the best channels to use. At least, that is my experience. You might have better luck.

As long as you are getting decent speeds, I would not spend a lot of time trying to manually set channels, but it's your call. Up until a few minutes ago, I had not bothered to check channels for probably a month. I did not check 5 GHz, but the last time I looked I think they were all using 149.

• Is it best to use same SSID across all of these (with same security and password)?

Depends on your goals. If you want devices to "roam" and connect to the AirPort with the best signal, this is the only way to accomplish it. If you assign different SSIDs to each AirPort, then you will have to log on to a different network when you move a WiFi device closer to another AirPort access point.

• Is my channel set up appropriate? I have seen different comments about using the same channels versus spreading things out.

This is fine as long as there are not multiple other networks around you using the same channels. Channels 1, 6 and 11 tend to be the most crowded, though. My recommendation would be to use the "Automatic" setting for channels and let the AirPort scan and select the best channel to use. Some AirPorts might use the same channel and they might use different channels. Frankly, I pay no attention to what channels my 3 AirPorts are using.

• Anything about the above that doesn't seem like the right approach?

Basically, it boils down to personal preference. Rarely are there any "best" settings to use on any network.

I have had some challenges in the past when I had a Spectrum WiFi Router as the first device..."roaming" between the areas of the house sometimes didn't appear to be switching to another access point and had marginal connectivity. If I turned off and turned back on WiFi (iPhone or iPad), it worked fine. The recent change was to get another Apple AirPort Extreme (tower) and use that instead of Spectrum's Router.

It's always better to use products from the same manufacturer in a roaming network. In general, Macs will usually do a nice job of switching between access points to pick up the best signal as they move about the house.

Unfortunately, historically iPhones and iPads don't.....as well as other mobile devices and some PCs. So, you wind up having to manually switch off the WiFi or temporarily put the iOS device in Airplane Mode when you move it from one area to another. Then turn the WiFi back on or switch off Airplane Mode and the iOS device will usually.......but not always......pick up the signal from the closest access point.

Newer iPhones and iPads seem to be doing a much better job of automatically switching between access points in my experience with two new iPhone 11s here. The older iPad does not do as well.