Top 5 Tips for Better Wi-Fi Performance

Top 5 recommendations for better Wi-Fi performance in residential and small business environments.

1. Placement: Make sure your AP is close to where it will be used by your devices. At full power (not recommended) the highest throughput rate for a U7-Pro XG is 2.16Gbps. At 18 ft the data rate drops to 1.95Gbps, at 40 ft the data rate drops to 650Mbps.  Many residential Wi-Fi routers are placed in a closet, or out in the garage. Move that beautiful router out in the open.
2. Power: Turn the power from Auto, which equals High, to 15dbm. This will cause your coverage to decrease, which is a good thing.  All clients share airtime so clients that are far away from the AP will take up more airtime than those that are close, but the result is bad for everyone because even those with a strong signal will be affected by the weaker signal devices.
3. Use DFS Channels in 5GHz: The middle of the 5Ghz spectrum has 16 20MHz channels that often go unused. If your AP or Router makes those channels available, you can use them.  DFS is a method used to share this airspace with outdoor radar devices.  They rarely interfere with indoor wireless systems but if they ever do DFS is a way to automatically resolve the problem.
4. Use smaller channels: In 5 GHz  20 and 40MHz channels are best, 80 is a killer and 160 well… If you deploy 80MHz channels you almost certainly are going to suffer from other devices using the same channels.  There are 25 – 20MHz channels in 5GHz, 12 40MHz channels, and only 6 80MHz.
5. Add lots of APs: Preferably wired APs. Every time a mesh device is placed in a network it cuts the throughput in half.  So if you have expected throughput of 500mbps and you have four mesh APs your throughput is going to be 30mbps. Don’t let an installer put mesh APs throughout the house.  Have them wired as much as possible.
6. BONUS: Use the Ubiquiti Wi-Fi calculator to determine throughput https://wifi.ui.com/ and then use the Design Center https://design.ui.com to place your devices and get an idea of your equipment requirements. This will help you have a great Wi-Fi experience.

Author: Eric Weber