How to Find the Best Wi-Fi Channel for Your Router on Any Operating System

How-To Geek

If you live somewhere with congested Wi-Fi, you've probably experienced slow, unreliable wireless connections before. Here's how to fix it.

Jason Montoya / How-To Geek

Wi-Fi channels are the frequencies that Wi-Fi routers use to transmit and receive signals. Different channels have different frequency ranges.
Overlapping Wi-Fi channels can cause interference and result in poor performance. Channels 1, 6, and 11 are the most frequently used channels for 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and do not overlap with each other.
To improve your Wi-Fi signal, choose a less congested channel by using tools like NirSoft WifiInfoView for Windows, Wireless Diagnostics for Mac, the iwlist Command for Linux, or Wifi Analyzer for Android.