How saturated is 5.8GHz in your home?

[fonograph]

I would like if you help me do a little survey.It is well known fact that 2.4GHz is absolutely saturated in densly populated city building where people live.Almost everyone have wifi,bluetooth,microwaves,wireless mouse,keyboard and countless other wireless electronics using the worldwide unlicensed ism band.

It is for long time a fact that getting good 2.4GHz connection is in many cases almost impossible due to interference.There is limited number of channels,limited bandwidth and if I do wifi scan in my home for example,I register 25 wifi routers,other people report even bigger numbers.

Do a 5.8GHz scan and take screenshot of it and post it there,or just comment on how much is 5.8GHz saturated where you live.Is it as bad as 2.4? Is it better? I have read conflicting opinions,one say that 5.8 is much less problematic when it comes to interference,other say its becoming just as bad as 2.4,what is truth in your home?

Also write how densely is the area you live populated.I imagine on farm or forest house there is no problem,I am mainly interest for those who live in city.

[fonograph]

Not a single reply?    Why! I expected I get loads of replies instantly,this is very common and very simple! Almost everybody have the new AC wifi standard that uses 5.8 band .You can download app on your tablet or pc that lets you look what channels are being used by nearby routers like a spectrum analyser.I expect you know how to make and upload screenshot,and if thats too much to ask then describe  it by your own words,for example "this area is more saturated than fats inside bacon,theres atleast three transmitters sitting on each channel" or "significantly less interference than 2.4"

[Lightages]

I would have answered but my response is a waste of time for you. I have zero 5.8GHz channels visible where I am. Why? I am in the middle of nowhere, in the Atacama desert.

[sokoloff]

Not a single reply?    Why! I expected I get loads of replies instantly,this is very common and very simple!

Relax a little.

You asked a question about 5.8GHz at home when most of the US was at work (and EU if they'd already arrived home probably hadn't had dinner and settled down into their evening downtime doing favors for other EEVBlog enthusiasts.).

[MrW0lf]

Moderate city environment.

[Mr. Scram]

I would have answered but my response is a waste of time for you. I have zero 5.8GHz channels visible where I am. Why? I am in the middle of nowhere, in the Atacama desert.

Do you happen to be working on a telescope?

[Lightages]

I would have answered but my response is a waste of time for you. I have zero 5.8GHz channels visible where I am. Why? I am in the middle of nowhere, in the Atacama desert.

Do you happen to be working on a telescope?

Actually I do astronomy tours, I have a telescope which need sot be mounted for my use, I have worked at ALMA, ACT, and was here originally in 2009 for Discovery Channel making videos about astronomy in Chile.

[Mr. Scram]

Actually I do astronomy tours, I have a telescope which need sot be mounted for my use, I have worked at ALMA, ACT, and was here originally in 2009 for Discovery Channel making videos about astronomy in Chile.

Sweet. That's a place I'd like to visit some day for sure.

[ahbushnell]

I live in the suburbs of San Diego.  At home I have 2 channels on 5 GHz.  One of them is mine and the other someone else.  The other signal is weak. 

On 2.45 I see my 2 WiFi's  and 4 or 5 other weak ones. 

[NiHaoMike]

In San Diego as well, can see 5 SSIDs on 5GHz of which 3 are mine. 2.4GHz is a lot messier with 9 SSIDs with 4 of them mine. My mining smartphones/tablets (which, being cheap and/or old, can only do 2.4GHz) seem to work pretty well despite the far from optimal conditions.

[cvanc]

North side of Chicago

[Someone]

The data is here:
https://wigle.net/
You just need to process it yourself, I don't think they offer a channel map.

[technix]

For where I live there are only two 5.8GHz AP’s, both in my apartment. (My apartment had a concrete weight bearing wall with dense rebar metalwork in the middle of it, impenetrable by virtually all kinds of wireless signal.)

[borjam]

I live in a somewhat densely populated area. While my three access points can see about 90 different networks on 2.4 GHz in 24 hours, with the highest signal level being -64 dBm and most of them around -85 dBm, on 5.8 GHz I see just four and the signal level is -89 dBm.

The explanation is simple. Apart from being much less popular, half the wavelength means stronger attenuation due to walls.

So, even if the band becomes more popular, congestion will be less of a problem. Also, the band is much larger despite being shared with meteorologic radars.

[Mr. Scram]

I live in a somewhat densely populated area. While my three access points can see about 90 different networks on 2.4 GHz in 24 hours, with the highest signal level being -64 dBm and most of them around -85 dBm, on 5.8 GHz I see just four and the signal level is -89 dBm.

The explanation is simple. Apart from being much less popular, half the wavelength means stronger attenuation due to walls.

So, even if the band becomes more popular, congestion will be less of a problem. Also, the band is much larger despite being shared with meteorologic radars.

Not to mention the lack of overlap. At the 2.4 GHz frequency, there is a lot of overlap between channels.

[Mjolinor]

I live in a town of around 50k people and have a "B/G" and "A" omnis on my chimney.

Last time I looked, a year or so ago, "A" is absolutely empty apart from the channels I am using.

[Mechatrommer]

i have 5 detectable hotspots here, 6 including my currently switched off 4G HP, but i believe all of them are 2.4GHz. as for 5.8GHz, i have a wireless video system currently offline at the backstore of the lab... whenever i feel like free i will fly it and make 5.8GHz space 1 line busier...

(My apartment had a concrete weight bearing wall with dense rebar metalwork in the middle of it, impenetrable by virtually all kinds of wireless signal.)

not by ELF

[capt bullshot]

Village area, little space between the houses, 1 to 3 households per house
one AP providing 2 SSIDs visible on 5Ghz,
12 SSIDs on 2.4GHz visible to my router, 2 of them from the same AP as the 5GHz one
In total 10 APs visible
So 5GHz is either rarely used or I it's the effect of its shorter range

BTW, I don't mind about the crowdyness of the WIFI bands, I prefer to use cables.

[Jeroen3]

Neighborhood with 2-in-1 houses.
Zero other 5 GHz networks.
17 other 2.4 GHz networks, I can't do a usage scan since that would disconnect all clients.

[fonograph]

Thank you all very much!      I hope to see many more reports,it seems so far 5.8 is significantly less overcrowded

[Psi]

Getting awful crowded on *MY* 5.8ghz FPV band.

[fonograph]

But isnt FPV for flying drones? Thats still interesting information,I wonder if inside your home the situation is better.Also while you say you are getting awfully crowded,drones fly 100 meters away easily,while home wifi or bluetooth device is most of the time within 10 meter distance,so the drone is more susceptible to interference.

[Cyberdragon]

Once I get a power cord for my spectrum analyzer, I shall return with this information, as they are, if any, too weak to recieve as wifi.

[tooki]

I would like if you help me do a little survey.It is well known fact that 2.4GHz is absolutely saturated in densly populated city building where people live.Almost everyone have wifi,bluetooth,microwaves,wireless mouse,keyboard and countless other wireless electronics using the worldwide unlicensed ism band.

It is for long time a fact that getting good 2.4GHz connection is in many cases almost impossible due to interference.There is limited number of channels,limited bandwidth and if I do wifi scan in my home for example,I register 25 wifi routers,other people report even bigger numbers.

Do a 5.8GHz scan and take screenshot of it and post it there,or just comment on how much is 5.8GHz saturated where you live.Is it as bad as 2.4? Is it better? I have read conflicting opinions,one say that 5.8 is much less problematic when it comes to interference,other say its becoming just as bad as 2.4,what is truth in your home?

Also write how densely is the area you live populated.I imagine on farm or forest house there is no problem,I am mainly interest for those who live in city.

Just to be clear, I assume you mean 5GHz Wi-Fi, and not specifically 5.8GHz. (5GHz Wi-Fi uses frequencies from 5.170GHz to 5.875GHz, with additional lower frequencies, all the way down to 4.910GHz defined but currently not used anywhere.)

Anyone saying that 5GHz Wi-Fi is as congested as 2.4GHz is an idiot.

In my apartment in downtown Zurich, not including my own, I’ve got sixteen 5GHz and twenty-one 2.4GHz Wi-Fi networks in range at the moment. Given 5GHz’s plethora of channels (in Switzerland 28), not even close to congested.

[SaabFAN]

2 WLANs in the 5Ghz-Band (one of them mine).

About 20 in the 2.4Ghz-Band stationary + the mobile ones in the public transport busses.

Location: Appartment-Building in the district Winterhude in Hamburg, Germany.