Wifi interferes with my other devices.

[Zorku]

I recently set up two google wifi units, but they are causing terrible interference with my other devices. Of the devices that I am having problems with, a pair of bluetooth headphones is the easiest to troubleshoot with, so I have focused on those. I understand that these units are supposed to switch to low activity channels, so I hooked the headphones up to my phone and set both devices a few feet to either side of the unit for a few hours (where the connection was spotty, but where the devices wouldn't disconnect from each other,) and left some music playing, but when I came back the unit had not switched off of that channel. This was my best attempt to make it clear to the unit that this channel is in use. Do these only check when they are first powered on or something? What can I actually do to get this to change off of the only channel that it seems to have been on the entire time it has been running?

Wishlist: If possible, could you put some of the normal controls that are available in every other commercial router into these things? It's very frustrating to lose my normal options for dealing with the myriad problems that naturally pop up around these kinds of devices, especially when they have been standardized for so long.

[MichaelP]

Hello @Zorku 

Bluetooth operates in the 2.4GHz band. That is one of the bands used by WiFi as well. But, the way these two technologies use that band is very different. 2.4GHz WiFi uses a small number of very wide channels within this band, while Bluetooth uses a very large number of narrow channels within this band, hopping from one channel to another very frequently. So, the Google WiFi units power on and select a 2.4GHz channel to use from among the three that are available and then stick with those until they are restarted. Meanwhile, any Bluetooth devices in the area are hopping around across the entire 2.4GHz band. At short range, this can cause interference with 2.4GHz WiFi (though not typically the reverse). The reality is that even when everyone is following the same rules, interference can happen in unlicensed spectrum like this.

By the way, something similar can happen in the 5GHz band as well – a lot of wireless gaming headsets and wireless subwoofers / surround sound systems use non-WiFi technology in the 5GHz band, which can interfere with WiFi and vice versa. Wireless is far from perfect.

So, with all of that as context, if you can keep devices that use the same band further apart from each other, you may be able to get away with operating them at the same time. But, you may need to physically separate by several meters.

[Zorku]

Ok, I'll just give up on the headset then.

Can you confirm that unplugging the unit and plugging it back in will make it reassess which channel to operate on?

[MichaelP · Accepted solution]

Power cycling a Google WiFi unit should cause it to go through dynamic channel selection for the 2.4GHz band. But, again, there just aren't that many choices in that band (3). In my home, my Google WiFi units have ended up using only two of those three channels between the three of them.

[Jeff]

Hey, Zorku.

It looks like you and MichaelP were able to work this out, but I wanted to check in to see if there's anything else you needed here. If you still need some help or have any questions, just let me know.

Thanks!

[Jeff]

Hi, everyone.
Just one quick final check in here since activity has slowed down. We'll be locking the thread in the next 24 hours, but if you still need help, I would be happy to keep it open. If there's more we can do, just let me know.
Thanks.

[Jeff]

Hi, everyone.
As we haven't had any activity here recently I'm going to go ahead and close the thread. If you have more to add, feel free to start a new discussion.
Thanks