UK Regulators Warn That Christmas Lights Can Slow Your Wi-Fi UK telecom regulator Ofcom this week warned broadband users that Christmas lights are one of many culprits that could cause the slow down of home Wi-Fi networks. The warning came alongside the launch of the agency's Ofcom Wi-Fi Checker (available in both the Google and Apple stores if you search for "Wi-Fi Checker"), which, as the name implies, tests the quality of home Wi-Fi setups. Much of the recommendations the app provides should be common sense to our regular readers, from changing the channel to raising the position of the router itself. As quote: In reality, the many other types of devices emitting in the unlicensed band dwarf the number of 802.11 devices. These devices include microwave ovens, cordless phones, Bluetooth devices, wireless video cameras, outdoor microwave links, wireless game controllers, Zigbee devices, fluorescent lights, WiMAX, and so on. Even bad electrical connections can cause broad RF spectrum emissions. These non-802.11 types of interference typically don't work cooperatively with 802.11 devices, and can cause significant loss of throughput. In addition, they can cause secondary effects such as rate back-off, in which retransmissions caused by interference trick the 802.11 devices into thinking that they should use lower data rates than appropriate. So be sure to spread Christmas cheer, just not at the cost of your blessed throughput. Much of the recommendations the app provides should be common sense to our regular readers, from changing the channel to raising the position of the router itself. As Cisco notes , Christmas lights are only one of many culprits that can cause signal interference:So be sure to spread Christmas cheer, just not at the cost of your blessed throughput.







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Most recommended from 14 comments



Flyonthewall

@teksavvy.com 5 recommendations Flyonthewall Anon It's not our equipment, it's yours Setting up to blame customers for the crap firmware on the cheap equipment they provide for them to use.

rchandra

Stargate Universe fan

Premium Member

join:2000-11-09

14225-2105 ARRIS ONT1000GJ4

EnGenius EAP1250

1 edit 5 recommendations rchandra Premium Member Many devices have the potential for broadband interference (no pun intended for the "broadband" part BTW)



Extremely few devices operate on 240V, by which I mean, their actual operating voltage is 240V (which is the standard in the UK). For that matter, extremely few devices work at 120V (US, CA, JA, others) either. I'm not talking about the voltage input to the device, I'm talking about the electronics guts. For example, look at the specs for a computer PSU: it has 5V, 3.3V, 12V, etc. The way that these devices reduce the high mains voltage down to the operating voltages is the origin of the issue. It's done with a switch-mode power supply.



Conceptually, a power transistor (often a MOSFET) is switched on very briefly to suck some electrical energy from the mains supply. This happens typically several tens of thousands of times per second (20kHz, 50kHz, etc.). The frequency at which this happens and the voltage obtained is dependent on the values chosen for components (inductors/transformers, capacitors, etc.) and the amont of time the transistor is left on (the duty cycle). All this switching causes broadband interference nearby unless steps are taken in the engineering of the product to suppress this electrical noise. You can simulate this by taking an AM radio, tuning it to a frequency not in use in your area, and switching something on and off rapidly a few times; you should hear a staticky sound. The same thing can be heard during a lightning storm.



Early lightbulb dimmers work on a very similar principle, switching on the bulb for only part of the AC cycle, thus delivering less total energy per unit of time to the bulb's filament, and similarly had radio interference issues.



Electrical engineers mitigate this interference by "shorting out" the higher frequency components with capacitance, and resist it from getting out of the device with inductance (a coil) and ferrite beads. If these switching power supplies are designed poorly (without these noise suppressing components), they will interfere with just about anything which has a radio in it.



As one example, I can cite a caller to the WHAM-AM Home Repair Clinic who, after "upgrading" the lights in his garage to LED replacements for fluorescent light tubes, discovered his remotely (radio) controlled garage door opener would only work with the hardwired pushbutton switch when the lights were on. The next week he called in to report that he simply changed the LED tubes to a different manufacturer (ostensibly one with better noise suppression in its power supply components), and his remote(s) worked again.



So it's no surprise that some LED lamps, and those strings of Christmas lights, will cause performance issues with Wi-Fi APs. IluvMoney (banned)

join:2015-05-04

MiddleClass 2 recommendations IluvMoney (banned) Member Ofcom wifi checker NOT in US app stores Ofcom wifi checker NOT in US app stores, but only UK app stores.