AskAboutGadgets Archive

How do I find out what channel a device is using?

My parents use one of these to carry TV from the cable box to a room that doesn't have a cable jack. However, whenever it is on, the wifi signal in my room (which is between the room with the transmitter and the room with the receiver) dies.

I'm going through the documentation now, but I have no idea how to determine what channel I should change my wireless router to in order to avoid interference from this device. The only thing that I found that might be of use was a four-way switch labeled "Channel" and the four positions labeled "D", "C", "B", and "A" from left to right. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to figure out which channels these correspond to between 1 and 11 (the supported channel range of my wireless router).

If worst comes to worst, I want to buy my parents a new device like this that does not interfere with wifi signals. Any recommendations if that becomes necessary?

Answer 982

Although wireless TV senders use the same 2.4 GHz frequency as WiFi, they don't follow the same approach to channel management. Basically the video signal is broadcast across a large part of the frequency so acts as a pretty effective WiFi blocker. The positions on the sender will allow you to select a part of the spectrum so you may be able to find a combination that works for you by trial and error. I don't think there is any standardisation of these channels though. My own experience with 2.4 GHz units was that they interfered with Wifi no matter what I tried.

If you need to send TV signals wirelessly, then look for a set that uses 5.8 GHz instead of 2.4 GHz. Personally I now avoid video senders like the plague so can't recommend any particular unit, but if you Google "5.8 ghz video sender" you should find several options.


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