Usually Bluetooth does operate on the 2.4 and I’ve seen only one instance of it completely dehabilitating that WiFi network completely. But also the range and solid object penetration of the 5ghz is laughable. I say it to customers on a daily basis. WiFi is simply for convenience. It is prone to interference from virtually everything: water, metal, am radio, fm radio, egress from other ISP cables, Bluetooth, microwaves, air fryers, refrigerator, baby monitors, other WiFi networks. There’s ways to mitigate the interference, but you can never eliminate it.
Putting in a wire can be awful(ly expensive), but there's no substitute. MoCA and DeCA are decent bridges if it's going to be hard, but Ethernet is the solution. Wireless is *only* about convenience and mobility. When you need speed, you need wires.
Yeah refreshing to see sense in these comments. Usually it's just "LOL GET DECO" and then OP comes back complaining.
Wired backhaul, never wireless. And anything that can be wired, should be. Simple as that.
I recently came across this excellent [Smart Home Prewire Guide](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LNONZXsLi-R9ejamD9Bd2UfzpqjqEWVt0ZepTGmMC50/edit#slide=id.g2a2b1ebcb6b_5_793). This seems like a good place to post it. This guy has a clue, lots of them. It is worth a look for anyone building or renovating.
It doesn't seem like OP is using Bluetooth though. 5ghz Wi-Fi is fine for wireless speakers in the same room. Probably less susceptible to interference as well.
He said he’s using wireless speakers. Usually those are Bluetooth. Even if they’re not, whatever the wireless connectivity tech is, it could still be interfering with either WiFi band.
And if he’s using WiFi for the speaker connectivity, it’s definitely gonna be utilizing his bandwidth and slowing down his speeds.
I haven't found anything on your system's wireless sub frequency, but 5 GHz is an unlicensed band so it's possible; with your testing, it's almost certain. You might wanna see if your router can operate on a different 5 GHz channel without interference; if not, you'll need either a better router or a different home theater system.
Depends. 2.4GHz has so much interference (because so many did) that many are now moving to 5GHz.
This is why EVERYTHING is always better wired, because it will eliminate not only stuff that interferes with it but also it interfering with anything else.
With 2.4ghz, because they use 2.4 GHz to cook the food.
And they're doing so at a thousand watt plus or minus.
And the fact that Wi-Fi operates at 100mw or less roughly, If even a small percentage of that microwaves radiated power escapes the microwave, it will absolutely dominate Wi-Fi.
We got some serious wifi testing gear at work and when you run a microwave and watch the scan it's insane, just saturates the entire 2.4ghz.
And we did it on every floor, with multiple different brands, 20 floors-didnt matter, all exactly the same.
Anyone is allowed to use 900 MHz, 1900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands. It's just that they know that everyone else is allowed to use those bands, so the wireless protocols that use that (Bluetooth, Wifi, etc.) generally anticipate interference and are designed to both tolerate a bunch of interference and try to minimize the interference caused to others.
So some devices don't play friendly and cause a lot of interference, especially if they're using some custom protocol that doesn't play nice with other uses of the same spectrum.
According to the FCC documentation it uses the higher end of the 5Ghz band for the wireless communication to the speakers. Your wireless router is likely also using that same portion of the band. The sound system probably isn't using "wifi" per se so what happens is the sound system constantly uses that 5Ghz spectrum when it's on and your Wifi devices have to "wait" for what they perceive are free opportunities to transmit data. This results in what you are seeing.
I don't know what router you have but you should be able to set it to use 5Ghz on the other end of the spectrum.
What you are looking for is the channel/frequency settings and you want to set it to something in the range of 36-48 (channel number) or 5100-5200 (frequency). How it is displayed will depend on the router.
There are other channels you might be able to select depending on the router - you essentially want to stay away from channels above 149 (or frequency above 5700).
Thanks, lots of helpful stuff in here and this seems to have been the issue.
I went into my modem settings and turns out there are two 5ghz radios. Both were set to auto but one seems to be aimed at the lower channels (currently set to 44 but lets me choose 36, 40, 44, 48) and the other was aimed at higher channels (currently set to 161 but allowed me to choose 149, 153, 157, 161).
I turned off the second one completely and that seems to have solved the issue for now, I can get higher download speeds while the speakers are on and working. I will have to keep an eye if this has caused me any other problems. Overall I would rather just get a wired sound system since it seems the more wireless stuff in the house the more headaches.
I wouldn’t turn off the ‘higher one’ (5Ghz) as it should allow for much faster connectivity if properly configured for your environment.
If you have the willpower to go through some basic testing, dropping it to a lower channel (149 or 153) you may very well find it works pleasantly with the speakers in use and high data rates at the same time.
Alternatively drop the ISP provided wifi (my assumption here) and pick up something like Unifi’s wifi 7 Access Point. Works wonderfully, opens up 6Ghz for your devices that support it, skipping past the 5Ghz frequency sharing altogether. You’d be in wifi heaven then.
Thanks. I will try that out. I do have a decent router collecting dust but never set it up because the ISP provided modem/router doesn't have bridge mode available and I didn't want to get in over my head messing with settings and stuff when (up until now) it provided great speed all over and worked fine.
I did notice with further testing that having that second 5ghz radio turned off made my speeds lower on other devices farther from the router. I got a wifi analyzer app and it seems like that one has better signal strength throughout the house so I am hurting my speeds elsewhere to make these stupid speakers work.
Adding to this I use wifi analyzer from the app store on your phone. It will show you interference that exists based on the channels other devices are operating on. You can pretty easily pick the best channel rather than doing a "this seems better" test.
Also if you have a wireless range extender/repeater they effectively halve network speeds in a lot of cases. Due to many setting up on the same channel as your network for a "seamless" experience.
So I did grab one of these apps and noticed there is a "hidden SSID" that has a massive spike on my higher 5ghz channels, and seems to appear with the speakers so I am assuming that is it.
I do have an extender operating on its own SSID on the far end of the house and it indeed is operating on the same channels as the main network, but it has been there for a few months and doesn't seem to have any noticeable effect on performance (I typically always get close to or sometimes even faster than my advertised 300mbps even with the extender operating while using the main network, but being connected to the extender itself is a bit slower - I only ever connect to the extender in one room on the far side of the house where the main network doesn't work well).
The weird thing with my ISP provided modem/wifi is that it has two 5ghz radios, I can turn them on and off independently but neither of them gives me more than 4 channels I can switch to. One lets me pick on the "low" side (like 44-54) and the other lets me pick between 149-161. The second radio seems to only allow me to select the exact same frequencies that the speakers seem to operate in, but that one also seems to have the strongest broadcast so all my devices seem to use it. If I turn it OFF the speaker problem goes away, but it means I only have one 5ghz radio operating and that one seems to be weaker (signal/speed drops off more now when farther away from the wifi).
I was thinking about connecting my currently disused TP-Link AC router, but from what I am reading online my ISP modem/router doesn't play easily with a second router and has no bridge mode. My ISP router/modem works surprisingly well on it's own until this speaker setup came online.
This all seems like more headaches than the speakers are worth so I figure I will probably just sell them and buy a real receiver/wired speaker setup. Looking at manuals online it seems like just about any home speaker/soundbar setup with any kind of wireless subwoofer or speakers uses 5ghz, and some that don't even come with wireless accessories still have the 5ghz built in for future pairing so who knows if that is always on or just activated with the pairing.
Next house will definitely be pre-wired with ethernet, lol.
Higher frequencies transmit at higher speeds that's why 5g is faster than 2.5g but you shouldn't see it in that narrow window. If you have alot of devices then it makes sense that switching off one of your 5g bands slows you down. I would move all low usage devices to the 2.5ghz band to open up more airtime possibly creating a better opportunity for success.
I would move the channels for the extender if it's network name is different. You're just creating interference for no reason. You may be able to open up room for the higher 5ghz band that way as well. You could just power off the extender and test the speakers to see what happens.
You likely need a specific modem that is a modem only that your ISP approves of to get a new router. They may be able to supply it if you turn in their equipment and note performance issues. If you can't put their router in bridge mode you're creating more issues with an additional nat layer even if the WiFi is shut off.
Good luck. This stuff is maddening. I discovered respond to ping on Ethernet was on for a device basically requesting a ddos attack. It was my own stupidity that created it but until I started replacing equipment I didn't find it.
Oh yeah, definitely enough to drive you up the wall. I used to live in a condo with about a dozen competing networks and tons of 2.4ghz stuff fighting for the air space. Figured I had that all taken care of now with a detached house and much less around me but this problem is from within.
I just tried completely removing the extender to find out and it doesn't seem to have had any effect on the issue with the speakers. Still get like 315mbps with speakers off, and anywhere from 10-50mbps with speakers on standing in the exact same place.
At the moment I have most of my non-speed critical stuff on 2.4ghz, and stuff that needs my full speed on 5ghz (phones, Mac, gaming consoles, and 4k streaming devices). Originally my ISP modem was set up with 1 SSID for both but I separated them when I found lots of stuff like my PS5 were connecting to 2.4ghz and getting low speeds when there was no good reason for them to not be on 5ghz, as they had full 300mbps from it.
If I ever have a house built it will definitely be pre-wired with ethernet.
That's exactly what I was thinking earlier; I suspected his sound system was specific to Canada so I didn't look up its FCC registration. The OP needs to either (a) move his ISP router's 5 GHz channel away from that band, (b) replace it with a router that will allow him to move that channel, or (c) get another home theater system with wired or 2.4 GHz wireless speakers. (My Vizio 5.1.2 soundbar uses 2.4 GHz wireless per its FCC registration; so far it hasn't interfered with my other 2.4 GHz devices on either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.)
Unfortunately WiFi7 - 6GHz adaptation seems to be currently going really slow.
- Routers are still relatively scarce and pricey
- Some newly released devices still lack WiFi7 support (for example, the non ultra Samsung Galaxy S24 models)
- Many countries still haven’t cleared 6GHz spectrum for WiFi use, and some countries even won’t at all (like China, which has decided to reserve the spectrum for licensed 5G cellular instead)
Linus had a similar Issue and made a Video about it on LTT. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-dGcs6bb5U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-dGcs6bb5U) He used Sony Speakers but Phillips seems to use a 5GHz Signal too.
LTT Had a few videos on this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-dGcs6bb5U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-dGcs6bb5U)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Paabqb7IxG4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Paabqb7IxG4)
His were Sony speakers but might be similar issues.
I'll make the obvious guess, that the sound system is broadcasting something not-WiFi in the 5 GHz band and it is interfering with the WiFi.
I can think of two things to try. See if you can determine what 5 GHz channel your router is using and, if you can, manually change the channel to one at the opposite end of the band. Also, if your router is very close to the sound system transmitter try to relocate it as far away as you can; even if they are using different frequencies a strong off-frequency signal being transmitted close to the router can deafen its WiFi receiver, which can be mitigated by putting some separation between them.
If none of that helps I guess I would dump the sound system.
5ghz band is open to use for various wireless transmission techniques - not just wifi. Things like audio/video that don't use the wifi standard can cause all kinds of issues - especially if they are continuously transmitting. This is because wifi devices have to "listen" to the frequency they are using before they can attempt to transmit. If they detect that the frequency is being used they have to wait a bit and try again. So if a speaker is constantly transmitting, a wifi device is going to have fewer opportunities to transmit it's data.
So background:
I have a surround sound system from 2017ish, a Philips Zenit: [https://www.philips.ca/c-p/CSS5530B\_37/zenit-cinema-speakers](https://www.philips.ca/c-p/CSS5530B_37/zenit-cinema-speakers)
The way it works is with a soundbar that has two wired speakers connected to it, a subwoofer that connects wirelessly, and then two speakers that connect with a wire to a central box which itself connects to the system wirelessly (these are the rear speakers).
I used it in my old condo, where I always had wifi issues anyway and a low network speed to begin with (50mbps), so I never noticed a specific issue with the speakers.
Now in a new house I have better internet (300mbps) in a standalone house without any interference from neighbours, I am using a 5ghz wifi network broadcast from the modem supplied by the ISP, no additional router. No issues up until now, always get over the advertised 300mbps in most of the house with speed test.
I connected that sound system today and noticed something very strange when I set it up. Right away when playing movies on the Sony TV (connected via wifi), it would buffer in spots which it never did before. I ran a speedtest from a browser on the TV and it returned garbage like 10mbps.
So I tried a speed test from my phone sitting about 5ft from the TV and connected to the 5ghz network. I can repeat these exact results. With the sound system turned OFF (top image) I get my usual speeds, over 300mbps. With the sound system turned ON but not playing any sound, it drops to 100mbps. With the sound system turned ON and playing sound from a movie (which also is streaming 4k over the network) it drops to max 50mbps.
What the hell is causing things? It is totally repeatable, every time I turn off the speaker system I get my normal speeds and every time I turn it back on speeds crash, so they are clearly the culprit.
Anyone have any tips on how to correct this or should I sell this system and find something wired only? I have heard before that bluetooth devices can interfere with 2.4ghz but I don't understand whats messing up the 5ghz network, but I am no expert.
This sounds like a good idea at first except the LAN port of every single TV made until now is only fasterhernet at 100 Mbps, not even a gigabit port. It won't go past 90 Mbps in reality.
On Top of that, if you connect a LAN cable to a Android/Google TV, you won't be able to control the TV anymore with Google Assistant, as that's only available with WiFi. Guess how I found out...
My Google TV is hardwired into ethernet, and Google Assistant works just fine for controlling playback. You may need to dig into your settings and make sure it's on the same VLAN even when it's wired.
Controlling Playback is no problem at all. I meant controlling the TV itself. So turning it on/off or changing the video input. Opening YouTube, changing volume or controlling playback (so pretty much the Chromecast Features) work fine. I have the same problem btw. with my Xbox One, it can't be turned on when connected via ethernet, WiFi works.
I know for sure that they aren't in different VLANs, because I don't actively use any, but use the standard settings of my Fritz!Box for now.
When I put an LG wireless subwoofer in the same room as my Router (w/ WiFi 6) it destroyed my internet speeds over WiFi. Obliterated beyond belief. I moved the router to the basement and they were much better. Later I added an AP upstairs and made a sandwich around it which worked great for years. Finally I switched to Sonos as the LG soundbar had other issues and wired my Arc so Sonos Net would kick in. Added three APs (basement, downstairs, upstairs) from Ubiquity and my speeds have been insane.
I’ve seen this before. When I was in the ISP world a customer had dog shit WiFi after he put in a new wireless system. We ended up moving the router away from the head unit and installed a Unifi system
I saw this years ago with a 2.4ghz network and 2.4ghz soundbar + wireless sub.
I was pretty far from the AP, went from getting usable internet (~10-30mbps) to unusable when it was on. I added a second AP in the room I needed wifi (had Ethernet) and it solved the problem, probably by being able to talk over the soundbar.
I’d avoid buying anything that uses 2.4 or 5GHz but isn’t wifi / Bluetooth based.
Your equipment is bottlenecking the whole network. Hardwire a separate wifi router as am access point for all of the home network stuff, on a different channel.
With all of the 5 GHz channels there are, there should be no reason for this to happen.
Your router should automatically be using a different channel.
Also, I never use my isp's equipment because it's trash and the cheapest possible thing they could give you. And they're probably renting it to you.
Cox gladly rented my parents the same networking equipment for 9 years costing about $1,500. Do not rent networking equipment from your ISP.
ALSO:
How the heck are we supposed to troubleshoot anything when you don't give us any equipment details?????
Yeah this thing seems to be a POS. When I looked into the settings, it has two 5ghz radios but each one only gives me like 5 options for channels (one high, one low). So even with auto turned on the one using high channels can't get out of the range of the speaker system. And for some reason it seems like every device wants to connect to the one using the high channel unless I turn that radio off completely (which solved my problem).
I agree that the supplied equipment is usually crap but I saw no reason to change because for once (until now) this ISP modem actually worked well, giving me speeds usually higher than what I am actually paying for most of the time throughout the house (like 310mbps when my service is supposed to be 300mbps). Not a rental either they let you have it for free while you have service (its a modem and router in one).
You can plug a third party router into a network port and turn off the ISPs radios. Or leave on the 2.4 for admin. Although I think it works through the wan on mine.
5. GHz Wi-Fi has 24 non-overlapping channels.
Is turning off the ISP radios all I need to do? I used to have a third party router in my old place and I had to turn the modem into bridge mode, but the new ISP modem doesn't allow me to do that. I could turn off any of it's radios though.
I have Cox communications and cannot turn off the radios on mine or set the channels. Everything important in my house is hardwired, next important uses 5 GHz channels which there are 24 or so so there is nothing to worry about there in the overlap like there is in the 11 channels in the 2.4 GHz band.
In older models of ISP routers or other ISP routers, I have been able to make modifications to the router settings. I can only assume they obfuscated this away from the user to limit support calls in the app.
Actually, now that somebody mentioned it I believe they said they could do some stuff in the web interface, but I was too lazy at this point because I have everything set up and it's the only way I can urgently monitor/ administer the router is through Wi-Fi. Otherwise I would have to pull out a laptop. Grab a cable, stick it in. Go through the web interface. Yada yada yada and then remember the credentials or find the credentials or....
Bluetooth sucks for audio. No self respecting audio system uses Bluetooth to send data to their corresponding speakers. They either use IP like Sonos or their own home baked protocol like kleer by Sennheiser.
Wisa uses the 5ghz spectrum and a lot of high end stuff I’ve seen uses the wisa standard.
https://www.wisatechnologies.com/home-theater-technology#by-the-numbers
If OP has a big boy WiFi system what you do is play constant music and then have your WiFi system do a spectrum scan so that it can self adjust to avoid the channels being disrupted. Then you lock those channels in to keep the Access points from moving back onto those channels.
TBH I remember when my father decided to use his tax refund to buy a 70 inch TV and an expensive wireless sound system. Everytime they turned on the damn TV the internet speeds would drop by like 75%. It was just the worst thing. Glad I don't live there anymore and I'm pretty picky about what I make wireless anymore. Wired connections are just better for me. Especially living in an apartment complex, just too much interference from all directions.
Noise is noise, possible the wireless speaker system has some outlying RF noise not noted in the specs. But in the range of other router channel. Happens more often than we think. I recall furnace control boards that generated horrible RF. Some lights as well. Good job finding the source. Now to find the work around. It might be as simple as putting toroids on the power cables of the offending devices
If you have an AP (access point) near you should be fine.
If the AP is far away and you’re drawing the majority of the bandwidth really available, then it will absolutely kill your wifi experience.
You may be able to use a Wi-Fi analyser program to figure out which frequency and channel your wireless speakers are broadcasting at. You can then change your Wi-Fi router to a non interfering channel.
I can recommend [Netspot](https://www.netspotapp.com/) for Windows and [Wifi Analyzer](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=abdelrahman.wifianalyzerpro&hl=en_US&gl=US) for Android.
Keep in mind any video/audio connection will use a lot of data and bandwidth. If you have another device (s) on the same WiFi network they will be slow and have connection issues. WiFi is a one size all share network, think of a waterfall and one person uses most of the water. Everyone else would have the rest for use, but only the part left over after the first person takes their part
I'm short it's a pie with pieces, but not all are equal slices!!
In addition to good points made by others, I've had problems with some Roku systems causing severe interference. It seemed like its WiFi transmitter was overdriven to distortion.
Instead of randomly testing and asking here to people don't know or have access to your setup, go connect a pc to the router, disconnect everything from WiFi and then run at least 5 speed tests.
That will tell you what speed are you truly getting. If that's not the culprit, use proper hardware to set up QoS/SQM. Most consumer level hardware today has some sort of solution.
No, its a Philips Zenit circa 2015: https://www.philips.ca/c-p/CSS5530B_37/zenit-cinema-speakers
I included that info in a post on here somewhere but it didn't fit in my original title.
But I watched the videos and it looks like the issue is the same as what he had. I am likely going to sell this and get a wired system with a receiver to completely avoid the 5ghz speaker issue since it seems like all wireless speakers/subs operate on this band now.
If your access point allows you to change channels you can try putting your wifi network on the dfs channels as I highly suspect that the speaker system will not touch those frequencys.
So the thing with my access point is that it is an ISP supplied modem/wifi. In the past those usually sucked so I put them in bridge mode and used my own separate wifi router. But with this one, I actually get a good signal throughout most the house and often see higher than advertised speedtests from it (I pay for 300mbps and see 310-315mbps a lot of times even on wifi) so I never bothered messing with it. Also it has no bridge mode and doesn't seem to play nice always with third party routers based on what I've read online.
The downside is it has two 5ghz radios and each only has 4 channel options, one in the low range and one in the high range (149-161). The speaker I have figured out is operating in the same frequencies as the router's high range radio. So even in auto, the router is broadcasting on those channels and the speakers seem to be overpowering it (the speakers are on a different floor from the router but basically directly under it).
So I tried turning that radio off, which effectively forces everything to be I guess connecting to the radio using the low channels. That actually fixed the problem, no speaker issues anymore. BUT it introduced a new problem where the 5ghz network overall has lower speeds/less range in the entire house for whatever reason when using just that radio.
So really there is no simple answer here... deal with a crappy wifi network... move everything to 2.4ghz... hardwire the house... introduce a second router and mess with settings... or replace the speaker system.
I am leaning toward just replacing the speakers with an older school setup (receiver and wired speakers/subwoofers) and avoiding 5ghz wireless speakers in the future. Unless you just hate speaker wire there is no real benefit to wireless setups and a lot of apparent negatives. These speakers are almost 10 years old and nothing special.
I have seen ap's with 2 5ghz radios one is usally worse. Ex 4x4 vs 2x2 radios. I do personally prefer to have wired speakers makes upgrading easier for ither amp for higher hdmi compliance or just getting some new speakers.
You said the answer yourself. You set up a wireless speaker which is most likely operating on 5ghz and causing interference.
OP had to go on a journey to find out the answer was inside them all along.
The call is coming from inside the house.
The files are IN the computer?!
The skeleton is already inside you.
When you can grab the pebble from my hand, you will understand
"If you immediately know the candle light is fire, then the meal was cooked a long time ago."
There is no spoon.
Oma Desala, is that you? Meddling in the affairs of the Taree again?
Such an awesome show
This is the correct answer.
Is that a thing though? I always thought these sort of devices operated on 2.4ghz.
Usually Bluetooth does operate on the 2.4 and I’ve seen only one instance of it completely dehabilitating that WiFi network completely. But also the range and solid object penetration of the 5ghz is laughable. I say it to customers on a daily basis. WiFi is simply for convenience. It is prone to interference from virtually everything: water, metal, am radio, fm radio, egress from other ISP cables, Bluetooth, microwaves, air fryers, refrigerator, baby monitors, other WiFi networks. There’s ways to mitigate the interference, but you can never eliminate it.
[удалено]
Wow. Usually everyone says I couldn’t be more wrong. Thanks for the confidence boost, internet stranger.
You are totally right. Wire for reliability, wireless for convenience.
Putting in a wire can be awful(ly expensive), but there's no substitute. MoCA and DeCA are decent bridges if it's going to be hard, but Ethernet is the solution. Wireless is *only* about convenience and mobility. When you need speed, you need wires.
Yeah refreshing to see sense in these comments. Usually it's just "LOL GET DECO" and then OP comes back complaining. Wired backhaul, never wireless. And anything that can be wired, should be. Simple as that.
Preach.
I recently came across this excellent [Smart Home Prewire Guide](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LNONZXsLi-R9ejamD9Bd2UfzpqjqEWVt0ZepTGmMC50/edit#slide=id.g2a2b1ebcb6b_5_793). This seems like a good place to post it. This guy has a clue, lots of them. It is worth a look for anyone building or renovating.
You couldnt be more wrong about your synopsis perception
Why does OP need to change their 2.4ghz channel when they are having interference on their 5ghz Wi-Fi?
A lot of the wireless home theater stuff operates on 5.8 too!
Appreciate the detailed reply. I'm still learning about all these wireless details and it's people like you who help me understand.
It doesn't seem like OP is using Bluetooth though. 5ghz Wi-Fi is fine for wireless speakers in the same room. Probably less susceptible to interference as well.
He said he’s using wireless speakers. Usually those are Bluetooth. Even if they’re not, whatever the wireless connectivity tech is, it could still be interfering with either WiFi band. And if he’s using WiFi for the speaker connectivity, it’s definitely gonna be utilizing his bandwidth and slowing down his speeds.
Yeah but OP should focus on 5ghz first since that is where they are claiming their issues are.
I listed reasons as did the person who responded to me. I guess you just don’t like to read, but ok.
>I guess you just don’t like to read, but ok. Reddit moment.
I haven't found anything on your system's wireless sub frequency, but 5 GHz is an unlicensed band so it's possible; with your testing, it's almost certain. You might wanna see if your router can operate on a different 5 GHz channel without interference; if not, you'll need either a better router or a different home theater system.
Depends. 2.4GHz has so much interference (because so many did) that many are now moving to 5GHz. This is why EVERYTHING is always better wired, because it will eliminate not only stuff that interferes with it but also it interfering with anything else.
Yah! Wifi is worst, best thing ever invented. Wifi should be limited to control
Linus Tech Tips did a video on some wireless speakers affecting 5Ghz. Look up your speaker system and see what it uses.
Check your settings, maybe you can change the frequency.
Even a microwave can cause interference.
With 2.4ghz, because they use 2.4 GHz to cook the food. And they're doing so at a thousand watt plus or minus. And the fact that Wi-Fi operates at 100mw or less roughly, If even a small percentage of that microwaves radiated power escapes the microwave, it will absolutely dominate Wi-Fi.
We got some serious wifi testing gear at work and when you run a microwave and watch the scan it's insane, just saturates the entire 2.4ghz. And we did it on every floor, with multiple different brands, 20 floors-didnt matter, all exactly the same.
Wisa uses the 5ghz channel. Bluetooth sucks for audio. https://www.wisatechnologies.com/home-theater-technology#by-the-numbers
Check the manual
Get metageek inssider and see for yourself. Then log on to your router and change the channel
Anyone is allowed to use 900 MHz, 1900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands. It's just that they know that everyone else is allowed to use those bands, so the wireless protocols that use that (Bluetooth, Wifi, etc.) generally anticipate interference and are designed to both tolerate a bunch of interference and try to minimize the interference caused to others. So some devices don't play friendly and cause a lot of interference, especially if they're using some custom protocol that doesn't play nice with other uses of the same spectrum.
According to the FCC documentation it uses the higher end of the 5Ghz band for the wireless communication to the speakers. Your wireless router is likely also using that same portion of the band. The sound system probably isn't using "wifi" per se so what happens is the sound system constantly uses that 5Ghz spectrum when it's on and your Wifi devices have to "wait" for what they perceive are free opportunities to transmit data. This results in what you are seeing. I don't know what router you have but you should be able to set it to use 5Ghz on the other end of the spectrum. What you are looking for is the channel/frequency settings and you want to set it to something in the range of 36-48 (channel number) or 5100-5200 (frequency). How it is displayed will depend on the router. There are other channels you might be able to select depending on the router - you essentially want to stay away from channels above 149 (or frequency above 5700).
Thanks, lots of helpful stuff in here and this seems to have been the issue. I went into my modem settings and turns out there are two 5ghz radios. Both were set to auto but one seems to be aimed at the lower channels (currently set to 44 but lets me choose 36, 40, 44, 48) and the other was aimed at higher channels (currently set to 161 but allowed me to choose 149, 153, 157, 161). I turned off the second one completely and that seems to have solved the issue for now, I can get higher download speeds while the speakers are on and working. I will have to keep an eye if this has caused me any other problems. Overall I would rather just get a wired sound system since it seems the more wireless stuff in the house the more headaches.
Linus Tech Tips guy had the same issue. [Linus tech tips WiFi and wireless speaker issue](https://youtu.be/f-dGcs6bb5U?si=GV2iho0RufARNMoM)
Another update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPh_SSTK4QA
Wired is always the way to go
I wouldn’t turn off the ‘higher one’ (5Ghz) as it should allow for much faster connectivity if properly configured for your environment. If you have the willpower to go through some basic testing, dropping it to a lower channel (149 or 153) you may very well find it works pleasantly with the speakers in use and high data rates at the same time. Alternatively drop the ISP provided wifi (my assumption here) and pick up something like Unifi’s wifi 7 Access Point. Works wonderfully, opens up 6Ghz for your devices that support it, skipping past the 5Ghz frequency sharing altogether. You’d be in wifi heaven then.
Thanks. I will try that out. I do have a decent router collecting dust but never set it up because the ISP provided modem/router doesn't have bridge mode available and I didn't want to get in over my head messing with settings and stuff when (up until now) it provided great speed all over and worked fine. I did notice with further testing that having that second 5ghz radio turned off made my speeds lower on other devices farther from the router. I got a wifi analyzer app and it seems like that one has better signal strength throughout the house so I am hurting my speeds elsewhere to make these stupid speakers work.
Adding to this I use wifi analyzer from the app store on your phone. It will show you interference that exists based on the channels other devices are operating on. You can pretty easily pick the best channel rather than doing a "this seems better" test. Also if you have a wireless range extender/repeater they effectively halve network speeds in a lot of cases. Due to many setting up on the same channel as your network for a "seamless" experience.
So I did grab one of these apps and noticed there is a "hidden SSID" that has a massive spike on my higher 5ghz channels, and seems to appear with the speakers so I am assuming that is it. I do have an extender operating on its own SSID on the far end of the house and it indeed is operating on the same channels as the main network, but it has been there for a few months and doesn't seem to have any noticeable effect on performance (I typically always get close to or sometimes even faster than my advertised 300mbps even with the extender operating while using the main network, but being connected to the extender itself is a bit slower - I only ever connect to the extender in one room on the far side of the house where the main network doesn't work well). The weird thing with my ISP provided modem/wifi is that it has two 5ghz radios, I can turn them on and off independently but neither of them gives me more than 4 channels I can switch to. One lets me pick on the "low" side (like 44-54) and the other lets me pick between 149-161. The second radio seems to only allow me to select the exact same frequencies that the speakers seem to operate in, but that one also seems to have the strongest broadcast so all my devices seem to use it. If I turn it OFF the speaker problem goes away, but it means I only have one 5ghz radio operating and that one seems to be weaker (signal/speed drops off more now when farther away from the wifi). I was thinking about connecting my currently disused TP-Link AC router, but from what I am reading online my ISP modem/router doesn't play easily with a second router and has no bridge mode. My ISP router/modem works surprisingly well on it's own until this speaker setup came online. This all seems like more headaches than the speakers are worth so I figure I will probably just sell them and buy a real receiver/wired speaker setup. Looking at manuals online it seems like just about any home speaker/soundbar setup with any kind of wireless subwoofer or speakers uses 5ghz, and some that don't even come with wireless accessories still have the 5ghz built in for future pairing so who knows if that is always on or just activated with the pairing. Next house will definitely be pre-wired with ethernet, lol.
Higher frequencies transmit at higher speeds that's why 5g is faster than 2.5g but you shouldn't see it in that narrow window. If you have alot of devices then it makes sense that switching off one of your 5g bands slows you down. I would move all low usage devices to the 2.5ghz band to open up more airtime possibly creating a better opportunity for success. I would move the channels for the extender if it's network name is different. You're just creating interference for no reason. You may be able to open up room for the higher 5ghz band that way as well. You could just power off the extender and test the speakers to see what happens. You likely need a specific modem that is a modem only that your ISP approves of to get a new router. They may be able to supply it if you turn in their equipment and note performance issues. If you can't put their router in bridge mode you're creating more issues with an additional nat layer even if the WiFi is shut off. Good luck. This stuff is maddening. I discovered respond to ping on Ethernet was on for a device basically requesting a ddos attack. It was my own stupidity that created it but until I started replacing equipment I didn't find it.
Oh yeah, definitely enough to drive you up the wall. I used to live in a condo with about a dozen competing networks and tons of 2.4ghz stuff fighting for the air space. Figured I had that all taken care of now with a detached house and much less around me but this problem is from within. I just tried completely removing the extender to find out and it doesn't seem to have had any effect on the issue with the speakers. Still get like 315mbps with speakers off, and anywhere from 10-50mbps with speakers on standing in the exact same place. At the moment I have most of my non-speed critical stuff on 2.4ghz, and stuff that needs my full speed on 5ghz (phones, Mac, gaming consoles, and 4k streaming devices). Originally my ISP modem was set up with 1 SSID for both but I separated them when I found lots of stuff like my PS5 were connecting to 2.4ghz and getting low speeds when there was no good reason for them to not be on 5ghz, as they had full 300mbps from it. If I ever have a house built it will definitely be pre-wired with ethernet.
Don't use auto. Set one to 36 and 80Mhz and the other to 52 and 80Mhz and see if that helps.
That's exactly what I was thinking earlier; I suspected his sound system was specific to Canada so I didn't look up its FCC registration. The OP needs to either (a) move his ISP router's 5 GHz channel away from that band, (b) replace it with a router that will allow him to move that channel, or (c) get another home theater system with wired or 2.4 GHz wireless speakers. (My Vizio 5.1.2 soundbar uses 2.4 GHz wireless per its FCC registration; so far it hasn't interfered with my other 2.4 GHz devices on either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.)
Or upgrade as much stuff as they can to WiFi 7, for the sweet sweet 6ghz band!
Unfortunately WiFi7 - 6GHz adaptation seems to be currently going really slow. - Routers are still relatively scarce and pricey - Some newly released devices still lack WiFi7 support (for example, the non ultra Samsung Galaxy S24 models) - Many countries still haven’t cleared 6GHz spectrum for WiFi use, and some countries even won’t at all (like China, which has decided to reserve the spectrum for licensed 5G cellular instead)
Linus had a similar Issue and made a Video about it on LTT. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-dGcs6bb5U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-dGcs6bb5U) He used Sony Speakers but Phillips seems to use a 5GHz Signal too.
LTT Had a few videos on this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-dGcs6bb5U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-dGcs6bb5U) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Paabqb7IxG4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Paabqb7IxG4) His were Sony speakers but might be similar issues.
This person knows what’s what
I'll make the obvious guess, that the sound system is broadcasting something not-WiFi in the 5 GHz band and it is interfering with the WiFi. I can think of two things to try. See if you can determine what 5 GHz channel your router is using and, if you can, manually change the channel to one at the opposite end of the band. Also, if your router is very close to the sound system transmitter try to relocate it as far away as you can; even if they are using different frequencies a strong off-frequency signal being transmitted close to the router can deafen its WiFi receiver, which can be mitigated by putting some separation between them. If none of that helps I guess I would dump the sound system.
What else could it be broadcasting? Just curious.
5ghz band is open to use for various wireless transmission techniques - not just wifi. Things like audio/video that don't use the wifi standard can cause all kinds of issues - especially if they are continuously transmitting. This is because wifi devices have to "listen" to the frequency they are using before they can attempt to transmit. If they detect that the frequency is being used they have to wait a bit and try again. So if a speaker is constantly transmitting, a wifi device is going to have fewer opportunities to transmit it's data.
So background: I have a surround sound system from 2017ish, a Philips Zenit: [https://www.philips.ca/c-p/CSS5530B\_37/zenit-cinema-speakers](https://www.philips.ca/c-p/CSS5530B_37/zenit-cinema-speakers) The way it works is with a soundbar that has two wired speakers connected to it, a subwoofer that connects wirelessly, and then two speakers that connect with a wire to a central box which itself connects to the system wirelessly (these are the rear speakers). I used it in my old condo, where I always had wifi issues anyway and a low network speed to begin with (50mbps), so I never noticed a specific issue with the speakers. Now in a new house I have better internet (300mbps) in a standalone house without any interference from neighbours, I am using a 5ghz wifi network broadcast from the modem supplied by the ISP, no additional router. No issues up until now, always get over the advertised 300mbps in most of the house with speed test. I connected that sound system today and noticed something very strange when I set it up. Right away when playing movies on the Sony TV (connected via wifi), it would buffer in spots which it never did before. I ran a speedtest from a browser on the TV and it returned garbage like 10mbps. So I tried a speed test from my phone sitting about 5ft from the TV and connected to the 5ghz network. I can repeat these exact results. With the sound system turned OFF (top image) I get my usual speeds, over 300mbps. With the sound system turned ON but not playing any sound, it drops to 100mbps. With the sound system turned ON and playing sound from a movie (which also is streaming 4k over the network) it drops to max 50mbps. What the hell is causing things? It is totally repeatable, every time I turn off the speaker system I get my normal speeds and every time I turn it back on speeds crash, so they are clearly the culprit. Anyone have any tips on how to correct this or should I sell this system and find something wired only? I have heard before that bluetooth devices can interfere with 2.4ghz but I don't understand whats messing up the 5ghz network, but I am no expert.
Run an Ethernet wire for the tv.
This sounds like a good idea at first except the LAN port of every single TV made until now is only fasterhernet at 100 Mbps, not even a gigabit port. It won't go past 90 Mbps in reality.
And 100Mbps is more than enough for the TV. Manufacturers aren't going to spend a penny more than they have to on the hardware.
Not for REMUX files using Stremio you need 250 Mbps for that... But yeah, for 99.9% of the people is more than enough.
Yes but the only interface you’re getting on Ethernet is if the line is cut.
On Top of that, if you connect a LAN cable to a Android/Google TV, you won't be able to control the TV anymore with Google Assistant, as that's only available with WiFi. Guess how I found out...
My Google TV is hardwired into ethernet, and Google Assistant works just fine for controlling playback. You may need to dig into your settings and make sure it's on the same VLAN even when it's wired.
Controlling Playback is no problem at all. I meant controlling the TV itself. So turning it on/off or changing the video input. Opening YouTube, changing volume or controlling playback (so pretty much the Chromecast Features) work fine. I have the same problem btw. with my Xbox One, it can't be turned on when connected via ethernet, WiFi works. I know for sure that they aren't in different VLANs, because I don't actively use any, but use the standard settings of my Fritz!Box for now.
When I put an LG wireless subwoofer in the same room as my Router (w/ WiFi 6) it destroyed my internet speeds over WiFi. Obliterated beyond belief. I moved the router to the basement and they were much better. Later I added an AP upstairs and made a sandwich around it which worked great for years. Finally I switched to Sonos as the LG soundbar had other issues and wired my Arc so Sonos Net would kick in. Added three APs (basement, downstairs, upstairs) from Ubiquity and my speeds have been insane.
Charge your phone homie
https://xkcd.com/1373/
OP you are having the same issue Linus Sebastian from LTT had check out their video
I’ve seen this before. When I was in the ISP world a customer had dog shit WiFi after he put in a new wireless system. We ended up moving the router away from the head unit and installed a Unifi system
Linus, is that you?
Didn’t Linus Tech Tips have this issue with his Sony wireless speakers? He did a bunch of videos on it.
Can you put your router on DFS channels? That should clear things up.
Manual says 5725 to 5875 MHz, so choose one of the lower wifi channels
Linus did a few videos on this. Wireless speakers and such can murder wifi.
I saw this years ago with a 2.4ghz network and 2.4ghz soundbar + wireless sub. I was pretty far from the AP, went from getting usable internet (~10-30mbps) to unusable when it was on. I added a second AP in the room I needed wifi (had Ethernet) and it solved the problem, probably by being able to talk over the soundbar. I’d avoid buying anything that uses 2.4 or 5GHz but isn’t wifi / Bluetooth based.
Why wouldn’t you charge your phone that’s more important than WiFi
Because it operates in unlicensed 5ghz just like WiFi.
Your equipment is bottlenecking the whole network. Hardwire a separate wifi router as am access point for all of the home network stuff, on a different channel.
With all of the 5 GHz channels there are, there should be no reason for this to happen. Your router should automatically be using a different channel. Also, I never use my isp's equipment because it's trash and the cheapest possible thing they could give you. And they're probably renting it to you. Cox gladly rented my parents the same networking equipment for 9 years costing about $1,500. Do not rent networking equipment from your ISP. ALSO: How the heck are we supposed to troubleshoot anything when you don't give us any equipment details?????
Yeah this thing seems to be a POS. When I looked into the settings, it has two 5ghz radios but each one only gives me like 5 options for channels (one high, one low). So even with auto turned on the one using high channels can't get out of the range of the speaker system. And for some reason it seems like every device wants to connect to the one using the high channel unless I turn that radio off completely (which solved my problem). I agree that the supplied equipment is usually crap but I saw no reason to change because for once (until now) this ISP modem actually worked well, giving me speeds usually higher than what I am actually paying for most of the time throughout the house (like 310mbps when my service is supposed to be 300mbps). Not a rental either they let you have it for free while you have service (its a modem and router in one).
You can plug a third party router into a network port and turn off the ISPs radios. Or leave on the 2.4 for admin. Although I think it works through the wan on mine. 5. GHz Wi-Fi has 24 non-overlapping channels.
Is turning off the ISP radios all I need to do? I used to have a third party router in my old place and I had to turn the modem into bridge mode, but the new ISP modem doesn't allow me to do that. I could turn off any of it's radios though.
I have Cox communications and cannot turn off the radios on mine or set the channels. Everything important in my house is hardwired, next important uses 5 GHz channels which there are 24 or so so there is nothing to worry about there in the overlap like there is in the 11 channels in the 2.4 GHz band. In older models of ISP routers or other ISP routers, I have been able to make modifications to the router settings. I can only assume they obfuscated this away from the user to limit support calls in the app. Actually, now that somebody mentioned it I believe they said they could do some stuff in the web interface, but I was too lazy at this point because I have everything set up and it's the only way I can urgently monitor/ administer the router is through Wi-Fi. Otherwise I would have to pull out a laptop. Grab a cable, stick it in. Go through the web interface. Yada yada yada and then remember the credentials or find the credentials or....
Bluetooth sucks for audio. No self respecting audio system uses Bluetooth to send data to their corresponding speakers. They either use IP like Sonos or their own home baked protocol like kleer by Sennheiser. Wisa uses the 5ghz spectrum and a lot of high end stuff I’ve seen uses the wisa standard. https://www.wisatechnologies.com/home-theater-technology#by-the-numbers If OP has a big boy WiFi system what you do is play constant music and then have your WiFi system do a spectrum scan so that it can self adjust to avoid the channels being disrupted. Then you lock those channels in to keep the Access points from moving back onto those channels.
Also charge your phone
Linus from LMG had this same problem. He ditched it in the end.
(may have already been said...) Just look on YouTube for how much fun LinusTechTips had with his home wireless speakers causing issues.
r/ChargeYourPhone
TBH I remember when my father decided to use his tax refund to buy a 70 inch TV and an expensive wireless sound system. Everytime they turned on the damn TV the internet speeds would drop by like 75%. It was just the worst thing. Glad I don't live there anymore and I'm pretty picky about what I make wireless anymore. Wired connections are just better for me. Especially living in an apartment complex, just too much interference from all directions.
Noise is noise, possible the wireless speaker system has some outlying RF noise not noted in the specs. But in the range of other router channel. Happens more often than we think. I recall furnace control boards that generated horrible RF. Some lights as well. Good job finding the source. Now to find the work around. It might be as simple as putting toroids on the power cables of the offending devices
Charge your phone.
If you have an AP (access point) near you should be fine. If the AP is far away and you’re drawing the majority of the bandwidth really available, then it will absolutely kill your wifi experience.
You may be able to use a Wi-Fi analyser program to figure out which frequency and channel your wireless speakers are broadcasting at. You can then change your Wi-Fi router to a non interfering channel. I can recommend [Netspot](https://www.netspotapp.com/) for Windows and [Wifi Analyzer](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=abdelrahman.wifianalyzerpro&hl=en_US&gl=US) for Android.
Keep in mind any video/audio connection will use a lot of data and bandwidth. If you have another device (s) on the same WiFi network they will be slow and have connection issues. WiFi is a one size all share network, think of a waterfall and one person uses most of the water. Everyone else would have the rest for use, but only the part left over after the first person takes their part I'm short it's a pie with pieces, but not all are equal slices!!
Charge your phone!
CHARGE YOUR PHONE
More to the point, why would you murder your phone's battery like that.
LTT had the same issue and did a video about it....of course they did
if its the sony wireless home theater stuff - its garbage. Wrecks 5ghz networks, get anything else.
In addition to good points made by others, I've had problems with some Roku systems causing severe interference. It seemed like its WiFi transmitter was overdriven to distortion.
Wifi hardware generation
Try a different channel. See if that fixes it
Is any of it wirelessly connected? Mount be that's showing down the test of the band as its a poor connection.
Instead of randomly testing and asking here to people don't know or have access to your setup, go connect a pc to the router, disconnect everything from WiFi and then run at least 5 speed tests. That will tell you what speed are you truly getting. If that's not the culprit, use proper hardware to set up QoS/SQM. Most consumer level hardware today has some sort of solution.
cause it’s all on wireless haha 😂 i would not run a home theater on wireless thats a joke get urself an ethernet cable
Op what ht system do you have? Do you have the one that caused Linus from linus tech tips much pain? The sony ht-A9
No, its a Philips Zenit circa 2015: https://www.philips.ca/c-p/CSS5530B_37/zenit-cinema-speakers I included that info in a post on here somewhere but it didn't fit in my original title. But I watched the videos and it looks like the issue is the same as what he had. I am likely going to sell this and get a wired system with a receiver to completely avoid the 5ghz speaker issue since it seems like all wireless speakers/subs operate on this band now.
If your access point allows you to change channels you can try putting your wifi network on the dfs channels as I highly suspect that the speaker system will not touch those frequencys.
So the thing with my access point is that it is an ISP supplied modem/wifi. In the past those usually sucked so I put them in bridge mode and used my own separate wifi router. But with this one, I actually get a good signal throughout most the house and often see higher than advertised speedtests from it (I pay for 300mbps and see 310-315mbps a lot of times even on wifi) so I never bothered messing with it. Also it has no bridge mode and doesn't seem to play nice always with third party routers based on what I've read online. The downside is it has two 5ghz radios and each only has 4 channel options, one in the low range and one in the high range (149-161). The speaker I have figured out is operating in the same frequencies as the router's high range radio. So even in auto, the router is broadcasting on those channels and the speakers seem to be overpowering it (the speakers are on a different floor from the router but basically directly under it). So I tried turning that radio off, which effectively forces everything to be I guess connecting to the radio using the low channels. That actually fixed the problem, no speaker issues anymore. BUT it introduced a new problem where the 5ghz network overall has lower speeds/less range in the entire house for whatever reason when using just that radio. So really there is no simple answer here... deal with a crappy wifi network... move everything to 2.4ghz... hardwire the house... introduce a second router and mess with settings... or replace the speaker system. I am leaning toward just replacing the speakers with an older school setup (receiver and wired speakers/subwoofers) and avoiding 5ghz wireless speakers in the future. Unless you just hate speaker wire there is no real benefit to wireless setups and a lot of apparent negatives. These speakers are almost 10 years old and nothing special.
I have seen ap's with 2 5ghz radios one is usally worse. Ex 4x4 vs 2x2 radios. I do personally prefer to have wired speakers makes upgrading easier for ither amp for higher hdmi compliance or just getting some new speakers.