How do I stop my smart meters spoiling my Wi-fi?
QI had a smart electricity meter fitted about a month ago, and ever since then the Wi-fi to my laptop and internet radios has been poor. I have another computer with a wired connection, which still has good internet access, and my iphone and ipad aren’t affected. I assume that’s because they use the 5GHZ band, whereas my other devices use 2.4GHZ Wi-fi. Unfortunately, neither my laptop nor radios have 5GHZ capabilities. I have contacted Virgin Media, and its support staff tell me there are no problems at their end. Any ideas? David Waite
AClearly your smart meters are communicating in the 2.4GHZ area of the radio spectrum, as do very many other domestic gadgets and appliances — from baby monitors to cordless phones.
The 2.4GHZ band is divided into a number of channels, and if they interfere it can affect your Wi-fi. Your smart meters are very unlikely to let you change the channel they use (although check the manual to make sure), but your router certainly will.
As you’re with Virgin, you probably have the company’s Hub 3.0 router. You’ll find the full login details on a sticker on the base of the router. Open your web browser, type 192.168.0.1 and use the credentials on the sticker to log in.
Next, in the left-hand navigation pane, click ‘Advanced settings’ followed by Wireless and then ‘Wireless signal’. Now tick the box labelled Manual, choose a channel from the dropdown menu (see screenshot), then click ‘Apply changes’. You’ll have to use trial and error to determine the best channel but 1, 6 and 11 are the most widely used, so start with numbers other than these.