What is a NON-STANDARD channel?

Hi - first time poster here.
Confused by INSSIDER DASHBOARD warning about:
" My 2.4 Ghz access point being overlapped by a network on a Non-Standard Channel"
I thought there are only 11 possible “Standard Channels” in North America.

Since this is also mentioned in the product, then, just WHAT is this - any examples, perhaps a microwave oven, cordless phone, security cameras , Radar from approaching commercial, aircraft, etc.?
Can the invading channel number(s) be identified on the graph ? If Dashboard knows they are present, then it should provide more detail.
Any other clues would help in tracking down such noise sources, and perhaps blocking them.
Thanks.

Hi @J.ZEGLINSKI! In the 2.4 GHz band, while there are 11 channels, there are only three of them that don’t overlap. If you want to learn more, check out this article.

We classify “standard” channels as channels 1, 6, and 11. Everything else has potential to partially overlap, so we call 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 13 “non-standard” channels. The term that we’ve invented for this is a bit clunky… all of those channels are part of the 802.11 (Wi-Fi) standard, so in that way, it’s not technically correct, but we think it’s an okay way to describe the differences between 1, 6 and 11, and all of the other channels.

I hope that helps, thanks!

Thanks Joel,

Now it makes sense. But, the warning message already says that there are “Overlapping Channels” present, so adding Non-Standard seems redundant, just adding confusion. The double-barrelled warning phrase then implies that there might actually be STANDARD, as opposed to the non-standard “Overlapping” channels.

Using the term “Standard channel” also implies that there is some “Standards committee”, or that the signal content is somehow not properly encoded, perhaps exceeding national signal level standards – which could definitely be a problem if a neighbour/hacker is shouting out his data to hit the ionosphere.
Needs some further consideration.

Perhaps calling channels 1, 6, and 11 “Ideal, or Optimum” frequency signal channels might be simpler and less confusing, since that is what you really mean.
I was thinking that it might be nice to have an option for INSSIDER to actually change modem/router channels (somehow), as they get crowded, for the user, especially as neighbours come home and start working or studying on their PC’s, etc. But, that could turn into a collision derby, as every PC did that.

The suggested option of moving to a different “ideal channel”, is fine if the house has only THE ONE MODEM, but what about the hassles of having to reconfigure the Router channel, and any Repeaters, etc. Too mind-boggling for me, especially as it is a hassle to reconfigure even twice a day, depending on neighbours “work shifts”.
Anyway, INSSIDER is an excellent tool, if you just need to initially or occasionally set up for the optimum reception, just once in a while. Besides, it is always good to know why the PC seems so slow, changing major traffic patterns from hour to hour, before blaming the ISP.

Keep up your excellent work !
Joe Z.

I have a netgear router that doesn’t support and standard channels, is there a way to improve my wifi? I experience drops at times?

Hi,
I too was confused by the MetaGeeks confusing terminology, “STANDARD” channels. INTEL calls the special. more isolated channels 1,6, and 11 - “PRIMARY” channels, which is probably more concise, since they are the ones with least overlap conflict possibility. I’m pretty sure your NETGEAR router does support all 11 channels, including the PRIMARY (i.e. standard) ones. The router’s 2.4 Ghz band contains all 11 channels (14 in Europe), You might get better performance using the router’s wider 5 GHZ band, since there are far more channels, less neighbor overlap.

Thanks for the feedback on this, everyone. We’ll think about the terminology around this.