My wireless passport is interfering with my home wifi network as its using the same channel at a high power level. I cannot seem to find where to change these settings in the latest firmware 1.03.13 any help would be appreciated as the manual still refers to an old version of firmware.
My MPW is smack dab right next to my router, and does not interfere – in fact, I want it close so to be connected to my network, uselessly, with maximum wireless power and signal strength.between MPW and router.
That said, you could be having the issue I had when I first set up the MPW. I had trouble setting up the MPW on Direct Connect to my iPad, and determined there was too much electrical interference sitting by my computer station so went downstairs far away at a dining table with the MPW and iPad and got it set up with no issues. I also decided to not use the default of auto-channel and selected a channel that was clear and rarely used. (Ch2) This is accomplished using the MPW Dashboard. It is in the Advanced wi-fi settings found only during initial setup. It can not be seen once the MPW is on the network.
So, I suggest you return the MPW to defaults and re-do the setup when away from all electrical interference as I did.
Caution: to return the MPW to defaults, the unit must be ON, and fully booted with both LEDs lit. Hold the two front buttons in simultaneously for around 10 seconds and release when you see LED activity indicating a reboot. Failure to reboot to defaults properly can cause major problems and both lights to blink red, so be sure unit is ON before proceeding.
My unit works fine set up this way, and I can turn it off and on right next to the router with no problems.
And, no, the power level of MPW can not be adjusted – only the channel can be set to a fixed channel.
mike27oct wrote:
My MPW is smack dab right next to my router, and does not interfere – in fact, I want it close so to be connected to my network, uselessly, with maximum wireless power and signal strength.between MPW and router.
My unit works fine set up this way, and I can turn it off and on right next to the router with no problems.
Of course it works this way without causing interference, as in this configuration the MPW is acting as a Wi-Fi Client of your home wireless network. When the MPW is acting as a Wi-Fi hotspot, as in Rick1970’s case, it can cause interference.
The rest of your comments make sense, and changing the hotspot channel should make a difference, if the new channel is sufficiently separated from the channel the home wireless network uses. I’m surprised it requires a reset to default to access the settings though. But there are some settings that are only seen at initial setup.
I left my MPW on automatic channel selection and haven’t had any interference issues, but that could just be luck.
My router is on Ch 11 – most all the neighbors are on the most common channel used: 6. Basically, there is no one on Ch 1, and a few are on Ch 11 like i, but their signal is weak and way down in the RF “grass” – a weak signal of -70 db of strength I use the Android app WiFi Analyzer to detect this stuff. I also have another wireless drive that defaults to Ch 5 and is not changeable. So, why I selected 2 for the MPW, although now that I think about it, I may have moved it to Ch 3 last time I returned from the factory reset.
Point is, don’t set it to your router channel or 1, 6 or 11. Select a channel two away from any of these, and you should be fine.without the WiFi Anaklyzer app ro assist you…
Thanks everyone for the comments, I found the issue by using a WiFi scanner and found that both my router and My Passport were using channel 1 and with My Passport in the same room as the router the signal strength was at around the same level. I ended up moving my router wifi channel to a free channel area in and my problem was resolved. I’m now on holidays and found the same issue in my hotel room as soon as I turned on the My Passport. Looks like I need to reset back to default settings to change the channel, something to do when I get home. Shame this setting is not available in the normal wifi settings of the unit.
Rick1970 wrote:
Shame this setting is not available in the normal wifi settings of the unit.
It is.
Tony, I was about to reply that it very well could be available if MPW is in direct connect mode, but it is not once connected to network I suggest the poster check into this possibikity…I am not sure what channel the MPW goes to when it connects to the network, because the MPW apparently hides the SSID. I can see that my Seagate Satellite wireless drive defaults to CH 5, but when it gets connected to my network it jumps to the router’s channel, so both are then on Ch11. I can see this happen using WiFi Analyzer app.
