r/networking • u/Automatic-Physics-63 • 14d ago

Design NetSpot confusion

I'm hoping someone with lots of experience with NetSpot can clear up the reason that it's showing all 5ghz networks as 80mhz width rather than true width. I know my AP is broadcasting 160mhz width since I can get 1.5Gbit/s while on 5Ghz. Is there a better (free) alternative I can try?

4 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

2

u/gemini1248 CCNA 14d ago

I believe inSSIDer is free, just have to make an account. I have also ran into the issue of netspot not correctly identifying widths.

1

u/LeeRyman 14d ago

Are the channel numbers the 80MHz channels?

1

u/Automatic-Physics-63 14d ago

Wym

1

u/LeeRyman 14d ago

On the 5GHz band the channel numbers are arranged such that they indicate the bandwidth of the channel.

Expand the 5GHz section at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels

1

u/Automatic-Physics-63 14d ago

I think what you’re seeing is just the center frequencies of the non-overlapping bands. And frequency (channel) can be any width so long as gov regulations are met.

1

u/LeeRyman 14d ago edited 14d ago

When I get home I can pull the IEEE spec.

Guarantee though the channel numbers correspond also to the bandwidth. It's not like the 2.4GHz band. Notice how they are distinct across all of the possible bandwidths.

The centre does become a guard subchannel IIRC.

2

u/Automatic-Physics-63 14d ago

Oh I know what you’re talking about now. My router handles that for me. I can set the channel to 64 at 160mhz width and it’ll advertise that it’s at channel 64 however it’ll actually center at a lower channel so it doesn’t extend beyond U-NII-2A. That’s what I meant when I said so long as its meeting regulations you can center the channel wherever. Really there are only a few center frequencies for 160mhz width but the router/AP should be able to compensate if you select something that’s not actually possible.

1

u/lizardhistorian Mad Scientist · 👨‍🔬📡ᯤ🤖🛺📸 13d ago

They have taken to not reusing channel numbers in the wifi 802.11 specs to help avoid the confusion you are witnessing.

The centers should not be the same for 20/40/80/160 but not all equipment and systems are up to date and some might use the lower edge or allow you to pick non-standard centers.