The Battle Between Wireless and Cordless Phones

Well, the battle continues..

If you have been experiencing problems with your phone and wireless internet (or wireless in general), then it MAY NOT be your line filter (although this is one likely cause).

Firstly I will begin this by explaining what causes this problem.

Most Wireless Standards operate on the following Specifications 802.11b/g and less commonly the faster and supposedly more reliable 802.11n standard.

These Wireless standards both operate at a frequency of 2.4GHz. Which is roughly the same as 9 out of 10 cordless phones operating in New Zealand. And, even if you dont have a Cordless phone that interferes and you live close enough to your neighbours; they might.

The Neighbours Cordless Phone? Your Kidding? 
Unfortunately we are not. This shouldnt however 'drop' your wireless connection entirely, but could reduce the wireless throughput (volume) / performance for the duration of your neighbours gasbagging.

There is really two simple solutions and one POSSIBLE solution; we opted for Option 2.

Possible Solution:
(1) Adjust the Channel of your Access Point to be at its Highest or Lowest setting. I find higest usually works best to minimize the interference; however dependant on the actual operating frequency of your Cordless phone.

Solutions (if the problem was caused by the above):
(1) Replace your 2.4GHz Cordless Phone(s) with 5.8GHz Cordless Phone(s)
(2) Throw out wireless, go back to a Traditional UTP Network. Costs a bit more to setup, and generally requires technicians to come out and install Cables, Switches, Jackpoints at your premesis, but provides a thousand fold better connection in terms of reliability (there when you need it, not affected by Phones, Weather, etc) AND performance (up to 1GBit on a standard CAT6 connection) than ANY wireless standards could ever promise.

I have done a few Wireless excercises lately; and as much as they seem to promise, they just dont live up to their expectations with the random signals that go flying around our atmosphere from all sorts of wireless and mobile devices; let alone weather.

Recomendations for Networking:
If you own your own property and can justify an expense of $1,000 min (depending on how fast, and how many jackpoints you require and any other network hardware you might need to suite your requirements), then I would recomend investing in a 1GBit CAT6 network; we can hide the switch hardware and put jackpoints around your house where computers and/or entertainment equipment is to be connected.

If you are renting, then unfortunately you would need to speak to your landlord about this investment due to the work that would need to be done on your property; otherwise Wirless is your best option unfortunately. Just upgrade your phone before hand and you should be fine (but bear in mind this is not the only source of interference your wireless network might be exposed to).

Why was it working OK Last Week?
Well, technically, it wasnt (if you got any phone calls last week anyway); but the channel interference was so minimal you didnt notice anything more than perhaps a sligh scratching on your phone line.

Note: If you are hearing more of a digital sound (you will know it from scratching) then this could mean your DSL and Phone is unfiltered or that there is a faulty filter around somewhere. It could be more 'DSL' issues you are having with your phone than Frequency Interference, so get that sorted out first :).

Anyway, I hope this helps some people.