After building my dream home and wiring it with a sophisticated Ubiquiti network system, complete with four Wi-Fi access points and screaming-fast 1,200 Mbps internet, I figured my connectivity problems were over. Instead, I got lag everywhere, connections dropping randomly, and Wi-Fi speeds that weren't much better than the 150 Mbps I'd left behind. And this was with all the fancy networking equipment money could buy—my phone would just sit there spinning, trying to load a simple webpage.
Then I discovered the problem: a single router setting I'd overlooked during setup—and the fix took less than five minutes.
My Wi-Fi setup was impressive on paper
Four access points covering every corner
When we built the house a few years ago, I knew I wanted to do networking right. At our old house, our ISP maxed out at 150 Mbps, and the mesh Wi-Fi system I had would drop connections constantly—always at the worst moments. For the new house, I bought a Ubiquiti system and put four access points (APs) throughout it.
The AP on the east side takes care of the kids' rooms, our three-seasons room, and the patio. The west side AP handles our owner's suite and the great room. Then I stuck one out in the garage for all the smart home stuff and workshop gear, and dropped another in the basement for good measure.
I crimped my own Ethernet cables to wire the whole thing—ran Cat6 to every AP location. The new ISP gave us 1,200 Mbps, and I was pumped to get everything running.
The Wi-Fi problem appeared immediately
My gigabit internet felt like dial-up
The excitement didn't last long. I flipped everything on and started connecting devices, and almost immediately, things felt off. Here I had enterprise-grade equipment and internet speeds eight times faster than before, but devices were struggling all over the house. Netflix kept buffering, and on Zoom calls, the video would lag and turn into a pixelated mess that made meetings basically impossible. Speed tests were all over the place—100 Mbps here, sometimes way less there. This was supposed to be 1,200 Mbps; I should have at least a few hundred Mbps on Wi-Fi. My smart home devices took forever to respond. What really got me was how random everything was.
One minute, everything would work great. The next minute, same device, and same spot in the house, I got total garbage speeds. I'd dumped a lot of time and money into this setup, and somehow it was worse than the cheap mesh system I'd replaced.
The culprit: Wi-Fi channel interference
Four access points fighting each other
Since I'd run into Wi-Fi interference problems before, I knew what to check first. I pulled up the UniFi app on my iPhone and looked at each access point's settings. There it was—several of my APs were on the same exact channels for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The east and west ones, covering most of where we actually live, were using identical channels. They were basically stepping all over each other, creating a traffic jam of radio interference.
Wi-Fi channels work kind of like highway lanes. Put multiple routers or access points on the same channel close together, and they interfere with each other. Devices have to wait their turn to transmit anything. You get lag, dropped connections when the interference gets really bad, and performance that bounces all over the place depending on which AP your device latches onto. With four powerful access points potentially overlapping and interfering with each other, my network was fighting itself.
The simple fix that changed everything
Assigning unique channels to each access point
The fix was remarkably straightforward. I opened my UniFi controller and methodically assigned different channels to each access point:
- Open the UniFi app or web controller
- Navigate to UniFi Devices
- Select an access point from your device list
- Tap the Settings gear icon
- Choose Radios
- Under Channel, select different channels for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz
Recommended channel assignments:
- For 2.4 GHz (use channels 1, 6, or 11 only—these don't overlap):
- East AP: Channel 1
- West AP: Channel 6
- Garage AP: Channel 11
- Basement AP: Channel 1 (far enough from East AP to avoid interference)
- For 5 GHz (more channels available, less congestion):
- East AP: Channel 36
- West AP: Channel 48
- Garage AP: Channel 149
- Basement AP: Channel 161
The moment I saved these settings, the difference was dramatic. My speed tests immediately showed 600+ Mbps in faraway areas from the routers, and buffering disappeared, with devices maintaining stable connections throughout the house. I no longer had to walk around my house to find my Wi-Fi sweet spots.
This fix works for any router setup
You don't need multiple APs to benefit
You don't need a crazy multi-AP setup like mine for channel interference to wreck your Wi-Fi. If you live in an apartment, duplex, or anywhere your neighbors' houses are pretty close to yours, their routers could absolutely be your problem.
The same problem applies—when routers near each other use the same channel, they interfere. It's super common with 2.4 GHz because manufacturers set most routers to the same default channels at the factory.
To check and fix this on any router, pull up your router's admin interface (just type its IP address into a browser). Look for wireless settings—where this lives depends on who made your router. You want the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channel options. Change both from "Auto" to manual mode. For 2.4 GHz, pick channel 1, 6, or 11. For 5 GHz, try something between 36–48 or in the 149–165 range.
Most routers leave this on "Auto" by default, which usually means they sometimes pick whatever channel your neighbors are already using. When you manually pick less crowded channels, your performance can jump way up.
Five minutes to fix what months of frustration couldn't
One overlooked router setting turned my expensive networking investment from a total disappointment into exactly what I'd hoped for. I spent maybe five minutes going through each AP and assigning it a unique Wi-Fi channel, and that was it. Suddenly, I was actually getting those gigabit speeds with no more lag and no more buffering. My family stopped bugging me about why our "new fancy internet" was worse than the old stuff.
If your Wi-Fi is slow even though you're paying for fast internet, check your channel settings. It doesn't matter if you've got multiple access points like me or just one router dealing with interference from your neighbors—changing this one setting might make your Wi-Fi way faster overnight. It sure did for me. Now I can keep up on all the canceled-to-soon sci-fi shows on my watch list without Netflix buffering.