DFS Channels

Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) WiFi channels are a great way to increase your network performance on 5 GHz WiFi, especially in urban areas. UniFi offers DFS Channel compatibility across all of our currently supported APs. In this article, we’ll cover some key considerations for whether or not you should be using DFS Channels.

Overview

Each country has regulations specifying a range of radio frequencies that can be used for consumer WiFi. Highly-populated areas like a city apartment may suffer reduced performance and high interference, since everyone is sharing the same region of the available frequency spectrum. DFS Channels seek to solve this by extending the usable WiFi range to include frequencies normally reserved for government-protected radar channels. These DFS Channels typically have far less interference which will ultimately improve your performance.

Considerations

Although using DFS Channels has the potential to improve performance, here are some key considerations to keep in mind:

• Government regulations require APs to listen for radar and stop broadcasting immediately if detected.
• On boot or when switching to a DFS channel, APs must wait anywhere between 1-10 minutes, depending on your country and channels selected. Your 2.4GHz WiFi will remain active during this time.
• APs prohibit the use of a channel where a radar is detected for at least 30 minutes.
• DFS Channels are usually lower in transmit power than regular channels, which limits range.
• Specific DFS Channel regulations vary by region in terms of allowed channels, transmit power, and wait times before broadcasting.

Conclusion

DFS Channels can be a great way to improve your performance, but you need to be aware of your local regulations and how often radar events occur, because these factors may ultimately result in frequent interruptions in your WiFi.