If I want to manually set the channel, what channel should that be?

Question

I received a tip to choose my channel manually, to get higher speed because of all the wifis in the area. What channel should i choose, and is there any difference wether i choose channel 1 or channel 13?

Answer 1

In theory, you could use a utility like iStumber or other similar applications to survey the wireless networks in your area, see what channels are being used by those networks and choose a different channel for your wireless.
Unfortunately, it is just not that simple. Other routers are looking for available channels and changing all the time, as does your Apple router. A "good" channel today may be overcrowded tomorrow or even an hour from now.
On top of that, many users employ an option to "hide" their network so that its name and channel information is not displayed when you scan for other networks using a utility like iStumbler.
So, there is a good chance that there are additional wireless networks that you cannot even "see" and it becomes virtually impossible to try to pick an open channel. The whole thing becomes a matter of daily guesswork to try find a good channel.
Your TC is already programmed to automaticlly look for the best channel available. It's possible that you might be able to find a good channel manually, but which channel to choose? in the U.S, channels 1, 6 and 11 are the most crowded channels.
Lupunus has an excellent suggestion in that you try the 5 GHz channels since there are very few 5 GHz wireless networks in operation.....for now.