802.11b and 2.4ghz phones

[nafaught]

Currently I use either Orinoco AP-500 or Orinoco AP-600 WAP's to create our wireless networks. We are experiencing interference with 2.4ghz phones when they are in use. Is there any way to stop the interference with these phones? I have the access points to use automatic channel selection so that when interference does occur, it will jump channels automatically, but it drops the wireless signal for 10-20 seconds while it changes channels. Has anyone experienced this problem and if so, how did you stop this from happening? Any help or advice would be beneficial. Thanks for your input.

Nathan

[lwheeler]

Having AP's in the near vicinity of eachother covering all three non-overlapping channels, is one way to ensure user connectivity, a little more expensive, but it is a solution we have used in the past. Depending on how many base-stations and handsets are in the use at the facility, the more there are the littler chance of non-interference, will determine your ability to scan the spectrum for which channels are being used by the phones. My experience is the phones themselves (some models) will switch to less congested channels as well. Then what you have is both devices, the APs and phones, constantly evaluating and changing channels, based upon handset usage though.
Larry

[JimGeier]

In some cases, there's not much you can do to avoid the interference from cordless phones, especially if the phones are using frequencing hopping spread spectrum (which interferes with all 802.11b channels). Certainly increasing the coverage strength of the wireless LAN in all areas will help matters. The best solution to avoid this interference is to not use 2.4GHz cordless phones in conjunction with 802.11b wireless LANs. Instead use phones that operate in the 5GHz band. Or you could deploy an 802.11a (5GHz) wireless LAN and continue to use 2.4GHz cordless phones. Of course these options might not be feasible if you already have a wireless LAN and cordless phones in use.