Preamble Type is an easy router option that can boost the performance of your wireless wifi network slightly. Most of the routers or firmware has the default setting for the Preamble Type as long. We will explain what is Preamble Type in router settings, what does Preamble Type do, and what you can do to optimize the setting.
What is Preamble Type
Preamble Type setting means that it adds some additional data header strings to help check the wifi data transmission errors. Short Preamble Type uses shorter data strings that adds less data to transmit the error redundancy check which means that it is much faster. Long Preamble Type uses longer data strings which allow for better error checking capability.
Preamble Type Long vs Short
In general, there are two main cases that you will need to use Preamble Type long settings.
1. You have older devices that requires Preamble Type Long to connect. Preamble Type short is made available with later technologies, if you have some older wireless cards, you will need long Preamble Type for it to connect.
2. You are using wifi in an area with high interference or low signal strength. Preamble Type is by default an error checking utility or function that helps with the data transmission. Long Preamble Type can improve the transmission if the wireless signals are weak.
Why is Default Preamble Type Setting Long
The key is compatibility when routers utilize Long Preamble Setting out of the box. The router companies want to make sure that their hardware and software is compatible with as many devices as they can at the cost of some performance. So you will most likely encounter default factory settings for Preamble Type to be long or auto.
You can typically change the setting under Wireless or Wlan under “professional” or “advanced” tab.
How to Optimize Your Preamble Type Router Setting
The easiest way to optimize your Preamble Type setting is to set it to Short. You will be able to achieve the best performance with this setting.
Now, if your wireless devices stop their connection after changing the Preamble Type to short, simply change the setting back. This means that your wifi device or clients do not support Short Preamble Type.
In addition, you will have to experiment and compare for the performance difference if your area has strong wireless interference.
Secondly, if are using wireless extenders, additional access points or repeater, make sure that you set the Preamble Type to be consistently Long or Short for all the devices. This is important to improve the performance of your network.
Relevant Preamble Type Issues
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Best Preamble Type
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