Question : 802.11N Overlapping Channels

  Unless I am doing something incredibly stupid (which has been known to happen) I find the range of 802.11n in the 5GHz band so limiting it is almost useless either indoor or outdoor. So the brief question is have I done something incredibly stupid or is everyone finding the range in the 5GHz band to be very limited?

   So assuming it isn't just me :) I am back to the 2.4GHz band. The specific application is outdoor WDS. There are only 3 non-overlapping 22MHz channels in the 2.4GHz band. The first obvious question is will the 40MHz channel with work in the 2.4GHz  band and if so that would force the use of overlapping channels would it not?

   Would I be better off not using the 40MHz width or letting it us the 40MHz width and putting up with what ever degredation is caused by using overlapping channels?

   Lastly ... when setting the channel on the AP and using 40MHz channel width does it really make much difference what channel I set it at? Is channel 6 as good as any and does the AP at that point figure out which other channels to use to get the 40MHZ width?

Answer : 802.11N Overlapping Channels

My suggestion for using channels 3 and 9 was only if you had a piece of equipment that was specifically for WDS and supported transmitting/receiving on multiple channels and/or frequencies.  If you're just using a standard wireless router (and from your comment I gather that you are) then you're right, you can only select one channel (although some routers/APs support a secondary standard channel in addition to the primary wide channel) and so you shouldn't have any issues with overlapping channels anyway, other than interference from other wireless devices in the area.  

There normally isn't any reason to use a 20MHz channel unless you're using non-802.11n equipment or you have a lot of interference.  If you are only using 802.11n devices, my recommendation would be to start with a 40MHz channel, especially if you need the additional bandwidth.  (Which channel you start with doesn't really matter unless you get NetStumbler or something like it that can tell which frequency is the least congested.)  If you're getting low throughput or problems connecting, try changing channels to see if it improves.