Wireless Witch: The Truth About USB 3.0 and Wi-Fi Interference curated by wif.yt

Let's look at the reality behind this fear, and also at what the industry and you as a home user can do to combat interference issues with USB 3.0 and Wi-Fi.

Why USB 3.0?

Of course, the advantage of USB 3.0 over USB 2.0 is speed. Throughput rates can vary depending on hardware, software, and other factors, but generally USB 2.0 has a speed of about 40MBps while USB 3.0 can reach 400MBps—as shown in tests done mostly with data transfers to external drives. So there is a definite performance gain with USB 3.0. That means faster data transfers to and from attached external drives and faster network printing with USB 3.0-supported devices when connected to a router's USB 3.0 port.

What's the Problem?

However, you don't want to get those gains at sacrifice of wireless performance. After extensive communication with the leading wireless router 'makers' representatives and engineers, the consensus is that yes, there are interference issues between USB 3.0 and the 2.4 GHz band. Ken Loyd, director of consumer product for D-Link, provided some good background on the issue:

USB 3.0 has a 5Gbps signaling rate. The USB 3.0 specification requires USB 3.0 data to be scrambled and it requires spread-spectrum. The noise from USB 3.0 data spectrum can be high (in the 2.4-2.5GHz range). This noise can radiate from the USB 3.0 connector on a device (such as a PC or Router), the USB 3.0 connector on the peripheral device or the USB 3.0 [port]. If the antenna of a wireless device operating in this band is placed close to any of the USB 3.0 radiation channels, it can pick up the broadband noise. The broadband noise emitted from a USB 3.0 device can affect the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) and limit the sensitivity of any wireless receiver whose antenna is physically located close to the USB 3.0 device. This may result in a drop in throughput on the wireless link.

WiFiNovation's insight:

In a nutshell—the noise from USB 3.0 interferes with the 2.4 GHz signal. However, the wireless industry is proactive about the problem. Just about all of the router makers I spoke with that offer routers with USB 3.0 ports have those ports shielded to alleviate that interference.

See it on Scoop.it, via WiFiNovation

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