Wifi interference because of same channels?

Question

I am absolutely frustrated right now. Although I usually help others solving problems with their networks, I am stuck here.

So here is the problem: I am working in a very large office, with many different rooms, and large, long corridors. In the room I am working in, there is, according to my devices, a very good signal strength. I am connected to the network, let us just call it "Network1", but it never actually works. Although connected, I can not establish a connection when trying to browse the web.

Here is what I think the problem might be: There are exactly three AP's in the same corridor, with a distance of aprox. 8m in between each single one. They all have the same SSID, which doesn't seem to cause interference. I suspect however, that both three AP's operate on the exact same channel, please see the log below, right from my mac's diagnose tool:

Wireless Environment
2.4 GHz Networks            : 17
5 GHz Networks              : 13
Current Channel Networks    : 3
Recommended 2.4GHz Channels : [ 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 12 13 ] 6 [ 1 11 ] 
Recommended 5GHz Channels   : [ 40 44 149 153 157 161 165 ] 48 36 

Could that be the problem? Because surly, the three AP's do not coordinate which of them is actually "talking to my laptop", hence any three of them will pick up whatever my laptop requests?

If you want me to post more of my wifi diagnose, because you think it might be something different, please comment. Here is one more bit:

01/12/15 19:12:05.7540  Conflicting Country Codes . . . PASS
01/12/15 19:12:05.7710  Conflicting Security Types . . . PASS
01/12/15 19:12:05.7710  Crowded Wi-Fi channel detected with on channel 6
01/12/15 19:12:05.7720  Crowded Wi-Fi Channel . . . FAIL
01/12/15 19:12:05.7720  Poor Wireless Environment . . . PASS
01/12/15 19:12:05.7720  Poor Signal Strength . . . PASS
01/12/15 19:12:05.7730  Incorrect Network Location . . . PASS
01/12/15 19:12:05.7730  Self-Assigned IP Address . . . PASS
01/12/15 19:12:05.7740  Self-Assigned IP Address . . . PASS
01/12/15 19:12:05.7750  Preferred Network Mismatch . . . PASS
01/12/15 19:12:05.7750  Misconfigured Web Proxy . . . PASS

Thank you very very much.

Answer 1

Not familiar with that tool so not sure how to interpret the output.

However, three waps that close to each other should definitely NOT be on the same channels. Multiple waps should be on alternating non-overlapping channels (in US the channels are 1, 6, and 11 - your waps should be set 1 to each of these or at least alternate like 1 - 6 - 1 if, e.g. 11 is very crowded)

All three waps on the same channel means each WAP is interfering with the others. Think of it in terms of a wap having a 'conversation' with your device (laptop, phone, whatever). With all 3 on the same channel it's like each has to shout over the others to be heard!

This same phenomenon can still occur even on different channels but at least there is SOME separation, as is, it's straight up bedlam.

Separately but related - 25' (8M) between waps in a corridor is more than likely too close for the same reasons above. At least channel separation will give you a chance but it might be worth trying to shut of the middle one (leave the two furthest apart) and see if that still covers all your areas. It would make for a 'quieter' RF environment and might help throughput on all the devices.