I think I’ve finally reached the point where my smart home is too smart for its own good.
I’ve got around 65 wireless devices, mostly ESP32s, smart lights, sensors, etc. Almost all of them are 2.4 GHz only. Anything that actually needs bandwidth is already wired.
The annoying part is my Home Assistant voice satellites.
I’ve got several ESP32-based ones around the house, and sometimes when I ask something in the kitchen, the one in the bedroom answers instead. From what I understand, whichever request reaches the server first wins.
And with my 2.4 GHz network being as busy as it is, the response times are all over the place.
I’m running four wired UniFi APs in a roughly 2800 sq ft single-story house. 20 MHz channels, 1/6/11, transmit power tuned. UniFi shows around 30–45% airtime utilization on some radios and a fair amount of interference.
Coverage is mostly fine. Bandwidth isn’t the problem either. I just need these things to respond consistently.
Is there anything else I can do to improve latency without ripping out half my smart home?
Four APs running 2.4 in a house that size? I’d start by turning off the 2.4 radio on one or two of them. You’re probably creating a decent amount of your own interference.
@10_SignalSeeker Already tried that. Problem is the house has a weird H-shaped layout, brick walls in some areas and a massive chimney right in the middle. Three of the APs are also covering outdoor lights and sensors. Turning off even one 2.4 radio leaves a bunch of devices offline. Trust me, I’d love to run fewer APs if I could.
Have you mapped the actual overlap between those APs or are you mostly going by what UniFi reports? I’d run a survey with NetSpot and check the signal and SIR heatmaps. See how much coverage you’re getting from each AP and where they’re competing with each other. Might help you figure out whether you can reduce power on one of the radios without losing the outdoor devices.
@auto.loser Mostly UniFi data and my own ping tests so far. I’ve been playing with power and channels, but every time I improve one area, something at the other end of the house stops responding. Haven’t done a proper heatmap survey though.
NetSpot should give you a much clearer picture of the RF overlap. Then compare that with the utilization and retry data from UniFi instead of assuming all four APs are equally problematic.
Why not move the voice satellites to 5 GHz and leave the rest of the IoT junk on 2.4?
@Enigma_141020 Because they’re ESP32-S3s. 2.4 only. Believe me, if I could move the voice satellites to 5 GHz, this post probably wouldn’t exist lol.