Hint:  Change your Wi-Fi frequency to avoid interference with neighbors router

@erik_squires you have not read the standard, so let me educate you: it is a standard for medical devices and how to protect them from spikes in electro magnetic radiation.

I could say the same to you. Fortunately the literature is in the public domain. The reason there is a medical standard is about leakage current forming in devices which patients are connected to, not surges. I don’t think this helps my audio sound better, but there is evolving literature that says isolators are better at preventing surges inside a building. An important part of your overall surge protection strategy. I don’t let my internal Ethernet or router connect to the network provider without additional protection. That means either gas discharge, air gapped optical fiber or one of these.

In particular, dedicated Ethernet surge protection devices which shunt excess voltages to ground, seem to have a negative effect and are more likely to enable dangerous lightning induced surges.

@Carlsbad I have no particular ax to grind. My only advice is to use a wifi monitor (free!!) to check your network neighborhood and adjust if needed. Otherwise, if you can use Ethernet for your TV and audio use it instead.

Personally I have never found a home Wifi router I trust to select a good channel in a congested environment entirely based on experience, but the alternative, measure and manually select is just not that bad. One of the funniest bits of advice I gave in a high rise to other tenants was to run a 3’ long Ethernet cable from their router to their TV instead of using Wifi. 😁 Most had their modems sitting right next to the TV and never even thought of it.

In my current home I have great Wifi with no congestion and I use either as needed. 

That’s the entirety of my advice. Did I mention they are free?

@fredrik222 Yeah man, that's why IECa 60601-1 exists.  Just for audiophiles. 

@fredrik222

As you probably know, Ethernet is galvanically isolated by default but some cases may require a higher breakthrough voltage for patient safety. The valuable part for those of us OCD about surge protectors is they add about 4kV to the chances of having a breakthrough surge. Here is one such product from Tripp Lite ( a little over priced ) which has relevant safety and standards data. The specific standard is IEC 60601-1. Maybe it’s only needed in the EU?

https://www.tripplite.com/rj45-network-isolator-ethernet~N234MI1005

Of course, for audio and video streaming where it matters Ethernet is the way to go.  Just consider your chances of lightning and surges and isolate your copper network from the outside world as needed.

Either fiber optic to Ethernet isolators or medical grade Ethernet isolators are recommended.  I do not recommend Ethernet surge protectors with ground pigtails.  Those tend to invite wire melting surges.

@fredrik222 I have had high end Asus and TP Link routers. I gave up on their channel setting algorithms and set them manually when I was living in apartment complexes. Now that I’m in a more rural environment it doesn’t even matter.

I went through several instances of trying to stream videos from bed, getting bumped off, looking at the wifi analyzer to find my router was sitting on a congested channel before finally giving up on them.

@riley804  - That was a joke!

I did move from dense apartment complexes to modest single family home complex and the network neighborhood is completely different.  I went from 20 or more competing wifi signals to 5. 

@erik_squires  auto is supposed to mean that it picks the channel with the cleanest RF, however, you are correct, lower end just somewhat randomize the channel selection

@fredrik222  - Even the low end versions should do this and I've still never seen one do a good job.  Maybe what happens is they pick a channel on power on and then never change it.  If you are in an apartment complex your wifi environment changes often.  

Maybe the real solution is for audiphiles to buy homes on 30 acres of land?

Often said this.  One of the best diagnostic tools is to use a Wifi analyzer on your phone or PC or Mac.  They are free and in addition to signal strength let you see who else is sharing your channels.

I don't know why this is still true in 2022 but routers set to "auto" channel selectiopn tend to pick the same channels no matter the congestion