Within business settings, Mathias said he urges IT managers to operate 802.11n wireless LANs in the 5GHz band, instead of the 2.4GHz band where most of the interference is experienced.

If that's not possible, Mathias said that an IT manager needs to "keep an eye on the problem" by frequently checking network management logs and using a Wi-Fi oriented spectrum analyzer to make spot-checks.

Baby monitors can be made to operate in 2.4GHz or 900MHz, so there is a possibility of interference in the 2.4GHz band, Mathias said.

Interference can result in a number of problems, including slow performance over a Wi-Fi channel.

An AT&T Inc. spokesman said the wireless carrier operates 20,000 hotspots and has engineered them to avoid overlapping and interference. He said interference is not significant.