So we picked up a new wireless router, a Netgear N600 Wireless Dual Band Router. As I understand it, it's got both 2.4GHz B/G/N and 5.0GHz A/N capabilities, both going at the same time …
Which I thought would be what we'd need to get some of those lovely 802.11 N speeds, woo-hoo. Except that, it seems maybe not.
It seems that all of our home PC equipment, including the N-capable stuff, only runs at 2.4GHz. And since not all our how wifi equipment is N-capable (our printer is B/G), it's dropping down to lower speeds.
So my laptop is going along at 65Mbps, as is Margie's desktop. My work laptop is at 72-117Mbps. Kay's laptop is going at 144Mbps. So they may be talking with the N protocol, but, it seems, dropped down, probably because of the backward compatibility for the printer. (Our Android devices all seem to do N just fine.)
In theory, I could look at replacement cards for one or more of the machines, that might let them hook up to the 5.0GHz band. But it's not clear how well that could/would work with the laptops (if the antenna is tuned to 2.4Gz).
External USB 802.11N adapters all seem to run on 2.4GHz.
If we could get the printer on N, that might work — but I'm not sure what capabilities we'd lose changing it from its internal Wifi setup (e.g., its scan-to-PC capability.
Actually, I'd just like to know why Margie and my connections are just at 65Mbps …
So, all you home networking gurus out there — are you laughing uproariously at my feeble understanding of the vagaries of Wifi? Any brilliant suggestions I've overlooked?
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Actually I think you got it. From my experience of managing Enterprise wireless, what I heard and dealt with is similar to above. In fact I think Cisco talked to us about N and one of the things they said over and over was that dont deploy N in places with legacy wireless because most of the advantages will be lost.
Things that affect speed you get with WiFi, obviously distance. New feature of N is that it doesn't show as fast of a speed drop off as other protocols at similar distances. Interference is huge, is the microwave running, bluetooth, WiFi home phones, etc? Printers are notoriously bad at saturating WiFi channels, and even worse, will channel hop and take em all out. The more saturation the worse your signal. The less stuff running on 2.4 or 5 the better performance will be for either.
I've heard bad things about using Windows to manage wireless on computers but I think it has got better with Win7. But I have a Lenovo laptop and let it manage my wireless. I haven't tested to see if its better, but something to consider.
It would surely help if (a) the PC or router could tell me which letter was being used in a connection, and (b) NIC settings were consistently labeled between different cards.
As far as signal interference, all the PCs in question are in the same room as the router, and my non-work one is about 15 unobscured feet right in front of it.
Try this — the N600 may let you actually turn off the b/g radio. Do it, just for testies. Turn off your other devices and connect them one at a time to test them in isolation.
Start with a problem device that you know ought to be faster – like your N compatible laptop.
Experiment with different locations — suboptimal signal strength can cause these types of speed drops. It could be you are on a crowded channel – so use your router settings to experiment with different channels. Cordless phones, televisions, microwaves, etc. can all generate enough static to lower your bandwidth.
Yes, that does suck about configuring the cards. Which is why at home I gave up. So my hat is off to you for doing this much.
You might have too much connected. Try killing everything but your work laptop and I bet the speed jumps up. If not maybe you need to update drivers or something. Also you can try the below.
A couple other things, standard antennas on home routers are meant to point straight up to the sky. This is due to how the signal propagates from the antenna. Do not modify. Also you will have better performance if you clear as much as you can around the antenna. Staying at least 3 meters or more away from the antenna will give a better signal, but there is a sweet spot. The signal comes out as a donut and you dont want to be in the middle.
Crowded channel as +Kit Malone states is easy to test for with Mobile apps nowadays. That is worth a shot.
Don't see a way to disable B/G on the 2.4GHz range. I'll poke through the documentation.
I'll try to play around with using just one connection tomorrow.
I am looking at what else is on the channel (in terms of other WiFi signals neighboring), but nothing is looking crowded. The router actually has a nice "here's everything around using that channel" function in its admin software.
New router is oriented just as the instructions indicate; antenna is, apparently, interior.
Position seems like it should be in that sweet spot, but that's for the machine coming across the slowest, as my daughter's laptop, closer in, is showing up faster.