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GabeU's avatar
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV
8 years ago

Laptop and now reduced speed while using the 2.4Ghz WiFi band... (nothing major)

Something interesting I noticed.  With my Dell laptop, which can only utilize the 2.4Ghz band, the speeds were the same as my desktop.  Since the software upgrade to the modem, the speeds on my laptop won't climb above 41Mbps or so.  My desktop still hits the high 40s, but my laptop no longer does.  

 

I always thought it was interesting when people were seeing slower speeds with the 2.4Ghz band, as I wasn't.  That's now changed. Granted, 41Mbps is still pretty darn good, but it's interesting that, since the software update, it's now limited.  

 

Now, that's not to say that the software update necessarily has anything to do with it, but only that the speeds on my laptop dropped after said update.  It could be nothing more than a coincidence.    

 

This isn't really a problem.  It's just intersting.  

   

BTW, nothing's changed in the laptop.  The only thing that's changed is the modem software.  

   

Edit:  I'm going to try my Netgear router to compare.  Waiting for speed to kick back up, overall, to see if it makes a difference.  

Performance
  • MarkJFine's avatar
    MarkJFine
    8 years ago

    russyoung2676

    If it's intended to work this way, I'm not sure it's an issue to fix.

    If you're looking for the maximum speed possible, open the wifi settings and go to Advanced->WIRELESS.
    1. See if you can use 5GHz, set the Wireless Mode to 11a/n/ac and set the Bandwidth to 20/40/80MHz.2. If you have to use 2.4GHz, set the Wireless Mode to 11n-only and the Bandwidth to 20/40MHz. I don't recommend the 11b/g/n setting because I know the "b" part confuses some boxes like the XBox 360.

  • russyoung2676's avatar
    russyoung2676
    Sophomore
    8 years ago
    I was going to start a new topic but this is along the same lines as my issue. With my desktop hard wired high 40s and with my wifi devices on 5ghz high 40s. I switch wifi to 2.4 my speed gets cut in almost half mid to high 20s. I would just stay on 5.0 but if I literally go more then 15ft away into my living room I loose signal strength unlike the good range I have on 2.4. So I thought I had a fix, I hooked up an external router to my hugesnet modem and it still stayed at mid to high 20s. What am I missing?
    • MarkJFine's avatar
      MarkJFine
      Professor
      8 years ago

      russyoung2676

      Has to do with the available bandwidth on the wifi network wrt protocol.

       

      For example:

      Unless the 2.4GHz wifi is set for n-only, you will have only a 20MHz wide network with only one channel.

      n-only on the 2.4 GHz network spreads it across 2 wifi channels for a 40MHz network.

      Compare that to the 5GHz network that potentially spreads it across 4 wifi channels for 80MHz in ac mode.

       

      • russyoung2676's avatar
        russyoung2676
        Sophomore
        8 years ago

        Thanks for the respose but you lost me! How do I fix my issue? Do I need to change some settings on my devices or in my modem? Do I need to buy a more current router?