Forum Discussion

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 lapto...
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  • 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

      maratsade

      Not sure, really. Hadn't thought about it, tbh. It might.

      • maratsade's avatar
        maratsade
        Distinguished Professor IV
        8 years ago

        Thanks, all.  I thought that if the 5GHz band goes, say, 10 feet from the modem, then an extender in that area could extend the range another few feet, though I don't know how many it would be.

    • GabeU's avatar
      GabeU
      Distinguished Professor IV
      8 years ago

      maratsade

       

      From what I've read I believe so, but it all depends on the extender.  Plus, I imagine that while utilizing an extender with the 5Ghz band it would still be short in range, like the source 5Ghz signal.  

       

      Edit:  BirdDog posted while I was typing.  I defer to him.  

  • 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?

      • MarkJFine's avatar
        MarkJFine
        Professor
        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.