Forum Discussion
Laptop and now reduced speed while using the 2.4Ghz WiFi band... (nothing major)
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.
I had to wait until there was a period where the overall speed was back up, as it's been a bit wonky this evening, but it appears that changing the 2.4Ghz WiFi settings brought the speed up for my notebook, as well. Thanks again!
Now if I could only fix the problem of the notebook having a slow, 1Ghz A4-1250 APU. Glad it was free! :p
I probably should have mentioned in there that not all devices (depending upon age) will be compatible with 11n, just like not all devices will be able to see a 5GHz wifi. So it takes some experimentation.
For a while, I had my 2GHz wifi set for 11g-only to be compatible with my XBox 360, and an external Cisco router wired into the back to use with an old game adapter I was using with DTV box. The game adapter's 803.11g didn't work right and I had to resort to 11b. The b/g/n setting was driving the XBox bonkers and wouldn't negotiate at all, so that setting was out.
Plus there are still a lot of relatively new devices (my NordicTrack's iFit display being one) that won't see a 5GHz wifi at all.
Postscript: The DTV box is no longer on the net unless needed, and the XBox is ethernetted in to take better advantage of the speed. lol
If people are having the same 2.4Ghz speed issue and they read this thread, hopefully they will have enough knowledge to know that their devices may not be compatible with the "11n only" setting, or they at least read through the entire thread to gain that knowledge.
I made sure to check the specs of the wireless adapters in both my laptop and notebook before even attempting to change the settings to see if they would help, but, of course, even the specs don't tell the whole story, so it was still trial by fire.
And with the speeds in both of those devices being back up to the same as my LAN connected desktop, the fact that they can't utilize the 5Ghz band doesn't really matter.
Actually, the only thing I have that can utilize the 5Ghz band is my DirecTV Genie, but I won't connect that. It's not that it can use all of that extra data, as I can just turn the connection off, but it's the way that it changes the Genie. Just connecting it to the internet one time changed so many things on it, and after I disconnected it the darn thing was constantly reminding me to reconnect. And even though I lost everything on my DVR when I performed a factory reset, it was well worth it when all of those things that had changed went back to normal.
So, yeah, the network is still a bit wonky. It works, but every so often it cuts off and needs to be reconnected. It wasn't doing that before I changed the settings, but I'm not going to swear the two are related. It could be coincidental. I tried to do everything that was suggested but it hasn't fixed the issue. I believe GabeU is correct in that the satellite just hates me. LOL
It may be actually coincidental. Seems the 2.4GHz wifi now has what was similarly happening on the 5GHz wifi.
Is it possible to tell if the actual signal goes away (inidicating the wifi somehow crashed) or is the signal still there / broadcasting an SSID, but just not doing anything?
Well, it seems that a recent update, or something else, lowered my 2.4Ghz speeds again. While previously changing the settings to "11n only" and "20/40MHz" had cured my speed issues, something recent brought the speeds back down to the lower 30Mbps range. So, I changed the settings back to default, which were "11b/g/n" and "20MHz", and the speeds are now back up to being equal to my LAN speeds again. SMH. This modem just can't make up its mind! :p
IMO, most wireless adapters and supporting software is just junk. >.>
C0RR0SIVE wrote:IMO, most wireless adapters and supporting software is just junk. >.>
While that may very well be true, and though I didn't mention it, I noticed that the last time I tried my notebook its speed was down, as well. I just tried it a little earlier with the new (actually default) settings, and it's speed is back up, as well.
Maybe my HT2000W's just a little moody. :p
GabeU wrote:
Maybe my HT2000W's just a little moody. :p
Might not be too far from the truth. It's quite possible that for some reason the wifi signal quality wasn't good enough to kick the expansion channel(s) in.
