Question

Wireless N maxing at 130 mbps with Apple Airport N router

Asked by: brianmcginty

I have an Intel WiFi Link 5300 wireless N network card in my Thinkpad X301.  At work, I connect to our Cisco wireless router at 300 mbps. At home, I can only connect at 130 mbps to my Apple Airport N router, regardless of how close I am to the router.  Is there a setting in the router that I need to change to connect at 300 mbps?  If so, how do I change it?  Thanks.

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Asked On
2009-01-01 at 06:25:47ID24019316
Tags

Wireless N

,

130 mbps

,

300 mbps

,

Airpot router

,

Mac Airport

Topics

Wireless Networking

,

Wireless Technologies

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
11

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Answers

 

by: Darr247Posted on 2009-01-01 at 07:17:24ID: 23275107

Here's a blurb from Intel's reviewer guides:
Draft-N effectively creates more room for data with a double-wide spectrum channel. Double-wide channels are created by bonding together two 20MHz wireless communication channels into a 40MHz channel. This channel bonding increases the data rate because data rate is directly proportional to channel band-width. 802.11a/b/g networks use a single 20MHz channel. Due to the limited available bandwidth in the 2.4GHz frequency, the higher-bandwidth 5GHz frequency best supports channel bonding. Intel supports channel bonding only in the 5GHz frequency.

Cisco and Apple support that same viewpoint (using 40MHz-wide channels only in the 5GHz band)... so I suspect at work you're connecting to the 5GHz band with bonded (40MHz-wide) channels, while at home you're connecting to the Airport either on the 2.4GHz band or the Airport doesn't have 40MHz-wide channels enabled on the 5GHz band.  You didn't say if you have the Express or the Extreme, but I don't see in the setup manuals how to tell either model to use 40MHz-wide channels.  Have you checked for updates at http://www.support.apple.com/airport ?

 

by: strungPosted on 2009-01-01 at 07:20:50ID: 23275114

To get the full 300 mbps, you have to set the Airport to N only, 5Ghz band, wide channel, using the manual setup in the Airport utility.

 

by: Darr247Posted on 2009-01-01 at 07:26:27ID: 23275123

I guess it could be a Time Capsule, too...  but nothing in its manual about 40MHz-wide channels, either.

 

by: Darr247Posted on 2009-01-01 at 07:30:43ID: 23275130

Oh... you didn't buy your Airport in the UK, did you? They prohibit draft-n routers/access points from using 40MHz channels at all.

 

by: strungPosted on 2009-01-01 at 07:32:48ID: 23275135

 

by: strungPosted on 2009-01-01 at 07:37:39ID: 23275144

In your Airport utility, go to Manual Setup, then hit the Wireless tab. Set the radio mode to 802.11n only, 5 GHz. Click on Wireless Options, and check the Use Wide Channels option.

 

by: Darr247Posted on 2009-01-01 at 07:38:05ID: 23275145

strung said:
>> To get the full 300 mbps, you have to set the Airport to N only, 5Ghz band,
>> wide channel, using the manual setup in the Airport utility

So they have no '20/40 Auto' setting like most other brands, which would allow 11a devices to connect too?

Xbox better get with it and make a draft-n adapter, since they encourage everyone to use the 5GHz band for less interference.  :-)

 

by: Darr247Posted on 2009-01-01 at 07:40:04ID: 23275148

That would be ''Manual Setup'' under ''Base Station'', correct?

 

by: strungPosted on 2009-01-01 at 07:42:59ID: 23275155

I believe so. Mine is a Time Capsule, so the airport utility options may be different. I don't have a Base Station option. I have a Time Capsule option.

 

by: strungPosted on 2009-01-01 at 07:43:58ID: 23275157

What options do you have other than Base Station?

 

by: lyncksPosted on 2009-01-02 at 03:35:57ID: 23278645

you can do what people said to get the max speed, but i strongly not recommend it. you should leave everything on auto on the router and let it decide on what frequency you can go and what to do with it.
try testing the speed at work (if you have gigabit there), by transferring some large files from a gigabit connected computer, and do that same at home. you will see that the difference is minor.
wireless n has some nice features, but also some bad ones if you have multiple wireless networks around you, so it's best to let it find the best setting (you can "kill" another network when you start it up).

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