Wireless dilemma (2.4GHz vs 5GHz)

navegante88 on 21/02/2017 - 13:25

Apologies in advance if this has been discussed previously.I have just been connected to myrepublic and so far speeds have been great.i noticed that on my usual wifi channel (2.4) it maxes around 40mbps whereas if I use my 5ghz channel i can get up to 95mbps.

The problem is, the 5ghz channel can get as slow as 1mbps if i am not in the same room as the router whereas the 2.4 channel can get consistent speeds.

Mobile seems to show that the. 5ghz sig nal is still strong but the speeds definitely don't reflect this.

I understand that 5ghz wireless signals have less range so I was wondering if I'm basically stuck with using 2.4?

Is there any way i can get a consistent signal beyond 10m?

I am using an archer d7

Computing

Comments

Diji1 on 21/02/2017 - 13:35

+2

5Ghz only works well within about 15 feet or so … so no.
- navegante88 on 21/02/2017 - 14:18
  
  I see.. is there any way I can increase the speeds of the 2.4ghz channel or has it reached its max?
  - scrimshaw on 21/02/2017 - 15:29
    
    +2
    
    You are dealing with a problem of distance mostly.
    
    Naturally, there are products which can fix this… Powerline Adapters, a stronger Wifi access point, using ethernet cables and a spare Wifi router in bridge mode to get Wifi into areas that are weaker…
    
    I use my 5ghz channel i can get up to 95mbps.
    
    This is probably a limitation of the phone / device you are using. Not all wireless chipsets are built the same and some support Channel bonding (explained below) and some do not even support Wifi MIMO (multiple data streams).
    
    Most phones and tabs are single-antenna devices, but a laptop or desktop could be 2x2 or 3x3. What the 2x2 or 3x3 refers to is the number of transmit and receive radio chains in the device. So 2x2 means there are two transmitters and two receivers.
    
    Also FYI. 95mbps is megabytes per second, but usually in networking we measure in megabits per second. 1 megabyte is divided into 8 megabits.
    
    The D7 modem is claimed to do Wifi speeds up to 1300 megabits, which translates to 162.5 megabytes, but this just marketing…
    Real world testing is typically much lower though, so a speed close to 100 Mbps is actually quite good.
AdosHouse on 21/02/2017 - 13:53

I would have thought that you would get much better range then that.

I have the C9 and I can get the 2.4ghz at 20Mbps at 35m, including going through all the internal walls of a house, then the external brick wall, through a 6x9m colourbond shed, and down a moderate slope. I can still get the 5ghz signal at 20m, at about 20mbps.

I measure 20mbps because we only have a 19Mbps ADSL2+ connection.

Maybe you are getting interference, trying playing with the WiFi channel and frequency settings.
- donnot on 22/02/2017 - 16:05
  
  What adapter/device are you using to get 20mbps at 35m with walls!?? That's insane.
  - AdosHouse on 22/02/2017 - 20:29
    
    +1
    
    That's just my TP-Link C9 to my Samsung Note 5.
apple2016 on 21/02/2017 - 14:00

I use netgear r7000 and get good speeds for about 10 meters on 5 GHz. I have not tried outside 10 meters.
whatif on 21/02/2017 - 14:06

+2

Try to see if your Router/AP supports Channel Bonding. Google it and you find more details what Channel bonding does, that way you can experiment with 2.4 GHz on Channel Bonding on 40 MHz or 80 MHz on 5 GHz.
loke on 21/02/2017 - 14:25

Do you get similar speeds using different devices?

What wifi card are you using?
- navegante88 on 21/02/2017 - 14:34
  
  I'm just using my samsung s4, haven't tried on other devices as yet..
  - loke on 21/02/2017 - 14:47
    
    Yeah I've had trouble with reception in my family house only in one of the rooms farthest from the kitchen where the router is connected into the optus modem for cable (30mbits).
    
    With the r7000, laptop and mobile wifi was flakey for the room, not enough to stream youtube even, put down a repeater but that's sitting unplugged now. Probably since brother's phone was changed from a LG G4 to a S7 edge and …
    
    Threw (not literally) this ball shaped wifi dongle (D-link DWA-192) at the laptop and wifi was perfect.
    
    New PC build had this wifi card (Asus PCE-AC68) no trouble either.
    
    Haven't asked him to speed test since the wifi dongle came in, and wifi dongle was perfectly maxing the 30mbit connection (should've asked to test file transfers too I reckon).
whatif on 21/02/2017 - 14:34

Watch this video on Youtube, skip to 5:58. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_rQTzIRuqM
This will explain Channel Bonding on your router.
- navegante88 on 21/02/2017 - 14:35
  
  Thanks for that, i will have a look when I get home.. Hope my trusty d7 will support it
sane on 21/02/2017 - 18:35

Nobody seems to have really mentioned as yet that you need to select and optimise the channels and bandwidths used to deal with those surrounding you.

Use something like 'Wifi Analyzer' to check what is surrounding you. You ought to be able to find 80Mhz of 5Ghz bandwidth free of others - and that's probably going to work best.

And remember, if you have to overlap with others, being on the same channel is better than being one off. Same channel they can negotiate, different channels is just interference.

Oh, and you can always run an ethernet cable…
loke on 22/02/2017 - 17:23

Any updates op?
- scrimshaw on 22/02/2017 - 19:20
  
  +2
  
  Looks like his wifi signal is now so bad he has lost contact with Ozbargain, and possibly, the entire world.
  
  Search and rescue teams tried to find his signal with high end Wifi equipment and canine teams, but they just couldn't sniff any data packets.
  
  It's quite tragic… guess we'll have to write an eulogy now.
- navegante88 on 23/02/2017 - 09:15
  
  +1
  
  Hey sorry for late reply, i didn't have time to do much besides change the channel of my 2.4 signal.No real diference in results. Will maybe get time this weekend to muck around a bit more.. I'll also plug in the supplied router to see if it maked a big diff

Wireless dilemma (2.4GHz vs 5GHz)

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