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How do I confirm that my network is running at 'n' speeds ?

Kuska

Kuska

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 14, 2006
166
0
Deep in The Weald, England
Have done a quick search on the forums and looked into my system profiler but I cant find anything that confirms that my networked macbook & imac are enjoying the benefits of a draft 'n' enabled network via AEBS.

Anyone know how I can confirm if this is the case.

Thanks.
 
flopticalcube said:
Hold the option key while selecting the WiFi fan in the menu bar.
Click to expand...

I didn't know about that… and it doesn't work for me. I get the "transmit rate" but this is different from the "link speed" presented by Network Utility.

Kuska said:
Thankyou :) - Linkspeed shows 130 mbit/s - is this as i should expect in 'n' ?
Click to expand...

Yes. Anything over 54 Mb/s is running at N speed.
 
Three related questions:

Can I restrict access to n-protocol only? Where g-protocol cannot connect.

If I have the 5.8gHz phones should I setup as 2.4gHz?

Which channel is ideal?
 
Depends on your router. If you have an AEBS, then, yes, you can create an 'n' only network.

I have a 5.8GHz phone sitting literaly on top of my AEBS which is running in 5GHz mode. Makes no difference in speeds even when the phone is in use. In 5Ghz n only mode you have no choice ver the channel selection since it uses multiple channels to improve the signal.
 
I am also running my Airport Extreme Base Station in 5GHZ n only, along with a separate g network. The "n" network used to run at 300 mbs, but since extending the "n" with the new Airport Express it tops out at 130mbs. Does anyone know if this is simply from extending the network, or has something else possibly caused the drop in performance? Not that I'm complaining about 130mbs, just wondering.
 
Option / Fan working now - what a great tip !! :)

Always was working actually - took me far too long to work out that the 'alt' key is the option key and not the :apple: key :rolleyes:

Thanks again.
 
Forgive if this info was already posted somewhere...
I just picked up a new AEBS today and so far it works great for my needs.

This is what I found out with testing different options. N speed is highest in N only mode @ 5ghz and slows @ 2.4 ghz although the 2.4 has a higher signal strength of about 20-30%. So I think if your farther away 2.4 would be a better option if signal strength is a problem.

I also added my older b/g express to the network. For now, when I wish to connect my Itunes to my HiFi; I just kick it to b/g compatible mode and all is well.
 
dmarch said:
I am also running my Airport Extreme Base Station in 5GHZ n only, along with a separate g network. The "n" network used to run at 300 mbs, but since extending the "n" with the new Airport Express it tops out at 130mbs. Does anyone know if this is simply from extending the network, or has something else possibly caused the drop in performance? Not that I'm complaining about 130mbs, just wondering.
Click to expand...

If you're extending it wirelessly, that could be where you're losing the speed. From what I've read, the speed is halved every "hop" in a wirelessly extended network.

I've got a Time Capsule running in 5 GHz n only with a Linksys WRT54GS wired to it and acting as a b/g bridge and I'm getting speeds of 270 Mbps with my MBP.
 
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