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ssahnan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 13, 2012
18
0
hey, just looking for feedback from others who have tried their iphone 5 on the 5ghz band on dual band routers. I'm getting absolutely lousy range with it, especially in comparison to my ipads on the 5ghz band, about a little less then half the distance. I have a few other 5ghz wifi devices handily beating the iphone 5 as well. I have two iphone 5's and both really conk out on the connection much earlier then I expected.

I use a asus rt-n66u router which is one of the cream of the crop consumer models out there and works like a charm otherwise. I can get 2.4 coverage on the iphone 5, albeit with not so stellar throughput, in the spots the 5ghz is conking out.
 

misterjay

macrumors regular
Sep 19, 2012
126
0
Does this explain why i randomly get dropped on WiFi at my house? I mean.. one minute its connected to WiFi.. the next second it's showing "LTE" again, then I have to manually put it on WiFi again.. only to go back to LTE.

Jesus.

*Using Comcast XFinity's laster router*
 

ssahnan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 13, 2012
18
0
Does this explain why i randomly get dropped on WiFi at my house? I mean.. one minute its connected to WiFi.. the next second it's showing "LTE" again, then I have to manually put it on WiFi again.. only to go back to LTE.

Jesus.

*Using Comcast XFinity's laster router*

possibly yeah, for my wife it kept asking for the password again, what it was doing was trying to connect to the 2.4 band, a password I had not put in on in her phone yet
 

oplix

Suspended
Jun 29, 2008
1,460
487
New York, NY
hey, just looking for feedback from others who have tried their iphone 5 on the 5ghz band on dual band routers. I'm getting absolutely lousy range with it, especially in comparison to my ipads on the 5ghz band, about a little less then half the distance. I have a few other 5ghz wifi devices handily beating the iphone 5 as well. I have two iphone 5's and both really conk out on the connection much earlier then I expected.

I use a asus rt-n66u router which is one of the cream of the crop consumer models out there and works like a charm otherwise. I can get 2.4 coverage on the iphone 5, albeit with not so stellar throughput, in the spots the 5ghz is conking out.

I'm getting 40mbps+ on 2.4ghz. Let's be honest 5ghz is gimmicky at best. It's a known fact it has less range and is less reliable because the technology isn't exactly that mature and it's not a standard by any means like 2.4ghz.
 

Macman45

macrumors G5
Jul 29, 2011
13,197
135
Somewhere Back In The Long Ago
It's all about router quality....ISP offerings are very poor. I disable all but the modem on my VM piece of blue backlit junk, and run dual band wifi through my TC and AE....I have no drop outs on either band, and my iphone and ipad work fine.

Quality routers from the likes of Draytek will also do the job well, and prior to buying my TC I used a top end Draytek with excellent results.

A new router won't cost the earth, and you don't have to use a TC either, just the ISP offering as a modem and a decent router to handle the wifi. If you need a range boost, an AE plug in is cheap, and works fine.
 

ssahnan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 13, 2012
18
0
I'm getting 40mbps+ on 2.4ghz. Let's be honest 5ghz is gimmicky at best. It's a known fact it has less range and is less reliable because the technology isn't exactly that mature and it's not a standard by any means like 2.4ghz.

to be honest, in my house I gret great performance on the 5ghz side of things, I actually get incredible range while maintaining great throughput. at long distances,my thoughput is better on the 5ghz band then the 2.4. the asus router I have is great at that. the only device not doing good on it was the iphone 5

40mbps is great but at what range from the router is important. I was just curious on people's experience with it since for me, the iphone 5 is the only device I have behaving strangly at that band.
 

oplix

Suspended
Jun 29, 2008
1,460
487
New York, NY
to be honest, in my house I gret great performance on the 5ghz side of things, I actually get incredible range while maintaining great throughput. at long distances,my thoughput is better on the 5ghz band then the 2.4. the asus router I have is great at that. the only device not doing good on it was the iphone 5

40mbps is great but at what range from the router is important. I was just curious on people's experience with it since for me, the iphone 5 is the only device I have behaving strangly at that band.

I'm sorry, I will correct myself. 5ghz range is comparable however penetration is not.
 

rritterson

macrumors 6502
Jul 10, 2008
357
1
DC USA
I'm getting 40mbps+ on 2.4ghz. Let's be honest 5ghz is gimmicky at best. It's a known fact it has less range and is less reliable because the technology isn't exactly that mature and it's not a standard by any means like 2.4ghz.

LOL

802.11a came before b,g and n, and it was 5GHz. It's older than 2.4GHz.
 

rritterson

macrumors 6502
Jul 10, 2008
357
1
DC USA
JFC... ok 802.11n NOT 5ghz.

Okay. Not sure I would agree with you 802.11n is a gimmick or unreliable though. My personal experience has been that it's far better than a, b, or g ever were.

You are right though, 5GHz has much less penetration than 2.4.

OP- are you holding the iPhone while testing? It's possible you are obscuring the antenna while using it, while on the iPad your hands don't. My personal experience has been that 5GHz signals don't pass through the body well. I used to live in a very old house with tons of lead paint that would kill any wifi signal that wasn't line of sight. The 5GHz signal would drop if anyone walked between the device and router.
 

ssahnan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 13, 2012
18
0
Okay. Not sure I would agree with you 802.11n is a gimmick or unreliable though. My personal experience has been that it's far better than a, b, or g ever were.

You are right though, 5GHz has much less penetration than 2.4.

OP- are you holding the iPhone while testing? It's possible you are obscuring the antenna while using it, while on the iPad your hands don't. My personal experience has been that 5GHz signals don't pass through the body well. I used to live in a very old house with tons of lead paint that would kill any wifi signal that wasn't line of sight. The 5GHz signal would drop if anyone walked between the device and router.

yeah, i did try it without holding it as well. just strange behavior.
 

Dizzy714

macrumors regular
Jun 21, 2009
134
31
hey, just looking for feedback from others who have tried their iphone 5 on the 5ghz band on dual band routers. I'm getting absolutely lousy range with it, especially in comparison to my ipads on the 5ghz band, about a little less then half the distance. I have a few other 5ghz wifi devices handily beating the iphone 5 as well. I have two iphone 5's and both really conk out on the connection much earlier then I expected.

I use a asus rt-n66u router which is one of the cream of the crop consumer models out there and works like a charm otherwise. I can get 2.4 coverage on the iphone 5, albeit with not so stellar throughput, in the spots the 5ghz is conking out.

I have this exact same router and I have the exact same issue. This is actually the first time I even activated the 5Ghz option on my router and it plain sucks. It's slower to even show up on the iPhone than the 2.4Ghz band, and then when it does connect it'll kick me off randomly, or resort to the 2.4Ghz band over the 5Ghz.
 

KenAFSPC

macrumors 6502a
Sep 12, 2012
626
26
hey, just looking for feedback from others who have tried their iphone 5 on the 5ghz band on dual band routers. I'm getting absolutely lousy range with it, especially in comparison to my ipads on the 5ghz band, about a little less then half the distance. I have a few other 5ghz wifi devices handily beating the iphone 5 as well. I have two iphone 5's and both really conk out on the connection much earlier then I expected.

I use a asus rt-n66u router which is one of the cream of the crop consumer models out there and works like a charm otherwise. I can get 2.4 coverage on the iphone 5, albeit with not so stellar throughput, in the spots the 5ghz is conking out.
The iPhone5 supports a maximum of two streams (using two internal antennas), so it will never match the throughput of the three stream implementations (using three internal antennas) that are found in most newer laptops.

I also have the widely recommended Asus RT-N66U. On a 5GHz WPA2 AES network, the iPhone5 maxes out at around 85Mbps with this router. By comparison, the iPad3 maxes out at 45-50Mbps. Note you must use WPA2 AES to obtain the maximum throughput with 802.11n. Also, make sure you orient the antennas as instructed (45/90/45 degrees).

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I see 15-20Mbps less on 2.4GHz. If you live in a densely populated area, selecting the right Wifi channel on your router becomes more important. In the case of the Asus router, I believe it attempts to select the best channel after each reboot. For others, here's a tip from Lifehacker on selecting for picking the best wireless channel (http://lifehacker.com/5580636/change-your-wi+fi-routers-broadcast-channel-for-a-stronger-connection)

Disclaimer: I have 75Mbps FiOS service, which actually provides 80-85Mbps. Please note that many Speedtest servers are not capable of these speeds. Generally, the Speedtest servers in the largest markets (e.g., NYC, Philly) are capable of the highest speeds.
 

aphexacid

macrumors 6502a
Jul 31, 2007
936
22
Chicago
Just to add my two cents...

I have the previous model asus. The 56U 'black diamond'

Its an exceptional router, and i've never had an issue with it.

i did notice that 5ghz is teh suck. and 2.4 ghz isnt great either compared to my 4S.

I have seen different router/phone combo's in the past that don't Jive together terribly well. So thats could be whats happening.

Although i've heard a lot of complaints about wifi so far.
So its probably an ios 6 bug. and ios 6 seems kind of half baked to me anyways.
 

ssahnan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 13, 2012
18
0
Wanted to say thanks for the replies, my speeds close by are normal on the 5ghz, I think I wanted to reiterate its not only getting those speeds but even just staying connected at farther distances, distances the iPads handle easily while maintaining the thruput at high levels...
 

ChiTech

macrumors newbie
Oct 4, 2012
1
0
Yes, definite 5GHz 802.11n reception issues on iPhone 5

Same here. Have lots of other 5GHz capable devices and all have full signal strength (PC, Mac, iPad). Reception so bad on iPhone 5 at 5GHz could NOT conduct VoIP calls at 20 feet form WAP (Apple Time Capsule). Do so on Macbook and iPad at same location all the time. Tried manually rotating through all channels at 5GHz on WAP; no difference. Switched back to 2.4 GHz and have 100% strength and no dropped VoIP calls. Using Line2 for VoIP too, not Skype. Always very reliable otherwise. Really bummed, since 5GHz was something I'd looked forward too for iTunes Sync over WiFi. :(
 

Mercenary

macrumors 65816
Sep 17, 2012
1,241
626
The 5ghz band has reduced range and weaker penetration compared to 2.4ghz. This is just a characteristic of 5ghz. The higher the frequency the weaker the range.

http://compnetworking.about.com/od/wirelessfaqs/f/5ghz-gear.htm

The advantage is the 5ghz band tends to be cleaner as there are less devices using it. 2.4ghz is used by Bluetooth, cordless phones, wireless alarms, pretty much anything wireless.
 
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