5ghz waaaay slower than 2.4ghz

[sactown]

I have had many wireless problems in my apartment and have tried several options. I just bought an AEBS for the dual mode capabilities hoping that running 5ghz would help to solve my wireless woes. I was previously using a netgear wnr2000 and was getting pretty bad speeds with that. I have a 2mb/s connection but would often test only 500k/s. I have also tried the combination of the netgear and an airport express running at 5ghz only, but my computer couldnt even recognize the 5ghz network. So today I tried running the AEBS and found that when connected to the 2.4ghz network, I was getting upwards of 800-900k/s (which is better than before but still less than half of what my full connection is), but when I connected to the 5ghz network, the speed dropped as low as 10k/s and the connection even timed out a couple of times. I have tried several different channels with no improvment My router is now situated only about 25 feet from the router, but has to go through a couple of walls. I am using a macbook pro 2.4 Ghz intel core duo with 4 GB of RAM. I dont have anything else in the house running at 5ghz. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[waw74]

the 5ghz signal does not like to go through things.

about the only thing i can suggest is make try to move the router so that signals are going through the wall perpendicular, makes the wall "less thick" in the line of transmission.

at my old apartment, in some places i would have faster 2.4 than 5, even though i was closer to the 5, just because of the number of walls and the angles.

 

[calderone]

Try changing your channels.

Also, are pages actually loading slower?

Your terminology is confusing. I am guessing you have a 2 megabits per second connection, meaning 256 kilobytes per second. If you were getting 500 kilobytes per second, you were actually getting more than you are supposed to.

If that is 500 kilobits, you were getting about a fourth of what you should be getting.

The same problem is there with your 2.4Ghz test. If you were getting 800kB/s, you are getting 6.25 megabits.

What are you using to test the speed?

 

[mbestel]

5GHz slower for me too

Hi,

I found that 5GHz was much slower too.

Probably because of the cement rendered walls in my house but at any range the 2.4GHz was faster than 5.

Changing back to 2.4GHz fixed things but I sometimes get interference from our phone.

And from memory, you can't change the 5GHz channel.

Good luck.

Cheers,

Mark

 

[calderone]

And from memory, you can't change the 5GHz channel.

You can.

 

[sactown]

Try changing your channels.

Also, are pages actually loading slower?

Your terminology is confusing. I am guessing you have a 2 megabits per second connection, meaning 256 kilobytes per second. If you were getting 500 kilobytes per second, you were actually getting more than you are supposed to.

If that is 500 kilobits, you were getting about a fourth of what you should be getting.

The same problem is there with your 2.4Ghz test. If you were getting 800kB/s, you are getting 6.25 megabits.

What are you using to test the speed?

Thanks for the responses. I've actually tried all the available channels but none have improved the speed.

I use speedtest.net to test out the speeds. Web pages take well over a minute to load while on 5ghz. I apologize. The site measures in megabits. So while in 5ghz I get .1 - .2 megabits but in 2.4ghz I get as high as 10.

It must be the walls interfering, because if I move my laptop into the room with the router while using 5ghz, the speed is comparable to ethernet.

 

[calderone]

Check your transmit rate when in the other room by holding option and click the Airport menu bar icon. I am curious as to what you are getting.

Have you considered getting an extender?

I run two AEBS, one in the office and one in the living room. The living room extends my 5Ghz network. I have no problem maintaining my 16+Mbps connection throughout my apartment.

 

[metalic]

Thanks for the responses. I've actually tried all the available channels but none have improved the speed.

I use speedtest.net to test out the speeds. Web pages take well over a minute to load while on 5ghz. I apologize. The site measures in megabits. So while in 5ghz I get .1 - .2 megabits but in 2.4ghz I get as high as 10.

It must be the walls interfering, because if I move my laptop into the room with the router while using 5ghz, the speed is comparable to ethernet.

This is a actually a issue with the new "dual-band" AEBS and TC. Check (to name one thread) this one

Good luck!