Anyone know why my wifi sees 5G but won't connect?

[ThatGuyInLa]

I have an Air Port Extreme router, the new tall one. Full 2.4/5ghz Dual-Band. Of course all my Apple devices will connect and activate 5G and I see between 800mbps to 1200mbps connection speeds. However I've tried THREE different brands of Wifi AC Dual-Band devices for my Windows gaming rig and while ALL will see both the 2.4G and 5G router wifi connections, any attempt to connect to the 5G will just see it ignored and it connects to the 2.4G. Signal quality for both is 100%.

I even have the 5G set to 40mhz (channels 48-187) and it won't work. If I set up the router to split the 2.4G and 5G as two access points, the 5G won't even show up for my Windows box.

Has anyone run in to this? Is Apple up to shenanigans or am I not understanding how this works? For now my rig is on 2.4G and seeing 144mbps instead of the 800mbps I am seeing on my Apple's 5G connections. :\

Thanks for any help.

 

[drsox]

I have an Air Port Extreme router, the new tall one. Full 2.4/5ghz Dual-Band. Of course all my Apple devices will connect and activate 5G and I see between 800mbps to 1200mbps connection speeds. However I've tried THREE different brands of Wifi AC Dual-Band devices for my Windows gaming rig and while ALL will see both the 2.4G and 5G router wifi connections, any attempt to connect to the 5G will just see it ignored and it connects to the 2.4G. Signal quality for both is 100%.

I even have the 5G set to 40mhz (channels 48-187) and it won't work. If I set up the router to split the 2.4G and 5G as two access points, the 5G won't even show up for my Windows box.

Has anyone run in to this? Is Apple up to shenanigans or am I not understanding how this works? For now my rig is on 2.4G and seeing 144mbps instead of the 800mbps I am seeing on my Apple's 5G connections. :\

Thanks for any help.

Try not setting the 5Ghz to 40mhz. I don't think there is a setting on the AE to do 40Mhz channels. I'm assuming that you have checked all the other stuff - password, SSID etc ?

 

[ThatGuyInLa]

Yeah I have tried all the common things to do. The only variable here is there some hidden thing that needs to be done to the Airport Extreme?

I actually tried a FOURTH AC device in Windows and got the same result. With all these exhibiting the same "problem" there must be something going on with the AE. I don't know why it rejects non-Apple AC products. I don't know if it's a firmware issue or not. If this keeps up, I mind as well go get a $15 WiFiN UDB dongle for the windows box since that's all the speed AE is letting it have. :\

Grrr....

 

[Altemose]

Yeah I have tried all the common things to do. The only variable here is there some hidden thing that needs to be done to the Airport Extreme?

I actually tried a FOURTH AC device in Windows and got the same result. With all these exhibiting the same "problem" there must be something going on with the AE. I don't know why it rejects non-Apple AC products. I don't know if it's a firmware issue or not. If this keeps up, I mind as well go get a $15 WiFiN UDB dongle for the windows box since that's all the speed AE is letting it have. :\

Grrr....

What your saying is that you have tried four different AC grade routers and none of them connect with your Windows PC? When separated by bands does the 5 GHz band show up?

Try leaving the channels set to "Automatic" for both the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz networks. Then choose "Create 5 GHz Network" to separate the SSIDs out. If you cannot see the 5 GHz, then the wireless in the Windows PC must not support it. Apple doesn't use any special protocols that would cause incompatibilities for Windows.

 

[ThatGuyInLa]

What your saying is that you have tried four different AC grade routers and none of them connect with your Windows PC? When separated by bands does the 5 GHz band show up?

No, no. I am using a Air Port Extreme and I've tried four different WiFi AC devices on my Windows box to connect to that Apple router.

 

[Altemose]

No, no. I am using a Air Port Extreme and I've tried four different WiFi AC devices on my Windows box to connect to that Apple router.

Oh so you used four AC grade wireless cards whether it be USB, PCI, etc? Okay do other devices aside from that one PC with four different adapters work? Does using one of those adapters function on a different computer at full speed?

I use an AC Extreme and have no issues with any clients.

 

[ThatGuyInLa]

That's a good idea. I'll plug the remaining AC USB3 dongle I have in to my MBP and see what it does.

 

[Altemose]

That's a good idea. I'll plug the remaining AC USB3 dongle I have in to my MBP and see what it does.

Just make sure it has support for OS X and you install the latest driver. It can be an issue with the network config on the PC.