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MBP 13 2009 + WNDR3700 wifi problem

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davo2107

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 12, 2011
5
0
Hi, I recently purchased a Netgear WNDR3700 Dual Band router for my mid '09 MBP 13. everything was fine after setup, tested on 5ghz band and was abole to to internet speedtest at ~100mbps. My issue is that where I use the laptop most, the 5ghz band struggles to reach. So I switched over to the 2.4ghz band and my speeds seem to be capped at ~22mbps. Range is not a problem, I get full strength signal and the speed is a solid 22mbps, it shoots straight up to 22-23mbps and looks like it is trying to break through that barrier but cannot.

I have tested multiple setting in the router, different channels etc. I have installed ddwrt as recommended by some people.

I actually thought the router may be faulty so i took it to the place of purchase and got it exchanged...same issue with the new on.

I have tested the 2.4ghz band on some windows laptops and they seem to be able to get ~65-75 so it seems its the mac and not the router. I proceeded to install win7 in bootcamp, and tested, i got ~60mpbs (before installing the bootcamp drivers). Once I installed bootcamp drivers the speeds capped at 22mpbs again.

I am getting quite frustrated by it. I bought the router for streaming HD movies to my mac, and get the most out of my new broadband speeds.

If anyone has any suggestions or has a solution to my problem it would be greatly appreciated. If you need me to give any more info please let me know.

Thanks.

(sorry for the long post)
 
blueroom said:
If you have any 2.4GHz G WiFi gear on the network it will slow down to G.
Click to expand...

Thanks, however the issue is still present when I set the 2.4G band to 'N' Only. It also doesn't explain how the windows machines can achieve 60+mbps in mixed mode...
 
use a utility (the only one I can think of is windows only) to make sure there is no interference on your channel. I'm not sure interference could cause this much change, but it's possible.

Are you talking mbps (megabits per second) or MB/s (megabites per second?)
 
Um.... I'm jealous of your internet speed!!! If you want the full speed out of that connection, you need a CAT-5e cable to your laptop!!! Wireless just isn't that robust. Or another 5ghz access point, but that's still not as fast as CAT cable.

It sounds like your router is using a normal 2.4thz channel and a double-wide 5ghz, which would be correct. You shouldn't run double-width at 2.4, as there's just not enough spectrum.
 
BiggAW said:
Um.... I'm jealous of your internet speed!!! If you want the full speed out of that connection, you need a CAT-5e cable to your laptop!!! Wireless just isn't that robust. Or another 5ghz access point, but that's still not as fast as CAT cable.

It sounds like your router is using a normal 2.4thz channel and a double-wide 5ghz, which would be correct. You shouldn't run double-width at 2.4, as there's just not enough spectrum.
Click to expand...

It sounds like he's talking about just mbps, not MB/s... if that's the case, it's not that fast. that's a standard kind of speed in Austin... not even the fastest you can get. and I can get 25mbps easy with wifi. Keep in mind that's only like 2.4 MB/s
 
GuitarG20 said:
It sounds like he's talking about just mbps, not MB/s... if that's the case, it's not that fast. that's a standard kind of speed in Austin... not even the fastest you can get. and I can get 25mbps easy with wifi. Keep in mind that's only like 2.4 MB/s
Click to expand...

Not to troll or anything but its actually more like 3.1 MB/s (1MB=8Mbs)

anyways, though I don't know how to permanently fix your problem, for the time being you could set up QoS for your media streaming, that would temporarily fix choppiness/lagging
 
I am talking megabits per second. My Connection is 100Mbit/s (~12MBytes/s). I just find it strange that any other computer on the 2.4GHz band can achieve ~70Mbit/s download speed but my mac caps at 23. On the 5GHz band I can get the full 100Mbit/s but this is only useful if i am within 15 feet of the router. After that it will not connect.

Oh and dont be jealous, whilst the download speed is good, my ISP is horrible when it comes to Upload speeds. Upload Max is ~2Mbit/s.
 
davo2107 said:
I am talking megabits per second. My Connection is 100Mbit/s (~12MBytes/s). I just find it strange that any other computer on the 2.4GHz band can achieve ~70Mbit/s download speed but my mac caps at 23. On the 5GHz band I can get the full 100Mbit/s but this is only useful if i am within 15 feet of the router. After that it will not connect.

Oh and dont be jealous, whilst the download speed is good, my ISP is horrible when it comes to Upload speeds. Upload Max is ~2Mbit/s.
Click to expand...

I guess everything's bigger in Texas. Sounds like compatibility gremlins. Wifi is supposed to all be the same, but it isn't. We have older Macbooks and a newer Dell and MBP, and the older machines won't run on the WNDR3700, but the newer Dell doesn't like the older Linksys G router. Go figure. We've only got 8/2 coming into the house, and mostly wired, so I don't worry about speed too much.
 
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