Not Always getting AC speeds with Airport Extreme and New iMac and MacBook Pro

[AndrewMRiv]

I have the newest Airport Extreme, iMac (Late 2013), and MacBook Pro with Retina (Late 2013).

On the first day that I got my MacBook and iMac, the Airport Utility listed them as having AC speeds.

Now they show up as having N speeds.

What could be causing this?

Thank you.

 

[MCAsan]

When you called Apple support, what did they say?

 

[ender78]

I have the newest Airport Extreme, iMac (Late 2013), and MacBook Pro with Retina (Late 2013).

On the first day that I got my MacBook and iMac, the Airport Utility listed them as having AC speeds.

Now they show up as having N speeds.

What could be causing this?

Thank you.

Are you testing from the exact same location? AC will be distance dependant.

 

[AndrewMRiv]

Are you testing from the exact same location? AC will be distance dependant.

Yes, they are in the same location (my garage). Your post makes sense since this is a tad far away from the Airport Extreme.

Maybe it is sometimes a bit out of reach. Funny that currently my iMac and MacBook are both together in the same area and the iMac has AC speeds while the MacBook just has N.

Thank you for nice response.

 

[ender78]

Yes, they are in the same location (my garage). Your post makes sense since this is a tad far away from the Airport Extreme.

Maybe it is sometimes a bit out of reach. Funny that currently my iMac and MacBook are both together in the same area and the iMac has AC speeds while the MacBook just has N.

Thank you for nice response.

A few inches can make a big difference I would assume that the antenna and natural characteristics for amplification of each machine and/or antenna placement can make a difference in two machines sitting side by side.

 

[NewbieCanada]

Are you connecting at 2.4 GHz or 5.0? You only get AC speeds at 5.0

To try to make sure you always connect at AC do the following:

1. In AirPort Utility set a separate name for your 5.0 GHz network.

2. In Network Preferences, drag your 5 GHz network to the top of your preferred list.

 

[Altemose]

Your Mac and your Extreme will perform a handshake to connect. This will determine the best possible signal/speed ratio. It is better to provide 300 Mbps transfer rate (N-Speed) than to struggle to provide AC speed. I recommend keeping the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz one SSID and just letting the router do the work.

The reason you see speeds dropping back to N is due to the fact that 5 GHz bands are easily decreased by walls and other matter in between. If you were to position the MBP near the router it would perform a handshake to allow for the MBP to renegotiate what band it connects to and at what transmit rate. On my roaming network at school, devices jump between access points, bands, and transmit rates rather frequently. This is all while never losing connection. This ensures that the fastest possible method is used.