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Wireless - N/G speed issues

sou1 so1di3r

sou1 so1di3r

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 26, 2008
779
13
Denver, CO
I have a linksys wireless N home router.

It is set to send out a mixed signal. (b/g/n)

So I open up my new MacBook today, and set it up, everything works easily, I have no security on my router cuz we live in the middle of a bunch of old rich people, and I have full signal. Using the N, I'm excited for fast speeds and such....

well, I start downloading some updates and I notice it is really slow.
Maybe it's because I'm upstairs?

No.

I check my speed. My down is capped at 1.5 and my up is 1.5.... wtf?

I run donwstairs and check my old Dell PC, 10+ down and 1.5 up.
Then I turn on my brothers 2 year old MacBook, before they had wireless N, and he is getting the same speeds on G.

So I change my router to output only a B/G mixed signal. And now I get the 10+ speeds.


So my question is.......... wtf?

I invested in this wireless N router being promised wider range and faster speeds, and so far all I have gotten is 10X slower speeds.

Is something messed up?
 
Are you on DSL or cable?

DSL is not a shared connection but cable is. Maybe those grey hairs are web-hogs.

The N connection is only as good as your ISP throughput. Try a broadband test site to test your access.

www.speedtest.net/
 
What?

I have Comcast Cable.


That is the site I used to test my speeds earlier.

Whenever I enable wireless N signal on my router, my speeds on my macbook are 1.5mb max, but when I only enable b/g the speeds are 10+
 
Ok, what Linksys router do you have?

When this Linksys is in b/g/n mode, on your MacBook, hold down the option key and click on the Airport icon in the menu bar. You'll see extended information.

When connected via n, what is the Channel, RSSI, and Transmit Rates?

Have you tried putting the Linksys in an n-only mode?

-Kevin
 
kbmb said:
Ok, what Linksys router do you have?

When this Linksys is in b/g/n mode, on your MacBook, hold down the option key and click on the Airport icon in the menu bar. You'll see extended information.

When connected via n, what is the Channel, RSSI, and Transmit Rates?

Have you tried putting the Linksys in an n-only mode?

-Kevin
Click to expand...

I have the WRT150N

I tried it in N only mode yesterday and I got the same speeds.

I'll do that and see what I get.

In N only:

Channel - 4
RSSI - 82
Transmit Rate - 52........ (when it is mixed b/g/n this is 26)

In b/g everything was the same except transmit rate is 48...... but I get 10+ down, as opposed to N is 1.5 down
 
iPhil said:
wifi signals do degrade over distance/walls etc..
Click to expand...

My understanding about N was that it does degrade very quickly over distance, but not in such a way that it starts to perform worse than G. I have not used it much though.

I don't know how to check it, but is your 802.11n running at 5GHz or 2.4? The reason I ask is that if it's running at 5GHz, you're dropping back to 2.4 when you make a 802.11g connection; is it possible that you have some passive (materials) or active source of RFI at 5GHz?
 
sou1 so1di3r said:
I have the WRT150N

I tried it in N only mode yesterday and I got the same speeds.

I'll do that and see what I get.

In N only:

Channel - 4
RSSI - 82
Transmit Rate - 52........ (when it is mixed b/g/n this is 26)

In b/g everything was the same except transmit rate is 48...... but I get 10+ down, as opposed to N is 1.5 down
Click to expand...

The speed decrease is odd because, lets be real here, even a crappy Wifi connection will usually be faster than what your Cable connection can provide.

Even 26 Mbps is faster than your 10 Mbps cable connection.

Open up Network Utility and see what that lists as the Link Speed (although that should match the Airport menu).

After some Google searches, some people seem to get better connections if they DO setup a WPA password. Maybe you can try that and see if that makes a difference.

-Kevin
 
mkrishnan said:
My understanding about N was that it does degrade very quickly over distance, but not in such a way that it starts to perform worse than G. I have not used it much though.

I don't know how to check it, but is your 802.11n running at 5GHz or 2.4? The reason I ask is that if it's running at 5GHz, you're dropping back to 2.4 when you make a 802.11g connection; is it possible that you have some passive (materials) or active source of RFI at 5GHz?
Click to expand...

The wireless N is set to run at 20MHz and the other option it can be set at is 40MHz.


I am upstairs, but I have a full signal either way. I mean I guess I can bring my laptop downstairs, but I don't see it making a difference when G is blazing fast and N is DSL slow.

I don't know how to check the network speed in airport utility....

I guess I can try putting on a WPA password.
 
sou1 so1di3r said:
The wireless N is set to run at 20MHz and the other option it can be set at is 40MHz.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, I have no idea what this means or what question it answers, but it isn't the answer you're looking for for my question. ;) No wireless router works at 20MHz or 40MHz. That's waaaaay outside the spectrum allocated to Wifi. The right answer is one of the two options I presented -- 2.4GHz or 5GHz, or possibly mixed mode (both). Your router *must* be broadcasting its signal at one or both of those frequencies.
 
mkrishnan said:
Hmmm, I have no idea what this means or what question it answers, but it isn't the answer you're looking for for my question. ;) No wireless router works at 20MHz or 40MHz. That's waaaaay outside the spectrum allocated to Wifi. The right answer is one of the two options I presented -- 2.4GHz or 5GHz, or possibly mixed mode (both). Your router *must* be broadcasting its signal at one or both of those frequencies.
Click to expand...

 
Ahhh, that's the bandwidth, not the frequency. Look two items below the one you selected, at the one that says that you're using 2.4GHz. ;) So yeah, that's probably not the issue. You could try widening out to the 40MHz bandwidth, I guess, but if you're already at 2.4, then RFI is probably not your issue, since it would affect g just like it affects n....
 
mkrishnan said:
Ahhh, that's the bandwidth, not the frequency. Look two items below the one you selected, at the one that says that you're using 2.4GHz. ;) So yeah, that's probably not the issue. You could try widening out to the 40MHz bandwidth, I guess, but if you're already at 2.4, then RFI is probably not your issue, since it would affect g just like it affects n....
Click to expand...

Sorry I'm retarded :eek:


And I already tried the 40Mhz with no avail:(
 
NO, that's very odd indeed. I guess the obvious but slightly frustrating answer is that if you can match your wired PC's download speeds at 802.11g, then you don't really need an n network. :eek:

But I did some quick googling myself, because now you have me intrigued... :p

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/23896-43-wireless-slower-wireless

It doesn't seem like the issue is fully resolved in that thread (I found it searching just for "n slower than g" :D but it happens to be about the same router you have), but there are some interesting things in there about situations that will slow down an N network for unclear reasons, like what you are doing for encryption. Cheers -- worth a read anyways.
 
mkrishnan said:
NO, that's very odd indeed. I guess the obvious but slightly frustrating answer is that if you can match your wired PC's download speeds at 802.11g, then you don't really need an n network. :eek:

But I did some quick googling myself, because now you have me intrigued... :p

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/23896-43-wireless-slower-wireless

It doesn't seem like the issue is fully resolved in that thread (I found it searching just for "n slower than g" :D but it happens to be about the same router you have), but there are some interesting things in there about situations that will slow down an N network for unclear reasons, like what you are doing for encryption. Cheers -- worth a read anyways.
Click to expand...


So what, Is this just an unsolveable problem?

:(

Is this something wrong with my Mac? Or my router?

Are all wireless N signals slow or is it just the linksys one?

I'm mad I sold my old G router and forked over money for this N one because I knew I was getting a new macbook and I was really excited.
:(:(:(
 
sou1 so1di3r said:
well my macbook is brand new as of yesterday, and I don't know how to update the firmware on the router.
Click to expand...

10.5.3 then I assume. Go to Linksys.com and find the product page for your router. There should be a link for firmware (probably on the right hand side) along with data sheet, etc. There should be instructions there. Not sure if that will fix, but it's worth a shot.
 
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