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802.11n

S

sinecurea

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 14, 2006
127
0
Northern Ireland
Hi Folks,
I've recently got an Airport Express Base station.
I'm waiting on a new MBP, I have a Rev1 MBP.

What difference can I expect from the upgrade to 802.11n networking?
What difference have you experienced?

S.
 
sinecurea said:
Hi Folks,
I've recently got an Airport Express Base station.
I'm waiting on a new MBP, I have a Rev1 MBP.

What difference can I expect from the upgrade to 802.11n networking?
What difference have you experienced?

S.
Click to expand...

I haven't experienced wireless-n.

But I guess the difference will depend on a lot of things but it will have a longer destince and a faster speed.

Op. Frequency Data Rate (Typ) Data Rate (Max) Range (Indoor)
2.4 GHz 19 Mbit/s 54 Mbit/s ~35 meters

(Above is 802.11g)

Below is 802.11n

Op. Frequency Data Rate (Typ) Data Rate (Max) Range (Indoor)
5 GHz and/or 2.4 GHz 74 Mbit/s 248 Mbit/s (2 stream) ~70 meters
 
In non technical terms its a lot faster when moving files around ( I have a hard drive attached to my AE)

I get full signal strength on my MBP all around my house, I didn't on my PowerBook but thats hardly a fair test :D
 
Airport Extreme (n) will give you a significantly higher coverage radius than your current Airport Express supplies.

You won't notice any difference in browsing speeds or downloading etc. Only advantage of "n" over any other band is the fact that it is a hell of a lot faster to transfer data over a LAN (i.e. if you transfer data from one computer to another one within your home).

Plus the added features like Bonjour, being able to access an external hard drive remotely over the internet through the Airport Extreme etc.

spammeoff said:
Which sucks a bit I think, it'd be nice to have wireless audio streaming and n wireless in the same package. Are they just being cheap bringing out the Airport Extreme without wireless audio streaming?? Seems it to me.
Click to expand...

That's the role of Apple TV ;)
 
sinecurea said:
Hi Folks,
I've recently got an Airport Express Base station.
I'm waiting on a new MBP, I have a Rev1 MBP.

What difference can I expect from the upgrade to 802.11n networking?
What difference have you experienced?

S.
Click to expand...


Unfortunately you will not get 802.11n speeds on this MacBook Pro. It does not have an 802.11n card inside of it.

Apple.com said:
These Macs have the 802.11n hardware built-in:

MacBook Pro with Intel Core 2 Duo
MacBook with Intel Core 2 Duo
Mac Pro with AirPort Extreme option
iMac with Intel Core 2 Duo (except the 17-inch, 1.83GHz iMac)
Click to expand...

You can still use the Extreme, but only at 802.11a/b/g speeds.

Also if the Extreme is set to broadcast at 802.11n only at 5Ghz you will get up to 300Mbps and up to 300 feet of range. The Extreme has MiMo making this possible.
 
kwood said:
Unfortunately you will not get 802.11n speeds on this MacBook Pro. It does not have an 802.11n card inside of it.



You can still use the Extreme, but only at 802.11a/b/g speeds.

Also if the Extreme is set to broadcast at 802.11n only at 5Ghz you will get up to 300Mbps and up to 300 feet of range. The Extreme has MiMo making this possible.
Click to expand...

the OP said hes waiting on a new mbp... or waiting to buy one.. one or the other
 
Yeah, I've ordered a new MBP. It's the base station, I'm talking about.
I know everything's n compatible!
I as just looking for info on speeds :)
I think video streaming will be a good test when I get it.
 
DoFoT9 said:
the OP said hes waiting on a new mbp... or waiting to buy one.. one or the other
Click to expand...

Ah I see now, pesky little comma. Even still, with a new MacBook Pro and this revision 1 MacBook Pro, if they are both on the same network the new one will only get 130Mbps maximum. The only way to get 300Mbps is to set the Extreme to 802.11n only at 5Ghz.
 
kwood said:
Unfortunately you will not get 802.11n speeds on this MacBook Pro. It does not have an 802.11n card inside of it.

You can still use the Extreme, but only at 802.11a/b/g speeds.
Click to expand...

Taken from apple website, spec for Macbook Pro:
Communications

* Built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking (based on IEEE 802.11n draft...
 
Well this is my experience so far. I had a D-Link 624 which is a standard 'g' band router but with all the issues I was having with the recent 10.4.10 update decided to get the Apple Extreme Base Station. Using iStumbler my Black MacBook reported a signal strength of approx. 70-72% with a direct line distance to the D-Link router of about 18 feet. Changing over to the AEBS I expected great things like the signal strength to hit 90%+... to find iStumbler still reports a signal strength of around 70-73%. Even setting the AEBS to the solo 'n' 5G mode made no difference to signal strength, so I suspect something isn't right somewhere. And yes, I have rebooted the MacBook and the router but it's made no difference. At least, touch wood, the wireless issues like connection losses I was having with the D-Link have disappeared with the AEBS, but I'm somewhat disappointed with the rest of its performance.
 
what is a good signal to noise ratio, and what would be a good D/L speed from the internet when downloading any type of large file

Im clocking using iStat menu bar app.

say im only D/L'ing at 1.35Mps

I have airport extreme
macbook pro 802.11g

also, using an iStat widget, signal strenght at 5 feet from the Extreme is 62% dont really know how reliable this app is or what the numbers represent.
 
loneshark said:
what is a good signal to noise ratio, and what would be a good D/L speed from the internet when downloading any type of large file

Im clocking using iStat menu bar app.

say im only D/L'ing at 1.35Mps

I have airport extreme
macbook pro 802.11g

also, using an iStat widget, signal strenght at 5 feet from the Extreme is 62% dont really know how reliable this app is or what the numbers represent.
Click to expand...

well download speed depends on your internet speed connection. i find that really close to the router gives bad signals. but like 20feet u get way good signals.istat is a very very reliable app. i trust it with my life! not sure about signal to noise ratio tho
 
loneshark said:
what is a good signal to noise ratio, and what would be a good D/L speed from the internet when downloading any type of large file
...
also, using an iStat widget, signal strenght at 5 feet from the Extreme is 62% dont really know how reliable this app is or what the numbers represent.
Click to expand...

Putting wireless signal strength into a percentage is not very accurate and can be misleading. Does iStat or anything else on Macs give you an option of displaying signal strength and noise in dBm? Good signal strength off the top of my head is probably around -55dBm (higher is even better) to -75dBm with noise around -95 dBm or lower.
 
I suppose I'm a bit stupid, but I have a new Airport Extreme and I have a year old Airport Express. I have the AEBS downstairs somewhat close to a 5.3GHz phone and I have my MBP latest revision upstairs. I also connected my Airport Express to my speakers in the living room and had it connect to my AEBS wireless network. Does that make the whole network G only? I would rather my whole network be only N at 5GHz but would that interfere more with the phone? Also, is there a way to make my Express have AirTunes without becoming a range extender? Currently, I get full reception anywhere in the house and I use Time Machine with a Hard Drive connected to the AEBS but I don't know if I'm experiencing G or N transfer rates. Help?
 
@ jtrwallace.... yeap if u have the express that will make ur network only G, because they are (as of yet) incompatible with N as they dont have an N card. sorry :(
 
i have 3 wireless clients runnig off the router

first has a signal of-42 noise -92 rate 5
next has a signal of-17 noise -94 rate 48
last has a signal of -59 noise -95 rate 54

good or bad ???
 
I couldn't find where to look up if my MBP has n or not. Does this have that info:

Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x87)

Can you tell from that if it has n? I'd love to know cause I'll be purchasing a router in August or September and would like the best my comp can handle.
 
polycat33 said:
I couldn't find where to look up if my MBP has n or not. Does this have that info:

Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x87)

Can you tell from that if it has n? I'd love to know cause I'll be purchasing a router in August or September and would like the best my comp can handle.
Click to expand...

wat is your computer??? mbp?? mb? imac?? u can tell in "network utility" spotlight it, its under Utilities in applications.. itl tell you in the 1st tab.
 
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