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Airport Extreme 5GHz vs. 2.4 GHz...Big Difference...But

M

MT0227

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 16, 2009
340
1
...is it enough??

Prior to purchasing the iPad I had my network at 2.4GHz (WPA2 encryption) so I was able to get a WiFi hook up on my iPhone. Since I purchased the iPad I don't have much need for WiFi on the iPhone in my home so I switched my Airport Extreme settings to 5GHz.

At 2.4 GHz I was getting stable readings:

iPad (Signal | Noise | Rate) -58 | -96 | 39
Mac Book Pro (Signal | Noise | Rate) -48 | -90 | 130

Notice that my Mac Book Pro connected at a Rate of 3.3x that of the iPad, not sure this makes much sense given I have both of them together in the same room, attached to the same access point.

At 5.0 GHz (WPA2 encryption) I'm now getting:

iPad (Signal | Noise | Rate) -24 | -95 | 150
Mac Book Pro (Signal | Noise | Rate) -58 | -90 | 300

Significant improvement on the iPad all around.

Mac Book Pro Rate seems to be very erratic and is constantly changing, ranging from 13 - 300

I'm still curious why the iPad is not at a Rate equal to, or close to the Mac Book Pro.

Thoughts??


***EDIT: I turned off my iPad, now my Mac Book Pro settled in at a Rate of 162, with some bumps up to 243...much more stable. I guess the MBP and the iPad don't play nicely in the WiFi sandbox
 
It's funny b/c I had an Extreme that went bad so the Apple Store replaced it with a newer dual band and since then my iPhone won't connect unless I am right next to it and I notice my iPad drop to 1, 2, or 3 bars when in the past both my iPhone and MacBook got full signal anywhere in the house. I am curious if messing with my settings will increase my iPad performance. I wouldn't really care if my iPhone lost connectivity at home b/c like you said I don't really need it.
 
I have one of the first AirPort Extremes (single band)...so I went to a local big box store, bought a Belkin 802.11 b/g router, and set up two wireless networks so that I could run my APX at 5 Ghz 802.11N.
 
While not exactly related to your problem. It may help to get higher speed across the board.

The best thing you can do is manually change the channels and test them. Turn it off automatic and test every single one, you will probably be pleasantly surprised.
I use the 2.4 b/g compatible because I have a stable of wireless devices that requires it and I was having trouble with slow speeds. Was getting like 3mbps on the iPad, now getting 9-13 on average.
About three of my channels were near this while the rest sucked.
Chances are your neighbors aren't doing this also, which could add to your benefits in channel changing.

Btw I'm not talking about 2.4 or 5 I'm talking about the 12 channels it uses on either one. Default is set to automatic but it wasn't giving me the best results.
 
the current model does simultaneous dual band...have it both ways:)
 
How do you change settings on the Airport Extreme? I'm not sure if I'm using 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz.
 
Peanut207 said:
How do you change settings on the Airport Extreme? I'm not sure if I'm using 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz.
Click to expand...

Open Airport Utility > Click on the Extreme (left pane) > Click on AirPort (upper left) > go to Wireless > Radio Mode
 
msavwah said:
While not exactly related to your problem. It may help to get higher speed across the board.

The best thing you can do is manually change the channels and test them. Turn it off automatic and test every single one, you will probably be pleasantly surprised.
I use the 2.4 b/g compatible because I have a stable of wireless devices that requires it and I was having trouble with slow speeds. Was getting like 3mbps on the iPad, now getting 9-13 on average.
About three of my channels were near this while the rest sucked.
Chances are your neighbors aren't doing this also, which could add to your benefits in channel changing.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I tried every channel at 2.4 GHz and also used iStumbler to see which channels were not used or used least. I did not see much difference at all.
 
Holy crap - I just switched my Airport Extreme to 802.11n (5ghz) from the lowest setting. I really notice a speed difference! My Lord!

Why didn't I know this before! My MacBook Pro is BLAZING now. And the iPad is 'n' capable too right? This is great!!!
 
IrishTiger said:
Holy crap - I just switched my Airport Extreme to 802.11n (5ghz) from the lowest setting. I really notice a speed difference! My Lord!

Why didn't I know this before! My MacBook Pro is BLAZING now. And the iPad is 'n' capable too right? This is great!!!
Click to expand...

Wow I'm just so amazed I have to post again. I just feel so stupid as I've had my AE for 2 years now. I don't understand why I haven't figured this out!!! Incredible!!! HUGE DIFFERENCE.
 
To the OP: do you have the dual-band Airport Extreme? I have mine set up in dual band mode and my iPad still only connects at 39, even if I force it into Wireless N mode. In another thread, someone said that 39 was the highest the first-gen Airport Extreme (dual band) was able to connect to the iPad. Now I'm confused! My iMac and Macbook connect at 100+ but my iPad only connects at 39 even right next to the router. I haven't had any WIFI issues, but I'd sure like the faster speeds if it is possible with my AE model.

And unfortunately, I still need to have Wireless-G running for quite a few devices (Nintendo Wii, PS3, iPhone, Bluray player, etc)...
 
Everyone should note that the "rate" that is reported by the Airport Utility doesn't really mean too much. It's just an estimate put out by the driver as to what it thinks it can do -- it's not an actual measurement of the throughput between the two devices.

Furthermore, in the 5GHz band there is a big transmission power difference between the lower and upper channels of the Airport Extreme. In fact, it's been reported that the lower channels broadcast at only 1/20th the power of what is available on the upper channels. Of course, with greater power comes the possibility of greater noise so there is no guarantee that the upper channels will always work better (and in any case, the upper bands are also used by 5GHz cordless phones). Also, on many wireless routers you need to use WPA2 security (or no security at all) if you want the maximum throughput over 802.11n (using the older WEP security may actually slow the router down by a rather significant amount).

Here are some good links that discuss setup for 802.11n:

http://db.tidbits.com/article/10849?print_version=1

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30664/228/
 
fpnc said:
Everyone should note that the "rate" that is reported by the Airport Utility doesn't really mean too much. It's just an estimate put out by the driver as to what it thinks it can do -- it's not an actual measurement of the throughput between the two devices.

Furthermore, in the 5GHz band there is a big transmission power difference between the lower and upper channels of the Airport Extreme. In fact, it's been reported that the lower channels broadcast at only 1/20th the power of what is available on the upper channels. Of course, with greater power comes the possibility of greater noise so there is no guarantee that the upper channels will always work better (and in any case, the upper bands are also used by 5GHz cordless phones). Also, on many wireless routers you need to use WPA2 security (or no security at all) if you want the maximum throughput over 802.11n (using the older WEP security may actually slow the router down by a rather significant amount).

Here are some good links that discuss setup for 802.11n:

http://db.tidbits.com/article/10849?print_version=1

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30664/228/
Click to expand...

Thanks! I was very frustrated by my dual band AE and 5GHz n performance. I had used automatic channel selection thinking it was "smart" and since it picked 149, which was supposed to be the highest power. The first link suggested trying a lower channel, so I switched to 36.

Wow - I can finally connect to the 5ghz network from a computer that is 2 rooms away and the speed is much better than my 2.4 g network. I need to now check the ipad's performance
 
dokindo said:
Thanks! I was very frustrated by my dual band AE and 5GHz n performance. I had used automatic channel selection thinking it was "smart" and since it picked 149, which was supposed to be the highest power. The first link suggested trying a lower channel, so I switched to 36.

Wow - I can finally connect to the 5ghz network from a computer that is 2 rooms away and the speed is much better than my 2.4 g network. I need to now check the ipad's performance
Click to expand...

Mine picked 149 too, I'll need to play around when I get home from work.
 
Alright - so here's the deal. I had to switch back to my old setting (the first one under 2.4ghz) because my iMac won't surf (it's a PowerPC G4 - but I could hardwire it to the AE), and more importantly my Roku box for Netflix won't work. Even though it still shows 802.11n, it's not nearly as fast as the last option I chose. Is there anything I can do about this? Here's a screen shot.

Airport.jpg
 
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