Trying to get N to work in Dell laptop

[popl]

Hi,
I'm a newbie with very little knowledge of networking. I have an older Dell latitude D820 laptop that I'm using in a wireless network to access the internet. The laptop came with Dell Wlan wireless 1390 mini card that runs on the 802.11 a/g/h. I've disabled the a/a so it's set to use the h but the speed was very slow. I purchased the AirStation Nfiniti WLI-UC-G300N V1 with the hopes of getting faster throughput. The speed has gone up to 130 Mhz per the adapter driver, but the adapter is capable of using the N standard which I think should be 300 Mhz (I think??).
I changed the adapter software to use the 40 Mhz from the 20 Mhz but the link rate has not changed. I am using a Hitron CGN3 router that came from my cable company that is set to use both 2.4 and 5 Ghz bands. I have a Nexus 10 tablet that sees both bands and has good throughput.

How do I get my AirStation adapter to use the N standard?

 

[thiggins]

The Dell 1390 card supports only 802.11b/g.
If you are seeing 130 Mbps link rate with the Buffalo adapter, you are using 802.11n. 802.11g would max out at 54 Mbps.

To get 300 Mbps link rate you would need very strong signal and 40 MHz mode enabled on both the router and card. But you should leave things at 20 MHz bandwidth mode. You won't gain much throughput unless the client and router are very close together. And if you are in an area with a lot of wireless networks, competition with those networks will reduce performance for both you and them with 40 MHz mode.

 

[sfx2000]

If you want to run 40Mhz mode on Buffalo WiFi adapters, it's not automatic - it defaults to narrow channels.

There's a app installed with the driver kit (Client Manager CD), called “AirStation Bandwidth 20 or 40MHz Select Tool” - use it to toggle on 40Mhz (300Mbps mode).

 

[popl]

Thanks for your help, I think the signal is not strong enough. I have the 40 MHz mode enabled and I am still getting 130 Mbps.