802.11ac question

[dieter]

I have a Thinkpad t520 laptop with 802.11n, which realizes about 50Mbps with speedtest thru my DIR 655. If I get a newer 802.11ac router (such as a Netgear AC1900 router), will the down/up performance improve greatly (not having AC capability in the laptop)?

If it will improve, how much?

Thanks much,
Dieter

 

[Cloud200]

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...oes-an-ac-router-improve-n-device-performance
Dont take it as gospel though.
Every RF environment is different.

 

[dieter]

I have read the article twice, and it would appear that using 5Mhz, there are great improvements. But, does my Thinkpad N client use 5Mhz? Is this something that happens automatically when using an AC router? How do I find this out?

 

[pete y testing]

I have a Thinkpad t520 laptop with 802.11n, which realizes about 50Mbps with speedtest thru my DIR 655.

so the question is when you plug into the 655 via ethernet instead of wifi what speeds do you get

what type of broadband do you have and what are the plan speeds you are on

also how far are you away from the 655 when testing with wifi ?

all questions that need to be answered before we could suggest if any improvement can be gained

pete

 

[dieter]

Good point. At this time I get about 60Mbps, but I want to upgrade my Comcast WAN connection to double that speed.

My question really is regarding how AC works as it relates to my N client.

Can my N client transmit at 5Mhz, and/or 2.4Mhz. If I get a AC router which communicates at 2.4 and 5 Mhz, will my N client work with the 5 Mhz part of a new router?

I'm not sure how to find that out.

 

[ColinTaylor]

You'll have to find out the specific make and model number of your network adapter. All of the ones I've seen advertised for your Thinkpad were 2.4GHz only, but yours may be different.

If it is 2.4GHz-only then having a 5GHz router won't help you. That said, your existing router supports link speeds up to 300Mbps. If your laptop has 2 antennas then it is also 300Mbps capable. With one antenna the maximum link speed would be 150Mbps. Real-world throughput is probably about half the link speed, depending on distance.

 

[dieter]

Thanks much. I will try to find the specs for my network adapter.

 

[ColinTaylor]

P.S. Forgot to mention... The 300 and 150 Mbps speeds I referred to assume you're using a 40MHz channel. If you're using 20MHz the speeds will be halved (144.4 and 72.2).

 

[dieter]

This is what my T520 has:
The Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6205 is a dual-band (2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz), 2x2, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi wireless adapter that delivers up to 300 Mbps of bandwidth, up to 2x the range, and more consistent connectivity.

But I think I need to find if both frequencies are actually used.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Well that looks good.

I'm not sure what you mean by "both frequencies are actually used". You won't be able to use 2.4GHz and 5GHz on the laptop at the same time.

Your DIR 655 is 2.4GHz only so at close range you should be getting a link speed of either 144.4Mbps or 300Mbps. You can check it on the adapters "Status" tab.

 

[dieter]

From my LR to the basement (where the 655 is), the RATE shown is 240Mbps while running speed test. With the laptop next to the 655, the speed is 300Mbps. So I guess my laptop is ready for an increased WAN speed, and a new AC router.

I have used the SNB site to check out some good AC routers. However, after reading some user reviews (on Amazone, etc.), most of them appear not to be very reliable (incl. Netgear, Linksys, and DLink). On top of that, many of these new routers do not have many of the config options the 655 has (such as QoS, WAN Access scheduling, etc). I have found two which come close, but they also have a low reliability rating. So what to do?
The DIR655 has been rock solid for the many years I've owned it...

Thanks very much for your help.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Well your original question was "If I get a newer 802.11ac router will the down/up performance improve greatly".

I think you have demonstrated that you are currently restrained by your WAN speed, not the router or the laptop. I would first increase your WAN speed and then re-test your download/upload performance. I think you'll find that your current laptop and router are still more than capable of handling 120Mbps.