Perhaps I am being stupid...802.11ac questions

[Event_Horizon]

So last week I go out and buy an Asus RT-AC66U as my old Trendnet bit the dust.

I have been extremely happy with its 2.45ghz n performance, getting faster, more consistent and better range.

Yesterday I went out and purchased the matching USB-AC53 offering AC1200 or 867mbps on 5ghz and 300mbps on 2.45ghz.

Today I am royally confused!!!

With the adapter slotted in to an empty usb slot in my laptop I can connect to the router via 2.45ghz or 5ghz.

So obviously if I connect to the router via the 2.45ghz band I will be using 802.11n and as the adapter is two stream I can expect a maximum rate of 300mbps.

My question is if I connect to the router via 5ghz am I connecting via 802.11ac automatically? if so what do I need to tweak the 802.11ac connection to get my maximum 867mbps. Right now Inssider is only showing 450mbps as maximum rate on 5ghz band.

What am I missing here?

Be gentle with me, its not everyday I swap out routers and this is my first dual band router.

 

[Mark Uhde]

I have no idea, but just a guess, does InSSIDer know about 802.11ac yet? It's possibly reporting 450mbps as the max since it's 3 spatial streams, it doesn't know 802.11AC allows more channels bonded. Just a thought, I don't use InSSIDer.

 

[Event_Horizon]

Thanks Mark. I just want to understand if I am connected using the 802.11ac protocol, or the 5ghz 802.11n protocol. New to this dual band stuff, especially when you factor in the fact that 5ghz band can work with 802.11n and 802,11ac protocols....

 

[thiggins]

An 802.11ac client will operate at 802.11ac rates when it connects to an 802.11ac router on the 5 GHz band ONLY. The router must also be set to 80 MHz bandwidth mode and also allow 802.11a/ac

AC routers use 802.11n in the 2.4 GHz band. With the 2x2 adapter you have, you will get a maximum 300Mbps link rate on 2.4GHz as you noted.

 

[Event_Horizon]

An 802.11ac client will operate at 802.11ac rates when it connects to an 802.11ac router on the 5 GHz band ONLY. The router must also be set to 80 MHz bandwidth mode and also allow 802.11a/ac

AC routers use 802.11n in the 2.4 GHz band. With the 2x2 adapter you have, you will get a maximum 300Mbps link rate on 2.4GHz as you noted.

Thanks Tim, appreciate the follow up.

So just to confirm if I connect my AC 1200 USB adapter to the AC 1750 router on the 5Ghz band it will be at 802.11ac protocol assuming that I have set the bandwidth at 80 and set the mode to auto (a/ac)...

Cheers,

 

[thiggins]

Thanks Tim, appreciate the follow up.

So just to confirm if I connect my AC 1200 USB adapter to the AC 1750 router on the 5Ghz band it will be at 802.11ac protocol assuming that I have set the bandwidth at 80 and set the mode to auto (a/ac)...,

Yes. That is what I said.