Wireless set to 300Mbps but laptops only get 150Mbps.

[doliv]

Wireless is set to 300Mbps but laptops only get 150Mbps.

Hi,

Because my router don't has wireless, i have bought a TP-Link TL-WA830RE to be my access point in order to have wireless at home.

But after all is setup and configurated on the access point to 300Mbps, when looking at both my laptops wireless network speed its says 150Mbps. Both the laptops are Asus K55VM and are located just 3 metters away from the access point.

So my question is why don't i get on the laptops 300Mbps speed?

Its some setting that i must change on the access point or the problem is from my laptops that don't support 300Mbps?

Any advice its very appreciate. I really need help on this problem.

-----
Bellow i leave you the main wireless settings defined on the access point:
Channel: 1
Mode: Only N
Channel With: 40Mhz
Max Tx Rate: 300Mbps
-----

Thanks

 

[Pierino]

What is the wifi card in the laptops?

 

[doliv]

What is the wifi card in the laptops?

Hi Pierino,

Its the one build in the laptops. Sorry but i dont know much about hardware so maybe you can have a look on my laptops Asus K55V specs at: http://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/K55VM/ and tell me if my laptops support 300Mbps.

It would be a great help if you can confirm that information for me.

NOTE: Also i want to add to my first post the information that in terms of Wireless security i have setup WPA2 Personal with AES.

Thanks

 

[KGB7]

Hi Pierino,

Its the one build in the laptops. Sorry but i dont know much about hardware so maybe you can have a look on my laptops Asus K55V specs at: http://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/K55VM/ and tell me if my laptops support 300Mbps.

It would be a great help if you can confirm that information for me.

NOTE: Also i want to add to my first post the information that in terms of Wireless security i have setup WPA2 Personal with AES.

Thanks

Your link doesn't provide enough info.

Go in to device manager and find model of the WiFi card. You can google easy steps how to.do so.

 

[theveterans]

You probably have some cheap 1x1 WiFi cards that can only give 150 Mbps due to having 1 spatial stream. Upgrade to a 2x2 WiFi card and you should see your full 300 Mbps speed.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Cheap 150Mbps wifi card. UPGRADE!

 

[doliv]

Your link doesn't provide enough info.

Go in to device manager and find model of the WiFi card. You can google easy steps how to.do so.

Hi,

I went to my laptop (Asus K55VM) devide manager to check my Wireless card information and under network cards it says:

Atheros AR9485WB-EG Wireless Network Adapter

So can someone please help me on this and tell me if the wireless network card build in my laptop supports 300Mbps or just 150Mbps?

Thanks

 

[azazel1024]

1:1 802.11n 2.4GHz only. So 150Mbps max.

 

[KGB7]

Hi,

I went to my laptop (Asus K55VM) devide manager to check my Wireless card information and under network cards it says:

Atheros AR9485WB-EG Wireless Network Adapter

So can someone please help me on this and tell me if the wireless network card build in my laptop supports 300Mbps or just 150Mbps?

Thanks

150 only.

http://www.qca.qualcomm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/AR9485.pdf

 

[stevech]

That speed is fine for a laptop.

Net throughput yield is typically 60% of the indicated WiFi rate, e.g., 0.6 times 150mbps. That is probably faster than your ISP's delivered speed.

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

That speed is fine for a laptop.

Net throughput yield is typically 60% of the indicated WiFi rate, e.g., 0.6 times 150mbps. That is probably faster than your ISP's delivered speed.

That is a huge generalisation considering you don't even know what their planned use for WiFi was.

If it was just for using the Internet then sure, but if they planned to do any file transfer between the laptops or other devices on the LAN then you want the best speed possible.

 

[doliv]

That speed is fine for a laptop.

Net throughput yield is typically 60% of the indicated WiFi rate, e.g., 0.6 times 150mbps. That is probably faster than your ISP's delivered speed.

Hi,

My ISP speed is 50 mbps down and 10mbps up. But the problem is not there as Alex Atkin UK also said.

And i say this mainly because of 2 reasons:

1- 150Mbps is a good speed for 1 or 2 laptops. But imagine i have 5 ot 6 devices including phones, all connected. They will all share the same 150mbps mbps bandwidth. So when dividing 150mbps by 6 devices i get 25mbps per device.

2- In terms of internal access and internal communication inside my network, like for example accsing my server or my external storage disk, i can get better performance having a 300Mbps instead of 150mbps.

I guess my only option is to buy good external wifi usb pen's to connect to my laptops and use them instead of the laptop build in wifi card.

About this, does anyone has advices of good usb wifi pens that i can buy?

Price is really not a problem and i would like to prepare to the future. So i know that wifi technology is getting better so if possible i would like to buy wifi usb pens that can handle more than 300Mbps. Also the usb pen must have a good antenna for me to get a good wifi signal.

So any advices on any specific model or brand that i should buy?

Thanks

 

[RMerlin]

Asus laptops are sometimes upgradable. I upgraded my K53E with an Intel 7260. Check if you can access the wireless card through a trapdoor underneath it.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

Of course you also have to bear in mind that if there are other networks nearby then 40Mhz can actually work out slower than 20Mhz, because your network will be left waiting until every other network is idle before transmitting.

On channel 1 at 40Mhz if any nearby network is actively in use on channels 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 then your network has to wait for a spare time slot before transmitting. At 20Mhz its only if another network is in use on 1,2,3.

I literally found this out to my detriment as when the neighbours got WiFi I had to switch my network back to 20Mhz to get decent performance.

It would still be beneficial to upgrade your WiFi card though as if you can do 2x2 MIMO then you would get similar speeds to now when only using 20Mhz.

 

[doliv]

Of course you also have to bear in mind that if there are other networks nearby then 40Mhz can actually work out slower than 20Mhz, because your network will be left waiting until every other network is idle before transmitting.

Hi Alex Atkin UK,

Thanks for your advice. About using the 40Mhz network, my house is a little isolated and has no houses next to it.

The near house next to mine is at least 200 metters. When opening my laptop and check for available wireless network i can find my own and 2 other from neighbours. On both my neighbours networks the signal i get is weak.

So what do you think about using 40Mhz with this conditions? What will be better to use 20Mhz, 40Mhz or both at the same time?

Thanks

 

[jlake]

Hi Alex Atkin UK,

Thanks for your advice. About using the 40Mhz network, my house is a little isolated and has no houses next to it.

The near house next to mine is at least 200 metters. When opening my laptop and check for available wireless network i can find my own and 2 other from neighbours. On both my neighbours networks the signal i get is weak.

So what do you think about using 40Mhz with this conditions? What will be better to use 20Mhz, 40Mhz or both at the same time?

Thanks

There's hundreds, perhaps thousands of posts about what you're asking. You might want to consider using the search function.

Never use "40 Mhz". You can try using "20/40", but if you have problems, change to "20 Mhz".

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-basics/30664-5-ways-to-fix-slow-80211n-speed

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
All laptops I came across to repair or upgrade for friends and family, they had bare minimum most of them Atheros WiFi card.
Even Asus RoG, MSI gamer GX60, Alienware M17X, etc. amazing!
Makes me think they do that expecting buyers will upgrade right away after buying the laptop. I like Intel 7260AC or 6300.

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

Personally I had better results from an Atheros as my router was also based on Atheros. Generally if you can find out what chipset the router uses then you are more likely to get optimal performance if you use the same in the laptop.

I would have to agree though that the Intel 7260AC may be a good one to try, if your laptop supports swapping out the WiFi card and its mini PCIe. They are REALLY cheap and it leaves you the option to upgrade your WiFi to 802.11ac later if you need even more speed, just make sure it IS the AC model you are getting. You also have to consider you may only have a single antenna in your laptop, I'm not sure how hard it is to fit a second in that case.

As for 20Mhz or 40Mhz, best bet is to just test the different settings yourself. Its just generally considered unfriendly to force yourself onto 40Mhz if that means you are overlapping other networks in the area.

There are no guarantees either way as there can also be other 2.4Ghz appliances in the area (eg video senders) that you cannot tell are broadcasting.

 

[KGB7]

Hi,

My ISP speed is 50 mbps down and 10mbps up. But the problem is not there as Alex Atkin UK also said.

And i say this mainly because of 2 reasons:

1- 150Mbps is a good speed for 1 or 2 laptops. But imagine i have 5 ot 6 devices including phones, all connected. They will all share the same 150mbps mbps bandwidth. So when dividing 150mbps by 6 devices i get 25mbps per device.

2- In terms of internal access and internal communication inside my network, like for example accsing my server or my external storage disk, i can get better performance having a 300Mbps instead of 150mbps.

I guess my only option is to buy good external wifi usb pen's to connect to my laptops and use them instead of the laptop build in wifi card.

About this, does anyone has advices of good usb wifi pens that i can buy?

Price is really not a problem and i would like to prepare to the future. So i know that wifi technology is getting better so if possible i would like to buy wifi usb pens that can handle more than 300Mbps. Also the usb pen must have a good antenna for me to get a good wifi signal.

So any advices on any specific model or brand that i should buy?

Thanks

Your home network is limited by your Access Point, and not by the wifi adapters on laptops and cell phones.

Your Access Point puts out 300mps for all devices on 2.4ghz band.

300mps / 6 = 50mbps for each device on your home LAN network. 50*0.6=30mbps

Now take your ISP speed of 50mbps / 6 = 8.30mbps for each device. 8.30*0.6=5mbps


Wifi Access Point will always be the weak point when dealing with many devices connected to the AP.

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

Your home network is limited by your Access Point, and not by the wifi adapters on laptops and cell phones.

Your Access Point puts out 300mps for all devices on 2.4ghz band.

300mps / 6 = 50mbps for each device on your home LAN network. 50*0.6=30mbps

Now take your ISP speed of 50mbps / 6 = 8.30mbps for each device. 8.30*0.6=5mbps


Wifi Access Point will always be the weak point when dealing with many devices connected to the AP.

I believe the issue is that if clients are connected at slower speeds then they will be transmitting longer for the same file size, thus there is less available network bandwidth overall.

There did used to be issues with slower clients actually preventing faster clients for linking at their top speed but I haven't seen this happen in a long time, I think this was more or less solved with 802.11n equipment that can switch link speeds quickly.