Wireless N Speed

[Liam89]

Hi,
Was looking for a bit of help regarding my wifi speed,
I have the 2504n from sky and a wireless n adapter in my laptop,
But when i look into the adapter properties in network centre it only shows as 65.0mbps,
When i run inssider it shows as 144mbps,
So was wondering what wifi speed am i actually getting.
Thanks for any help.

[Exdee]

Inssider shows the maximum broadcast rate whereas the adapter properties would show the connection rate. Try moving close to the router and see if it goes up to 144MB.

[Liam89]

I am sat right next to my router at the moment and its still showing 144 on inssider and 65 on the properties,
I updated my adapter driver last night and still no luck ?

[Exdee]

To double check right click on the windows taskbar and click on task manager. Then click on the networking tab and see what your link speed is.

If it still reports 65MB then check the wireless settings on both the router and your card. The router should be set to Auto. The card should be set to 'N only' if available.

[Liam89]

Thanks for that
I just checked on another one of my acer laptops that has a N card and its showing the 130mbps through the properties,
So looks like my adapter is faulty.

[Scubbie]

The Adaptor is fine.

Sadly for you, it will only be able to connect at 130Mb/s when connected to a router that is broadcasting on a 40MHz bandwidth.

The Sagem 2504N is broadcasting 144Mb/s on a 20MHz bandwidth.

[Liam89]

Thanks scubbie,
Any idea why the other acer laptop will connect at 130mbps
and my acer 6530 will only connect at 65mbps on the same router,
Is there any settings that i could adjust or shall i go and buy a wireless n usb adapter to get the full speed?
Thanks.

[Scubbie]

Any idea why the other acer laptop will connect at 130mbps
and my acer 6530 will only connect at 65mbps on the same router,

Different WiFi adaptors or settings that could require altering.

Is there any settings that i could adjust or shall i go and buy a wireless n usb adapter to get the full speed?

By all means take a look at the 'Device Manager' and the properties for the WiFi adaptor. Click on the 'Advanced' tab to see what they are currently set to. Make a written record of them BEFORE you attempt to change them as this could seriously mess up your WiFi connection.

If you are not sure about how to get to the Device Manager, then please ask someone who does know to help as this can really mess things up.

A few days ago I got a new adaptor in my other Laptop. Initially it would only connect at 130Mb/s. After adjusting the settings in this section to work with the 40MHz bandwidth it now connects to my router at 270Mb/s. It should be 300Mb/s, so I am waiting for some information to help resolve the issue.

The Sagem 2504N only works to 144Mb/s on a 20MHz bandwidth, so you have a potentially different issue.

The original WiFi adaptor in my main laptop would only connect at 130Mb/s on the 40MHz bandwidth. On a 20MHz bandwidth it connected at a maximum of 72Mb/s.

All these adaptors are rated to WiFi n standards, but not all connect at the faster speeds.

If you are interested, there are WiFi adaptors that can be purchased from sites such as Amazon to upgrade a Netbook or Laptop WiFi adaptor to 300Mb/s or the latest 450Mb/s. It is important to identify which adaptor you currently have as there are a number of different board sizes, connection type and at least 2 different aerial connector designs.

If you need help identifying an existing board, take a photo of it with a rule close to it, showing the length of the board, any screws and also the WiFi aerial connectors clearly (from above & at an angle).

In my case, one adaptor was easily accessed via the panel underneath the Laptop. The other Laptop required me to remove the keyboard in order to access the adaptor. This was a far more delicate procedure.

[Liam89]

Scubbie,
Here is the picture of the inside of the laptop showing the wifi card its an Atheros AR5B91,
I checked through the device manager but there is no options that i could change
i also purchased another wifi card yesterday from pcworld a N150 when tryed it was the same as the original this was the one i got
But i returned it :
DYNAMODE WL-700N-MOD Mini PCI-Express Wireless Network Card at cheap prices | PC World

Maybe i should just get a usb adapter would that work ?

Thanks again.

[Scubbie]

Well the good news is that there are some nice cards available on-line.

The Intel PCIe Mini Card 5100 is a dual band 300Mb/s WiFi card. There are two sizes available, so make sure that you get the correct size. Prices vary, but are under £20 in many cases.

[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-WiFi-Link-5100-technology-based/dp/B001CXX5I8/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1318237937&sr =1-2]Intel WiFi Link 5100 - Network adapter - PCI Express Mini Card - 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11n (draft 2.0) - only compatible with an Intel® Centrino® 2 processor technology-based laptop.: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics[/ame]

The Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300 would be more than adequate for your requirements.

Intel® Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300 and Intel® WiFi Link 5100 Products

Again there are two sizes of this card available, so ensure that you get the right size to fit you Laptop. Both are available for under £30.

[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Wireless-WiFi-Link-5300/dp/B001CXT6NQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1318237937&sr =1-1]Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5300 - Network adapter - PCI Express Mini Card - 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11n (draft): Amazon.co.uk: Electronics[/ame]

When I upgraded mine earlier this year, I could only find the larger 5100 and 5300, so I had to get the 6300 as this is only available in the smaller size. The smaller ones came up in my searches just now.

The 5300 & 6300 both support up to 450Mb/s and require an additional aerial to make use of this speed should you ever get a router that connects at this speed.