My PCs keep switching between 2.4ghz and 5Ghz bands, how do i fix this?

[Zev_7]

I have one desktop build with a TP LINK AC1300 wireless card and an HP Pavilion gaming laptop with the serial number CND8241JY7 which has an intel AC 9560 wireless card and both of them keep switching between my routers 5ghz and 2.4ghz ranges. 
Today ATT installed a new wifi router thats supposed to deliver 100mpbs download and tests run through my chrome web browser say its achieving close to those speeds, but my deskop and laptop are showing that they're all the way down to two bars of wifi strength but I am still able to open many web based applications without any noticeable slowdown. 

Still, when i tried to download my nvidia driver it was showing that it was downloading at barely 1mbps to kbps, and i think it would be better to switch all my devices to 2.4ghz due to the amount of walls that sits between my room and the router, so how do i do this? I keep trying to change it in device manager but it just defaults back to what was originally set. 

[Bombastinator]

Too many Wifi routers competing for bandwidth.  They’re flipping looking for clean signal, and apparently they can’t find it.

 

i have a friend that actually went A for a while.  It was slower than spit but no one else was using the band so it was actually faster.

 

My stepsister had a similar problem and we solved it with a string of WiFi repeaters.  A “drown everyone else out” approach.

[Zev_7]

5 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Too many Wifi routers competing for bandwidth.  They’re flipping looking for clean signal, and apparently they can’t find it.

 

i have a friend that actually went A for a while.  It was slower than spit but no one else was using the band so it was actually faster.

 

My stepsister had a similar problem and we solved it with a string of WiFi repeaters.  A “drown everyone else out” approach.

So there's nothing i can do really? 

[Bombastinator]

Didn’t say that.  Those are two ways I’ve seen it fixed.  You can lock the bands on all the WiFi devices to the same one like you were planning for example.  The problem with that is shot range radio is susceptible to things like people walking by and other WiFi routers constantly looking for the best signal.  There will be cutouts.  If you can find which bands the router around you use, which you can do by watching the wifi traffic you might be able to identify a type no one is using and use that.  It will probably be a slow one.  The repeater trick works though, as does cable.  Cable always works.

 

As to how to lock the routers you’re going to have to access them directly which used to be generally done with a web browser and knowing their ip addresses. If it still is I don’t know.

[Donut417]

10 hours ago, 7even said:

I have one desktop build with a TP LINK AC1300 wireless card and an HP Pavilion gaming laptop with the serial number CND8241JY7 which has an intel AC 9560 wireless card and both of them keep switching between my routers 5ghz and 2.4ghz ranges. 
Today ATT installed a new wifi router thats supposed to deliver 100mpbs download and tests run through my chrome web browser say its achieving close to those speeds, but my deskop and laptop are showing that they're all the way down to two bars of wifi strength but I am still able to open many web based applications without any noticeable slowdown. 

Still, when i tried to download my nvidia driver it was showing that it was downloading at barely 1mbps to kbps, and i think it would be better to switch all my devices to 2.4ghz due to the amount of walls that sits between my room and the router, so how do i do this? I keep trying to change it in device manager but it just defaults back to what was originally set. 

Firstly AT&T is know for having shit Gateways. Which explians why your having WiFi issues. Secondly 2 bars is not good, the worst the signal gets the slower the link becomes, its how WiFi was designed to work. 

 

You have a gateway and router setup, if they are using the same wireless channels then they are interfering with eachother. On top of that you also have to look at your neighbors networks as well. On Android WiFi analzyer is a very good App that can take a good look at the wirelesss space in you home and see which wireless channesl are the best for your router. Many routers have an auto selector for WiFi channels but its kinda meh. Its recommended that you find the channel with the least amount of wireless networks on it and just use that channel. While 5Ghz does have less shit that interfers with it, it still can have issues. If another network is close enough it will cause problems if they are on the same channel. At least in the US some of the 5 Ghz band is shared with things like weather radar, so keep that in mind. 5 Ghz also have a larger wave length which makes it harder for it to go thru walls. So depending on what your home is made out of will depends on how well it will travel. 

 

What I would do first is update all your drivers and the firmware on the TP Link router, you cant do this on AT&T's eqpument sadly. Next you want to make sure your gateway and router is in a high up place. Setting it on a shelf or something will help the WiFi signal travel a bit better. 

 

If all else fails look in th power line adapters or Moca adapters or if you can run Ethernet to your desktop. If you laptop also has a Ethernet port, you could also connect that as well. There are Moca adapters with built in WiFi, so it might be a good way to extend that wireless network even further. Or if you run Ethernet you can use a router in AP mode or buy an AP to extend it better as well. 

 

Also keep in mind 2.4 Ghz is built for distance and penitration not speed. 5Ghz is built for Speed but not distance or penitration. 

[mtz_federico]

You could set different names to 2.4 Ghz and 5Ghz and choose between them.

My house is made of concrete and I get 5 Ghz in certain parts but the signal is very low that it is useless and my devices try to connect to it, I set a different name for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz and only use the 5Ghz when I'm close to the router/AP

[sphbecker]

Very simple answer, go into the advanced properties of the Intel Wireless card and set the preferred band to 5ghz. That way 2.4ghz will still work if you take the computer to a location without 5ghz, but it will always connect to 5ghz when available. I am not sure why, but Intel adapters seem to have issues connecting to 2.4 even when 5 readily available.

 

Note, you will need to set this setting again if you update your drivers down the road.

[mtz_federico]

23 hours ago, sphbecker said:

Very simple answer, go into the advanced properties of the Intel Wireless card and set the preferred band to 5ghz. That way 2.4ghz will still work if you take the computer to a location without 5ghz, but it will always connect to 5ghz when available. I am not sure why, but Intel adapters seem to have issues connecting to 2.4 even when 5 readily available.

 

Note, you will need to set this setting again if you update your drivers down the road.

it would be better for OP to use 2.4 since his router is a few walls from his computer

[Donut417]

4 minutes ago, mtz_federico said:

it would be better for OP to use 2.4 since his router is a few walls from his computer

The walls dont matter as long as they are not concrete. I used to use 5Ghz thru multiple walls no issues. Always got my full speed. 

[Kilrah]

You may be able to configure the router to only enable one of the bands.

[Bombastinator]

These various proposed limitations to router banding are situationally dependent.  They would work better in one situation but worse in others.  Also there is the issue of surrounding WiFi traffic which can change. I still think it will need repeated manual adjustment as the situation changes.  There will likely be full cutouts at some point.  Human band switching can be done more intelligently than automatic switching but it requires human intervention.  It’s going to be more work.  How much more is unknown.  Perhaps a sweet spot can be found.

 

afaik the only set-it-and-forget-it solution is repeaters.  Possibly multiple repeaters.  Or cable.