Question about router throughput over wireless

[Scruffy90]

I have a question regarding the speeds of the routers over wifi. I have a Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 at my apt (download 50mbps) and at my mother house she has a 2x Linksys e4200 (downloads at 100mbps) with the second router as an AP near the rear of the house (this one operates over 2.4ghz and not 5ghz). All of my computers have an AC wifi card in them and the Netgear supports AC. When I download something (usually games steam)in my apt over wifi to my laptop, I get about 50% of my advertised speed consistently (close to 100% when wired). When i'm at my mothers house and I connect to the access point thats running on the N network with the same laptop, I get over 70% of her advertised speed (downloading the same content at the same times of the day) and often times hit close to  90%. Why is it that the 2.4ghz N network on the e4200 is giving me a consistently higher percentage of speed vs my netgear which is connected via AC and should theoretically give me a consistently higher percentage?

[kirashi]

Wireless speeds can be affected by a variety of things: distance from the router, objects between you and the router, your ISP connection speed, and even the wireless chips in all devices connected to the network.

 

I'm going to start by asking what your ISP connection speed is supposed to be at both your apartment and at home.

What speeds are you paying for, and what are you actually getting over a wired connection?

[d3sl91]

What type of wireless AC card does your laptop have?

 

If you do not have an AC1900 capable wireless card, you will not get AC1900 speeds. 

 

5GHz can also be more affected by walls and other interference than 2.4, so, you could be getting a bad AC signal but good N signal at your mom's. 

[Donut417]

2.4Ghz has better range and penetration power. It suffers from a lot of devices are on the 2.4Ghz network. Which causes interference. 5Ghz while less items are on that band, it does not have good range or penetration power. Going through 2 walls my 5Ghz signal was only getting to my computer at 70% or so signal strength. If your not getting the signal strength then your going to get low speeds. Keep in mind it just not the walls that is the concern. Its what are the walls made of? In my case our walls are wood, Dry wall and plaster. What distance are you trying to cover? As higher frequencies have lower range due to having larger wave lengths. 

 

Also remember that there are many AC speeds. Ive seen AC routers that have the same speeds of an Wireless N router. So you definitely need to check which AC chipset is in your devices. 

 

What you can try is moving your router and seeing if that helps. Apps like WiFi Analyzer on Android can help with measuring signal strength. Use that App to position your router in the best area. 

[Scruffy90]

On 8/30/2016 at 11:31 PM, kirashi said:

Wireless speeds can be affected by a variety of things: distance from the router, objects between you and the router, your ISP connection speed, and even the wireless chips in all devices connected to the network.

 

I'm going to start by asking what your ISP connection speed is supposed to be at both your apartment and at home.

What speeds are you paying for, and what are you actually getting over a wired connection?

When i'm at the apt, im usually in the same room as the router and i still only get the lower speeds when connected wirelessly (about 28mbps).

When wired, all of my computers get about 54 mbps at the apt. I havent checked wired connection at my mothers house.
Speeds are supposed to be 50 down 5 up at the apt and 100 down 20 up at my mothers house.

On 8/30/2016 at 11:33 PM, d3sl91 said:

What type of wireless AC card does your laptop have?

 

If you do not have an AC1900 capable wireless card, you will not get AC1900 speeds. 

 

5GHz can also be more affected by walls and other interference than 2.4, so, you could be getting a bad AC signal but good N signal at your mom's. 

 
I'm trying to find out. I have a mid2013 Macbook air, Surface pro 4, MSI in my sig, and my desktop (this one has a GC-WB867D-I, but I've since wired the desktop). All of my phones support AC wifi . All with what I assume are different cards and they all exhibit the same issue.

Her router doesnt support AC. I may try turning off the AC network at the apt and see how it runs on Dual N.

 

21 hours ago, Donut417 said:

2.4Ghz has better range and penetration power. It suffers from a lot of devices are on the 2.4Ghz network. Which causes interference. 5Ghz while less items are on that band, it does not have good range or penetration power. Going through 2 walls my 5Ghz signal was only getting to my computer at 70% or so signal strength. If your not getting the signal strength then your going to get low speeds. Keep in mind it just not the walls that is the concern. Its what are the walls made of? In my case our walls are wood, Dry wall and plaster. What distance are you trying to cover? As higher frequencies have lower range due to having larger wave lengths. 

 

Also remember that there are many AC speeds. Ive seen AC routers that have the same speeds of an Wireless N router. So you definitely need to check which AC chipset is in your devices. 

 

What you can try is moving your router and seeing if that helps. Apps like WiFi Analyzer on Android can help with measuring signal strength. Use that App to position your router in the best area. 

Running on the 2.4 network is surprising because that range is over saturated (too many devices in the house running on that network and everyone on the block is using that network). When I use the 5ghz network at the apt, i'm usually in the same room as the router so the penetration shouldn't be an issue. usually when I check my signal strength, its near 100%.

I am trying to dig up what each of my devices support. I am having difficulty finding that info. 

Unfortunately, moving the router isnt an ideal solution. I cant move the modem since the coax is too short and I dont have power everywhere ( I had been accessing that issue for a while. Only place I have a bad signal is in my bedroom.


EDIT: Desktop network card is a Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I
          MSI network card is Intel Dual Band Wireless - AC 3160

          Don't know what AC they support

[kirashi]

8 hours ago, Scruffy90 said:

I am trying to dig up what each of my devices support. I am having difficulty finding that info. 

Unfortunately, moving the router isnt an ideal solution. I cant move the modem since the coax is too short and I dont have power everywhere ( I had been accessing that issue for a while. Only place I have a bad signal is in my bedroom.


EDIT: Desktop network card is a Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I
          MSI network card is Intel Dual Band Wireless - AC 3160

          Don't know what AC they support

5

That's a good starting point - checking what AC spec your devices support is a must when checking for compatibility.

I've seen devices advertised as being AC1900 compatible, only to have 1 pair of send/receive antennae inside. Sure, the chipset supports AC1900, but if you only hookup enough antennae for the slower AC1200 speeds, the user is never going to see the benefit they paid the money for. (Keep in mind, this was back between 2012 and 2015 when I worked in a retail store selling technology, so things may have improved since then.)

This WILL NOT get you anywhere near AC1900 speeds as you need 2-3 send-receive antennae to achieve these speeds.

So check for the antennae count as well as the chipset in your devices.

 

If you only get a bad signal in your bedroom, it's simply possible there are too many walls or objects between you and the router.

I'd recommend using WiFi Analyzer on an Android phone to check for signal strength as you walk towards the bedroom.

This would tell you exactly where the connection drops off so you can either reposition the router up higher, or know if you need an extender.