I have been having some problems with my new N900 router. The problem is my clients connects to 2.4 Ghz wifi channel at the max of 72.2 Mbps. I tried it with a sony laptop and a tp-link usb adapter (both single stream wifi devices) which are both capable of 150 Mbps speeds. Both these devices always connect only at 72.2 Mbps to N900. The same devices were able to connect at its max 150 Mbps on a Netgear JNR3210 which has got a Realtek chipset and provide a better throughput. I think the chipset on N900 is better or I may be wrong. I don’t see any options to modify wide/short band or know if this is mimo enabled. There are not any options to tweek either.
Also a mac mini that I have connects to the 2.4 Ghz channel on this router at a very low speed rate than its rated 300 Mbps. I don’t see this problem with the 5 Ghz channel though. Mac mini connects at 320 Mbits or sometimes at 450 Mbps.
What can I change in the router to get the clients connect to it at max capable speeds? Again, this router is seriously lacking in any advanced options for tweeking. Any suggestions to make this work would be highly appreciated.
With a default channel width of 20MHz on 2.4GHz wifi, I believe single stream devices usually max out around 65+ Mbps link rate, when reported in Windows.
I don’t think that is true. On 20MHz channel width on 2.4GHz, both my single stream devices connects to the netgear router at 150Mbps which is the maximum for single stream at 20MHz.
Eventhough when I switch 2.4GHz to 20MHz width, the clients still connects at 72.2Mbps only on N900. Which says the 20Mhz is not effective or something else is going on.
The sony laptop has an Atheros wifi adapter. Dont remember the model number. Atheros and Atheros should be talking nicely but does not seem to be the case. I don’t have this problem with intel based adapters.
Not all WIFI adapters are the same, just because it says “N” does not mean anything regarding speed. Most laptops do not have more than one antenna, unless it is a high end model. I have a Galaxy Tab 2 that uses 2.4GHz Wifi N. It cannot connect faster than 65Mbps due to having a single antenna. For a brand new device, I thought this was absurd, but is a hardware limitation, period.
Just because it says wifi n doesn’t mean it will go 150+. You need to read the details of the antennas/chipset/capabilities of the chip.
You will not get above 65Mbps period with a single antenna on 2.4GHz. Do some research. If you use the proper adapter, with proper antennas you can achieve 450MBps, but you have to be close due to the 5GHz broadcast range. I have confirmed it.
The wifi adapter is Qualcomm Atheros AR9485WB-EG. As I mentioned earlier, it is not just with the laptop adapter this router is connecting at only 72.2 Mbps. This happens with an usb adapter too. Both these clients when connecting to a different router connects at full 150 Mbps and gets a better bandwidth throughput. They work with all other routers at this speed period.
The security settings can cripple speed for sure. Do not use TKIP/Enterprise settings. I suggest a quick test with the security off.
I would also lok at the channel width, set to auto, also use a wifi tool to check for other networks near you, and try to manually set the channel numbers
MENTAL NOTE - in order to use 40MHZ channel width, you cannot use channels 1 or 11 due to not enough room for the extra width. In order for 40MHZ to work, you have to have a channel number near the center to allow for the extra width.
The N900 is picky/stubborn regarding the 40MHZ width mode. This might be your problem. If you have a router that performs better, why are we still talking? I have old school G routers that are garbage compared to today’s standards, but will plain run forever without issues.
Nissan-SR20-Man, your comment, “If you have a router that performs better, why are we still talking?” is both pejorative and asinine, and does not address the issue of the N900’s poor WiFi connectivity. There are many reasons one may want to change a router to a newer one, and your non sequitur comment shows a lack of both wisdom and understanding despite how you talk down to the community as though we’re all nitwits. I too have the exact same issue described by Speed_In_Need, and as a test, I picked up a second new N900 AND, AS WITH THE FIRST ONE, NO DEVICE WILL CONNECT TO EITHER ROUTER (TESTED SEPARATELY) ANY FASTER THAN AT HALF THEIR RATED SPEED OF 300n, AND THESE ARE ALL DEVICES THAT USED TO CONNECT AT THEIR FULL RATED SPEEDS WITH A 6+ YEAR-OLD AIRLINK AR670W. So, clearly there is either a hardware or firmware issue (or both) with these routers. I am working with a high-level tech support person to see what can be done to fix this. In the mean time, I would suggest anyone with this router and having the poor WiFi connection issue (the LAN works just fine) to contact WD and also request to speak with a higher level tech support person so that they can take all the complaints to their engineers and programmers to put the pressure on them to either fix the firmware and/or the hardware, or to provide a comparable replacement that will work “as advertised.”
I am having the exact same issue with the exact same wireless chipset in my new Asus laptop. I can’t get it to connect at over 72.2, but with other routers I can hit my max of 150mbps everytime.
