Asus RT-N53 5GHz problem

[spayd]

I just set up my new rt-n53 but the problem is that I can't detect the 5GHz SSID. My PC is about 10 ft away from the router. I use a TP-Link N600 USB adapter (TL-WDN3200) for my PC but it won't detect my 5ghz band. It detects the 2.4ghz SSID just fine, and it also detects my neighbor's 5ghz SSID but it won't detect my 5ghz SSID, so I assume the problem is not with my PCs wifi adapter but more likely with the router.

Interestingly though, my laptop (which is a single band) is also connected to the same router and it says the speed is 72 Mbps, where as my desktop (the one with the aforementioned dual band wifi adapter) says it's connection is at 144 Mbps. Why is this? Both my laptop and desktop are connected to the same 2.4ghz SSID. Does this have anything to do with the dual band adapter vs single band? Or maybe the dual band adapter is running both 2.4 and 5ghz bands together (even though I'm connected to the 2.4ghz SSID)?

Any help on this matter is appreciated

 

[john-b691]

Not sure why your router would not show the SSID on the 5g band.

Your speeds are very telling though and having the exact number and not something close tells a lot.

72.2 means you are running the maximum rate for single channel,narrow guard band and no mimo. Your 144 is the same but it is running mimo. Your laptop may not support mimo.

If you go into your router and force N only support and define it to run wide channels your 72.2 should go to 150m and the 144 should go to 300m. You may also have to disable compatibility or whatever its called on the router. Part of the N standard is to check if you neighbors are using channels adjacent to yours and if so go only use narrow (ie 1 channel) to allow for sharing.

Note dual band adapters on a PC cannot run both 2.4 and 5 at the same time like a router can.

 

[spayd]

Thanks for the reply. My mode is currently on "N only". Didn't find an option to disable compatibility. I am still getting the same speeds mentioned earlier.

So you say that I SHOULD be able to detect the 5GHz band and the fact that my PC adapter is getting double the speed my laptop is getting does NOT mean the two bands are working simultaneously.

Should I assume faulty router?

 

[spayd]

Another thing, I noticed that my 2.4ghz wireless has a MAC address but my 5ghz wireless does not. What does this mean?

 

[john-b691]

There is no such feature to let the 2 bands run at the same time. There is really only a single radio in most nic cards and it must switch frequency. You will only see the mac on the active wireless.

You pc adapter is getting double because it is running mimo which runs 2 streams of data on the same frequency slightly out of sync. You should be able to double it by running wide band channels. IE use channels 1&6 or 6&11

 

[spayd]

I see. Thanks for clarifying that.

So the fact that my 5GHz band isn't showing up IS a problem then, correct? Should I consider getting a new router (I can still return this one) or new wifi adapter?

Also just out of curiosity, how do I use channels 1 AND 6? It seems that I can only set one channel for my router which is at "1" now.

I'm sorry I never really paid much attention to routers and networking till recently so I don't know much

 

[john-b691]

Yes it is a problem make sure it doesn't have the SSID hidden or the 5g band disabled or something silly like that.

I wish I could say exactly how you set the channels. The first option is to find the 20/40 mhz thing that lets you change the width. You either want 20/40 or 40 only. If I remember right all this is under the advanced wireless settings. I don't remember I have a n66u which is similar but not exactly the same. I also have load dd-wrt on it so it been a while since I saw the factory menus. I think it changes the channel selection menu when you change this option. Some router assume channel 6 and then you select the low or high range which means you do 1&6 or 6&11. Under 5g you actually have to select the pair.

Some routers hide these settings and use the 300m or 450m stuff but I though asus actually had settings. Sorry been a while and the manuals are useless they don't show any of the actual setup screens.

 

[spayd]

Alright well thanks for all your help.

I do have one more question however that is basically the deciding factor on if i should even bother getting a 5ghz router.

I have multiple computers in my house. None of which support 5ghz as far as i know except for the desktop that has the wifi adapter we've been talking about. I want to create a homegroup for all of these computers (you know, the windows homegroup thingy to share files and a printer). Would my 5ghz pc be able to be in the same homegroup as all the other computers that are on 2.4ghz? My thinking is no because it would be on a separate SSID, is this correct? Or is it possible for all to be on the same homegroup because they are all connected to the same router?

 

[spayd]

So I changed the width to 40mhz only and it did in fact increase my desktop to 300 mbps and my laptop to 150 mbps like you said, but my other 2 laptops are actually doing worse getting at the most 52 (they used to do 72 as well). Any idea why this is? Also, at 300 mbps it doesn't seem any faster (based on speedtest.net results) in fact it seems to be doing worse. Any idea why? What do these numbers (300 mbps, 150, 72, etc.) actually mean?

Oh, and happy new year!

 

[john-b691]

What the numbers mean takes study of how 802.11 actually works. This is the cleanest table I have found. It will still take some more reading to understand what the columns mean. There are 3 key things, MIMO (streams), channel width, and the guard interval, and last you have the method to encode the data that is negotiated and can vary based on the quality of the signal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11n-2009

You never really know with wireless what is better or worse. When you run 2 channels you could be getting more interference. This is the problem with running wide channels on the 2.4 range you now take 2 times the risk a neighbor will interfere with you.

It is also unlikely you will ever see a difference in a speed test. You are limited by your internet connection. Like gig ports on the router they really only help you for traffic that stays in your house.
With wireless I generally like to get it as fast as I can since "in theory" it will retransmit faster when it get errors. Does not always work if you are getting a lot more errors due to interference.

 

[spayd]

I see thanks. I may read up on that wikipedia page, seems interesting.

So do you have any ideas on the other question about the homegroup? That's the last bit of information I need.

Thanks again for all your help

 

[john-b691]

By default the router places all machines in one network. It does not matter the SSID it is the same network. The SSID is mostly used to control which AP or radio is used or which security policy is used. You CAN if you configure it put SSID on different vlans and have multiple networks. I am unsure if your router supports that option or not.
But the default is they are all the same big vlan and you should be able to share things without issues.

 

[RealBeast]

Your 5GHz adapter could participate in the homegroup, but using Win 7 homegroup over wireless really slows down the wireless -- generally the best you will see is 1 MS/s transfer rates. Best to just use a standard workgroup and sharing IMO.

 

[spayd]

Alright thanks for all your help john, and thank you RealBeast for that little bit of information.

 

[spayd]

Best answer selected by spayd.

 

[Event Horizon]

FYI the latest firmware NUKES your 5GHz broadcast. I verified this myself and had to downgrade to an earlier firmware for my 5GHz SSID to be detectable again. I know this impacted multiple ASUS routers (including mine), not sure if yours is one of them but worth looking into.

I just set up my new rt-n53 but the problem is that I can't detect the 5GHz SSID. My PC is about 10 ft away from the router. I use a TP-Link N600 USB adapter (TL-WDN3200) for my PC but it won't detect my 5ghz band. It detects the 2.4ghz SSID just fine, and it also detects my neighbor's 5ghz SSID but it won't detect my 5ghz SSID, so I assume the problem is not with my PCs wifi adapter but more likely with the router.

Interestingly though, my laptop (which is a single band) is also connected to the same router and it says the speed is 72 Mbps, where as my desktop (the one with the aforementioned dual band wifi adapter) says it's connection is at 144 Mbps. Why is this? Both my laptop and desktop are connected to the same 2.4ghz SSID. Does this have anything to do with the dual band adapter vs single band? Or maybe the dual band adapter is running both 2.4 and 5ghz bands together (even though I'm connected to the 2.4ghz SSID)?

Any help on this matter is appreciated