WiFi connection

[Jeff Layman]

Win7HPx64

This HP G61 laptop, when purchased, was said to be 802.11b/g compliant.
Recently I ran a utility which reported that I had an Atheros AR9285
802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter.

In Control Panel | Network and Internet | Network Connections, Change
Settings of this Connection, Wireless Network Connection Properties,
Networking, Connect using Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter,
Configure, Advanced, the first entry was 802.11b Preamble with the value
"Long and short", and the second entry was AdHoc 11n, with the value
"Disable". I changed this to "Enable".

Was this the only thing which limited the connection to 802.11b/g? Is
it possible to test if the wifi connection has been changed from b/g to n?

 

[Ken1943]

Win7HPx64

This HP G61 laptop, when purchased, was said to be 802.11b/g compliant.
Recently I ran a utility which reported that I had an Atheros AR9285
802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter.

In Control Panel | Network and Internet | Network Connections, Change
Settings of this Connection, Wireless Network Connection Properties,
Networking, Connect using Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter,
Configure, Advanced, the first entry was 802.11b Preamble with the value
"Long and short", and the second entry was AdHoc 11n, with the value
"Disable". I changed this to "Enable".

Was this the only thing which limited the connection to 802.11b/g? Is
it possible to test if the wifi connection has been changed from b/g to n?

AdHoc is a type of network. Has nothing to do with b/g/n.
Depending on how HP programmed/uses the wireless is why it is only b/g.


KenW

 

[Ken1943]

I have the 9285 in a Toshiba net book and it doesn't do 'n'.


KenW

 

[Jeff Layman]

I have the 9285 in a Toshiba net book and it doesn't do 'n'.

Thanks for the replies.

The 9285 does do n:
http://www.qca.qualcomm.com/technology/technology.php?nav1=47...CachedYou&product=79

On my laptop, Control panel...Wireless Network Connection Speed now
shows the Network Speed as 150Mbps. Have you tried changing your netbook
settings in Control Panel?

 

[Ken1943]

Thanks for the replies.

The 9285 does do n:
http://www.qca.qualcomm.com/technology/technology.php?nav1=47...CachedYou&product=79

On my laptop, Control panel...Wireless Network Connection Speed now
shows the Network Speed as 150Mbps. Have you tried changing your netbook
settings in Control Panel?

No because I don't do any big downloads with the net books. They are just
slow, period.


KenW

 

[Paul]

Thanks for the replies.

The 9285 does do n:
http://www.qca.qualcomm.com/technology/technology.php?nav1=47...CachedYou&product=79

<<snip>>

Interesting. It only does the parts of N, that don't cost anything.
One antenna (no MIMO?). Operates at 2.4GHz, instead of 5GHz band.

The qualcomm page mentions HT40 (High Thruput 40MHz channel spacing) support.

That's described here a bit. Bottom of page 10.
Basically, 802.11n uses 40MHz channel spacing, in so-called Greenfield
operation (applicable if your setup is in the woods, and no legacy
wifi activity is nearby). But it has to respect the presence of
non-802.11n communications, and that's described on page 10 and 11.

http://www.airmagnet.com/assets/whitepaper/WP-802.11nPrimer.pdf

"but an 802.11n AP using Non-HT delivers no
better performance than 802.11a/g"

Should be interesting to benchmark the transfer rate. All that's
left, is some tighter timing on the communications. While a person
could operate that product in a rural location, and reap the benefits,
for the average apartment dweller, it would be interesting to see
if the comms rate change is even detectable.

I guess what you'd want to do, is find some kind of external
sniffer application, that can verify it's detecting 11n coming
from the computer.

Paul

 

[Ken1943]

<<snip>>

Interesting. It only does the parts of N, that don't cost anything.
One antenna (no MIMO?). Operates at 2.4GHz, instead of 5GHz band.

The qualcomm page mentions HT40 (High Thruput 40MHz channel spacing) support.

That's described here a bit. Bottom of page 10.
Basically, 802.11n uses 40MHz channel spacing, in so-called Greenfield
operation (applicable if your setup is in the woods, and no legacy
wifi activity is nearby). But it has to respect the presence of
non-802.11n communications, and that's described on page 10 and 11.

http://www.airmagnet.com/assets/whitepaper/WP-802.11nPrimer.pdf

"but an 802.11n AP using Non-HT delivers no
better performance than 802.11a/g"

Should be interesting to benchmark the transfer rate. All that's
left, is some tighter timing on the communications. While a person
could operate that product in a rural location, and reap the benefits,
for the average apartment dweller, it would be interesting to see
if the comms rate change is even detectable.

I guess what you'd want to do, is find some kind of external
sniffer application, that can verify it's detecting 11n coming
from the computer.

Paul

The apartment complex I live in has 40+ wireless routers (Inssider) and
about 10 discomfiture ones on 2.4 gigs. I am lucky my router is only 10ft
from my net books. A new router has almost the same signal strength as
mine, but not on the same channel I use. Right now I am using an EnGenius
"high power" router that is probably chasing them away.


KenW