Apple's Airport dual channel issues

[lparsons21]

I recently had to get a new Airport Extreme and in the process of getting things back to normal here, I found that only the Apple gear and Sony BD player would connect to the dual-channel Airport @5Ghz. Everything else wanted to be on the 2.4Ghz channel for whatever reason.

After reading around the 'net a bit, I found that the only sure-fire solution was to split the channels and give the 5Ghz side of things a new name (SSID) and attach to that specifically. While I'm not sure why those things won't do it automagically like the Apple gear does, it isn't because they won't work well with it.

The feel is that the entire network is now running a bit more smoothly but I've done no actual testing to prove that.

I did find that on the Surface and Surface Pros it is a very common issue and the only way for them to do it is by splitting the network.

 

[rglore]

I have always given the 5 GHZ a different name, I want to control which network I connect to, not let my devices decide.

 

[lparsons21]

I hadn't given it a thought before, just let things happen. But now that I've got so many things on the network, this lets me handle it a bit better.

 

[John Kotches]

Are you sure that those aren't the only devices with a 5GHz radio? With 802.11n, 5 GHz support is optional, so it is within the realm of possibility that these other devices don't have a 5GHz radio.

 

[lparsons21]

Yes, these devices do have 5Ghz capability. I read in a few forums on the SurfacePro that not attaching to the 5Ghz channel was an issue with dual-band routers for no apparent reason and the fix was to split the network as I've done by giving the 5Ghz its own name. Same for the ASUS T100TA. Of all the gear at the house, the only 2 things that would automagically pick up the 5Ghz side were the MacBook Pro and AppleTV.

I have noticed that the devices I have that don't have 5Ghz capability don't even show that network.

As of now, I have my devices that I use for video streaming set to the 5Ghz network and all other devices on the 2.4Ghz side of things. Seems to work better though some of that could be 'because I want it to'!!

 

[John Kotches]

If you have an Android phone, try one of the WiFi analyzers to see if the issue is with signal strength.

This could be a situation where the 2.4GHz has a higher quality signal than 5 GHz, and this is causing the devices to favor the 2.4 GHz network.

 

[lparsons21]

the only Android devices I have are a pair of Nooks and they don't do 5Ghz.

But that may be the issue that the 2.4Ghz is a bit stronger although at less than 5' away in the same room, you wouldn't think there would be an appreciable difference. The issue with the wifi hardware in the SP's and ASUS is that the driver isn't sophisticated enough to control its priority for frequency select, or at least that is what has been proposed in the Surface forums I've been reading in.

Possibly the Apple and Sony gear have their drivers set to prefer 5Ghz when available??

It really doesn't matter now since once you change the router to split and set the gear to whichever network you want it on, it is set and forget!

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I am convinced the problem is with your devices and not your router. I have a multiple Airport Extreme setup. One at the router in the basement, one upstairs connected via ethernet as an access point. Another Airport Express on the 2nd floor doing the same, and a second Airport Express in the basement as a relay. All four use the same network SSID, and use the same 5GHz and 2.4\ GHz channels. It is important to scan for interference on 2.4GHz. In my neighborhood I catch about 15-20 SSIDs, mostly weak, mostly 2.4GHz, but spread out over all the channels. With the majority on 1, 6 or 11. I look for the channel with the most free space, and every few months have to go back and sort through it again.

The nice thing about 5GHz is no interference, but its distance stinks. Almost all of our devices are Apple-based, and they all utilize dual channel, and the system works great.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I am convinced the problem is with your devices and not your router. I have a multiple Airport Extreme setup. One at the router in the basement, one upstairs connected via ethernet as an access point. Another Airport Express on the 2nd floor doing the same, and a second Airport Express in the basement as a relay. All four use the same network SSID, and use the same 5GHz and 2.4\ GHz channels. It is important to scan for interference on 2.4GHz. In my neighborhood I catch about 15-20 SSIDs, mostly weak, mostly 2.4GHz, but spread out over all the channels. With the majority on 1, 6 or 11. I look for the channel with the most free space, and every few months have to go back and sort through it again.

The nice thing about 5GHz is no interference, but its distance stinks. Almost all of our devices are Apple-based, and they all utilize dual channel, and the system works great.

 

[lparsons21]

Note that I said the Apple devices all picked up on the 5Ghz when it was set initially. It was some non-Apple gear that would not, first noticed on the SurfacePro. Further research shows that the SurfacePro line has an issue with automagically picking the 5Ghz seemingly regardless of where or what router is used. This is well documented in quite few places. The same issue shows on the ASUS T100TA hybrid though I couldn't find anyone actually talking about it anywhere.

I don't know what the Hopper w/Sling or HR44 would see under the original wireless setup as their wireless performance wasn't up to snuff (IMO) and I have them plugged into the ethernet ports on the Airport Extreme at the AV rack. The Sony BD player also picked up the 5Ghz side of things btw.

So possibly the 5Ghz is weaker than 2.4Ghz in my home, but it isn't necessarily the issue as the SurfacePro and ASUS T100TA both won't pick it up unless I give the 5Ghz side of things a name.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Note that I said the Apple devices all picked up on the 5Ghz when it was set initially. It was some non-Apple gear that would not, first noticed on the SurfacePro. Further research shows that the SurfacePro line has an issue with automagically picking the 5Ghz seemingly regardless of where or what router is used. This is well documented in quite few places. The same issue shows on the ASUS T100TA hybrid though I couldn't find anyone actually talking about it anywhere.

I don't know what the Hopper w/Sling or HR44 would see under the original wireless setup as their wireless performance wasn't up to snuff (IMO) and I have them plugged into the ethernet ports on the Airport Extreme at the AV rack. The Sony BD player also picked up the 5Ghz side of things btw.

So possibly the 5Ghz is weaker than 2.4Ghz in my home, but it isn't necessarily the issue as the SurfacePro and ASUS T100TA both won't pick it up unless I give the 5Ghz side of things a name.

Makes sense. Do you get better bandwidth results on 5GHz than on 2.4GHz?

5GHz does not cover distance as well as 2.4GHz. You should theoretically get more bang for your buck on a 5GHz network, but it isn't always the case.