Noticed at home performance of my existing AP isn’t great unless I’m at next to it. A scan of the vicinity shows everyone else is in the 2.4GHz band and I guess my nearer neighbours’ signals are as strong as mine. But the 5GHz band is empty. Time to upgrade my AP. Sounds easy enough? Not when I started looking. Anyone know of lower cost models that definitely support 5GHz band preferably at >100meg?
I don’t need routers, repeaters or anything other than just an AP.
I use one of my old cable modem routers as an access point in the garage, just turn it on when I need a hotspot down there purely for internet access.
If you have any old router that supports 5Ghz you could do the same for testing how 5Ghz coverage works before splashing on a new dedicated access point.
I have one of these as a second firewall, I don’t use the wireless on it as its function is to keep all the wireless crap away from my office network. The Ebay ad doesnt mention its a dual band device so it may go nice and cheap
I don’t have any AP that supports 5 GHz, hence the problem. Looks like an AC compatible new one from a decent brand starts around 80 or so. I can get lesser branded N ones for much less, but the fun thing is they claim 300meg wifi yet it only comes with 100mbit ethernet port.
Probably should add, I aim for this to eventually replace my mains network, since I don’t find that reliable enough. Not that wifi is necessarily more reliable… need net access as far apart as it gets in my tiny house, but without cables everywhere.
TP Link is the cheapest I have used that has worked. The issue is the more thru put the more the cost. US around 130$ to get 600meg so the the 300 should be around 80$US.
I have used also NETGEAR AP units and well channel has always been the issue with people near. I tend to channel select 2 or 7 because defaults are 1 or 6 typically.
Good luck with finding a good solution but try channels first may just save you time and $
been having lots of issues at home ever since phone transmitters went from 3G to 4G 
appears to be interfering in some manor.
The AP I’m looking at claims to support up to 867meg on the 5GHz band, 300meg on 2.4GHz. Going to do some final research on it later before I’ll buy.
Oh, there’s a reason almost everyone seems to be on channels 1, 6, 11: the channel numbers overlap in practice and using those 3 means you get only interference from those sharing the channel with you. Going in between could mean you get interference from two sets. For sure, the 2.4GHz band is getting congested hence I’m looking to move to 5GHz. You can run scanners to see who’s using what near you. Lots of activity in 2.4GHz where I live, zero on 5GHz so it will be all mine (for now). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels
As for 4G causing interference, it doesn’t operate on the same band so it isn’t a direct problem. Purely speculating, could it be the receivers are wide enough that they get swamped by high power sources in uninteresting frequencies? Think there was a similar problem with digital TV when 4G switched on, and as part of the deal they had to send out filters to everyone. I got one and don’t even need it.
Sounds more like reflection. Offset of just a few Mhz will increase beam strength. You also could have strange wiring in your house. Aluminum wiring increase reflections more than copper. I would try this just for ticks. Take your laptop and offset the channel from others. Next place AP on other side of wall. See what happens it should not be effected unless you have a reflective source in the wall. If you see poor signal even going up will be just as poor (5 vs 2.4). The lower the freq Hz the longer the band so with that the more push. 5 Ghz is just a larger carrier of data but if packets get lost it degrades very fast below 2.4 and lower. I have seen 2.4 push more data than a 5 Ghz because of reflection. Garden hose Vs fire hose but both spraying thru a screen will give same results or less because bounce on water bouncing off screen…same for data. Man I need to stop using my electrical engineering skills so early in the AM…Luck be with you for better speeds.
My house is 80’s UK construction, which is to say there is nothing of significance internally. Don’t think I’ve ever heard of aluminium wiring used so it is likely all copper, and not a lot of that anyway.
While it is often stated that 5 GHz propagates less well than 2.4 GHz, in practice the 802.11ac standard (not sure about 5 GHz “n”) has directional beamforming built into the standard, so it can direct more of the energy towards where it is needed. General reviews suggest this does work so you’re no worse off in range on 5 GHz than at 2.4 GHz.
Beam formed is always better and the energy focused will go further 2.4 or 5 either way. The issue is cost which is why you started this thing I thought. If you have a unit with external BNC or some type that allows better antenna then just get a new better dbi unit and all solved. I have added better dbi antennas like this http://www.amazon.com/Hawking-Directional-Antenna-outdoor-HAO14SDP/dp/B000B59J8I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1441654540&sr=8-2&keywords=hawking+antenna which is what I use so I can sit on the deck and code when weather allows. I can use my laptop even three doors down the street when I help baby sit for some friends with wife…love my netflix while I watch, LOL!
After much thought I’ve gone for an Asus RT-AC66U, which supports “up to” 450Mbps on 2.4 GHz and 1.3Gbps on 5 GHz. It isn’t cheap, but it isn’t silly money either and should do me until gigabit speeds becomes obsolete. I’m not even sure if any of my laptops support that speed. Well, almost certainly not AC, but possibly N. The old saying “buy cheap, buy twice” was in my mind going through this. As such I was hesitant to look at TP-link and other even lesser known brands which were about the only really cheap options. Although Asus aren’t a networking brand, these routers review well all round.
I also considered the slower Asus which was priced and spec’d about the same as the Netgear I was looking at previously, but both only had internal antennas so I couldn’t be sure how advanced its capabilities were. There’s also a model slightly above the one I got, which supports slightly fast N speeds on 2.4 GHz, but I decided this wasn’t worth it since I’m looking to get off 2.4 GHz anyway.
Oh, I figured out why I had such difficulty locating APs earlier. It seems quite simply they’re not commonly made any more. There’s a large amount more choice looking for wireless routers.
Yes it should as your right but it does seem to and i have seen other reports of it happening.
The basebasd of the 4G is in the 1842 Mhz area of the spectrum a nice 18Mhz chunk it is not as powerful as the other transmissions in the band as I can view and see them with my radio equipment 
can view the spectrum upto 3.8Ghz
I am on 2.4ghz with the router and pretty sure i have the channel to myself
Unless the hub is end of life and its just collapsing under strain… got infinity 40mbps expected in couple of weeks and new hub so hoping that improves matters.
Mobile Phone still faster though nice 77.91 Mbps down and 34.29 up on that lol with the new 4G 
[QUOTE=PMM;467376]
Mobile Phone still faster though nice 77.91 Mbps down and 34.29 up on that lol with the new 4G :-)[/QUOTE]
LOL… You’re lucky… Where I live 3G is still very sparse so there’s no chance of 4G for a long time…and of course the local Mobile shops wax lyrical about the 4G ability of their mobiles but what’s the point when you can’t even get it in my area!!!
I didn’t think this through! After much testing of every device I have, only my personal and work phones actually support 5 GHz. My main laptop is too old, but due to be replaced in the not too distant future anyway once Skylake models are more widely available.
The wireless router is nice though. A nice balance of easy configuration without being dumbed down.