Can I dedicate the 5 GHz band to one specific devise?

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Level 1

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Can I dedicate the 5 GHz band to one specific devise?

I've got the new Dual band n Airport Extreme (AE) that I would like to dedicate the 5GHz band to one specific devise and have all others use 2.4. My goal is giving the most 'horsepower' to my work laptop upstairs, all others can use the 2.4. Being on another floor, I need all the help I can get with strong connections and good performnace.

Short and sweet bullets include:

Current Devices:

-Dell laptop for work. 5GHz band card will be installed shortly.

-iMac, Lion OS, 3 mos old. Recently hard wired to the AE as perofrmance was spotty when connected wirelessly even though the AE is 20 ft away.

-iPhone 4s, iPhone 4, iPad (1st gen)

-HP printer wirelessly connected to the AE

-An old Droid I connect to the internet once in a blue moon

-A blue ray player (rarely use to stream Nexflix)

-HD TV with access to Netflix, etc (rarly use)

Smat folks will quickly notice only the laptop can access the 5GHz band given my iMac (only devise 5Ghz) is hardwired. That will change....Apple TV will be purchased. Also, 1 yr old son may say "hey this cord looks great, why I dont I pull it to see what falls first, the iMac or AE". This question answers near-term questions as I expand devices and helps really prepair for my next 2-3 devices.

I understand the process of setup a seprate name for the 5GHz band. Guidance needed- How do you "point" the laptop to the 5GHz band. I've looked fo the option on my iMac (previos to hardwiring it) wiht no luck. My chaallenge is figuring out how have the laptop read adn connect to the 5GHz band automatically...I don't have the setup to automatically have devised choose which band whey would like to use. i've looked numerous arcieles and I can find where people describe in sufficien detail >>>>Please be as specific as possible on each step is required to get my laptop to recogize and connect with the 5GHz band.

Some addtl questions

1- Can I tell which devise is connected with an n, g, b, whatever band? I dont want anything degreading the bandwitch of the 2.4 GH2 band.

Can you tell which devises are using those bands (n,g, ?) bands. As i understand, in this specific case, if I have 20 different devisce all using the 4Ghz band, I want to make sure my laptop gets the best performance.

Thanks!

AirPort Extreme 802.11n (5th Gen), Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Mar 27, 2012 11:41 PM

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Answer 1

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,102 points

Mar 28, 2012 6:54 AM in response to b5280high

I've got the new Dual band n Airport Extreme (AE) that I would like to dedicate the 5GHz band to one specific devise and have all others use 2.4.

We can tell you exactly how to do this if your device is a Mac laptop, but cannot say whether this is even possible with a PC. Do you want the info on Mac?

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Answer 2

b5280high Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 28, 2012 7:51 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Thanks for the quick response.

The devise I want to dedicate the 5GHz band to is a PC, but as I thought through it, I'm pretty sure I know how to do it. However, I would love to know how to do the same on a Mac...thank you for forwarding the instructions.

I dont think the other question I posed earlier was worded correctly. I would like to see how (b/g or n) my other devises are connecting to the Airport Extreme. My understanding is that a router will use the lowest of the connections (if one devise is connecting via b, all other devises will connect b). If that is correct I would like to understand if a particular devise is pulling the router and all other devises down to it's band/rate/whatever the jargon is.

One other network question. My 2.4 GHz band is operating on channel 11 (default I think) and I've got 5 neighbors using the same channel for thier routers. I used a wi-fi analyzer to determine the best channel, and it indicated chanel 14 was the best. I only see channels 1-11 as options for the 2.4 band. Can I use channel 14 or is 11 the limit?

Thanks again for the help!

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Answer 3

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,102 points

Mar 28, 2012 8:19 AM in response to b5280high

You already have assigned a separate name to the 5 GHz band on the router, so to have a Mac connect to that band, you would do the following:

Open System Preferences (gear icon) on the dock

Open Network

Click on AirPort or Wi-Fi

Click Advanced at the lower right

Make sure that the name of the 5 GHz network is first in line at the top of the connection order list. Drag it to the top if it's not already there.

Delete any other networks that you no longer need by clicking on them to highlight them, and then clicking the - (minus) button at the bottom of the list.

Make sure that there is a check mark next to "Remember networks this computer has joined"

No other boxes should be checked

Then open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > KeyChain Access, locate the listing for the networks that you no longer needed, and delete the entry for each of them.

I would like to see how (b/g or n) my other devises are connecting to the Airport Extreme.

Open AirPort Utillty 5.x, select the AirPort Extreme, and click Manual Setup

Click on Wireless Clients about 2/3 of the way down the page

The window will display the MAC address of each wireless device along with info about the connection. You will need to do a bit of investigative work to figure out which MAC address matches up with each wireless device.

My understanding is that a router will use the lowest of the connections (if one devise is connecting via b, all other devises will connect b).

No, that is a common tale that we hear, but it is not correct. Each wireless device will connect to either 2.4 GHz or 5 Ghz based on its capabilities. It will do the same as far as whether it connects at "n", "g", or "b" speeds. For example, my laptop connects at "n" speeds while my old iPhone connects at "g" speed. The slower iPhone connection has virtually no impact on the "n" connection with the laptop.

I used a wi-fi analyzer to determine the best channel, and it indicated chanel 14 was the best.

If you are in the U.S. or Canada, then you can only use channels 1-11 on the 2.4 GHz band. The U.K. uses channels 1-13.

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Answer 4

b5280high Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 28, 2012 8:28 AM in response to Bob Timmons

So what's your consulting rate 🙂 you've answered questions that Apple Support (phone) couldnt (no knock against Apple phone support team).

RE: channels for the 2.4 GHz band. Given there are multiple routers (5-7) using channel 11, should I switch to another channel (6 seems to be the norm)? It appears (using my Wi-Fi analyzer) that as you go down in channels the signal is weaker. If my thoughts above are accurate the question becomes weather or not a less crowed but weaker signal is better in this case.

Thanks again for the help Bob!

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Answer 5

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,102 points

Mar 28, 2012 10:13 AM in response to b5280high

Most of the Wi-Fi channels overlap to some extent, so it's hard to pick a "best" channel. The only channels that do not overlap are 1, 6, and 11 in the U.S. Coincidentally, they are the most crowded.

Your Wi-Fi analyzer will provide some clues, but things around you are changing all the time. What might be a good channel today may be crowded in a few hours.

Most low priced utilities or scanners will not pick up "closed" networks....the name of the network remains invisible....a lot of users enable this option, so there are likely 20-30% more networks around you than you can "see".

The utilities/scanners will also not pick up the signals from cordeless phones or BlueTooth devices operating in the same 2.4 GHz region as wireless networks.

The bottom line....if you don't want to use the Automatic setting for Channel, or if it is not working well...is that you have to experiment to find a good channel.....and then be prepared to change it tomorrow.

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