iPhones will not connect 802.11n

I knew the iphones were only 2.4ghz. I thought that, even though I am broadcasting a 5ghz only ssid, that my AE is still broadcasting the a/b/g/n on 2.4ghz??

I thought with 802.11a/n - 802.11b/g it would still do N on 2.4ghz as well? but I guess, based on what you said above that, with my setting, it is broadcasting 802.11a/n (5ghz) and 802.11b/g (2.4ghz)?

Cannot it not to N on both 2.4ghz and 5ghz?

Thanks Tesserax. I was looking at trying to do that. Every device in my house supports 802.11n, but I did want to keep the b/g just in case. The problem is, I do not see the option you describe above, 802.11n - 802.11b/g/n.

above was a typo, i meant 802.11a/n - 802.11b/g/n at the end

ah I just noticed, in airport 5.6 automatic does not tell you the actually broadcasts. I checked in 6.1 and it says 802.11a/n - 802.11b/g/n (automatic). so I guess the setting for me is automatic then?

another note, is broadcasting a 5hgz network a bad thing?

Tesserax wrote:

Sorry, I meant to tell you to hold down the Option key BEFORE attempting to make a Radio Mode selection. You should now be greeted with additional modes to choose from.

wo, you just blew my mind with that bit of into

do you know of any good guide that covers things like that? Like I said, I am still pretty new to airport and all of my searching around about the AE has not told me that.

i set it to 802.11n (5ghz) - 802.11b/g/n.

now I see my mbp is on the 5ghz network and my iphones are on 802.11b/g/n. is there any way to know if it is b, g, or n?

Thanks again, Tesserax.

So I set the AE to (N 5ghz and b/g/n 2.4ghz). 5ghz only network ssid broadcast (in wireless network options) is disabled.

so on the first floor of my house, near the router, I see my mbp elects for the 5ghz n. when i move to the third floor, I notice it switches from the 5ghz n to 2.4 ghz b/g/n (not unexpected because of the range). what is odd is if I turn on a broadcasted ssid for 5ghz only (in wireless network options) and leave the broadcast setting the same, I pick up the 5ghz N ssid full strength on the third floor and can connect to it.

why will it connect 5ghz n if i broadcast it with its own ssid on my third floor but not if its under the general broadcast of (5ghz n or 2.4 ghz b/g/n)?

Thanks again

sorry. I didn't mean to disable SSID broadcast; my experience with doing that is it has never mixed well with my macs. SSID broadcast is enabled.

I was referring to when you enabled the setting on the wireless tab in the "wireless network options" dialog box that will enable broadcasting a second SSID for a 5ghz only network (along with your regular SSID broadcast). For example, the two broadcast SSIDs would be;

phil178821 (which is set to 5ghz n and 2.4ghz b/g/n)

and

phil178821 5Ghz (which is 5ghz N only)

What I was trying to described before is if I am sitting close to my router (15ft) and I am broadcasting just one SSID (my normal 802.11n - 802.11b/g/n), my MBP will connect to the 5ghz 802.11n. If I moved up three floors in the house, my MBP will change connection to 802.11b/g/n. With that, my understanding is that it is now connected via 802.11n 2.4ghz. Because it defaulted to the 2.4ghz frequency, I figured I was out of range of the 5ghz network. However, if I go into my AE settings and enable broadcast of a second SSID for a 5ghz N network (as described above), my MBP will pick it up at full strength and connect to it.

So I guess my question is. Why will the MBP opt for 2.4ghz when I broadcast one SSID, if I know 5ghz is still in range since the MBP will connect to it if I enable it with a second SSID in the AE options (recall, the MBP will chose the 5Ghz frequency closer to the AE, e ven when only one SSID is broadcasted)?

hopefully I am explaining this well enough. Thanks for your help.