chennybenny

Q: Are new wifi cards faster?

Hello all,

I recently bought the cheapest compatible WiFi card for my Mac Pro (BCM94321MC). After it arrived, I noticed that speeds were very slow and unacceptable at ~5MBS. Even my trusty iPhone 5 can get better speeds!

I was just wondering if I would benefit from getting a better WiFi card for my Mac would improve my WiFi speeds. I'm not sure why the Wifi is so slow, is it a bad location that I have my mac or maybe the Wifi card? I'm looking to buy the BCM94322MC but am open to suggestions for any compatible card.

Channel: 9 (2.4GHz, 20MHz)

RSSI: -69 dBm

Noise: -86 dBm

Tx Rate: 5Mbps

PHY Mode: 802.11n

MCS Index: 0

Thanks all.

Posted on May 15, 2016 9:01 PM

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Q: Are new wifi cards faster?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder May 15, 2016 9:06 PM in response to chennybenny
    Level 9 (60,692 points)
    Desktops
    May 15, 2016 9:06 PM in response to chennybenny

    based on those numbers, you are too far away from your Router -OR- in the case of a card you installed your self, you did not connect the correct antenna wires.

     

    You may have more problems once you get a better signal, but that one is not good enough, and a Router with the higher band as well will not be better enough.

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass May 16, 2016 12:49 AM in response to chennybenny
    Level 10 (187,928 points)
    Desktops
    May 16, 2016 12:49 AM in response to chennybenny

    Also, you are connected to a 2.4 GHz band of N. That card should support the 5 GHz band. Although the 5GHzband has less range because of higher frequency than 2.4 GHz it typically has fast speed. It is in my home.

    Does yo router support the 5 GHz N band?

    The 5 GHz AC is typically faster

    http://www.macvidcards.com/store/p33/Wifi_AC_and_Bluetooth_Airport_Card.html

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood May 19, 2016 5:02 AM in response to chennybenny
    Level 6 (9,230 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    May 19, 2016 5:02 AM in response to chennybenny

    It would be helpful to know which model of Mac Pro you have, this has an impact on which WiFi cards are supported.

     

    For what it's worth I have a Mac Pro 5,1 and upgraded it to the latest and fastest possible WiFi card available which is a 802.11AC card as would currently be fitted in the latest iMac. This would obviously cost a lot more than I suspect you paid.

     

    MacVidCards used to sell a kit containing such a card but have been out of stock for many, many months. However OSXWiFi do show they still have stock. See http://www.osxwifi.com

     

    Note: The card you have and the original card I had only has two antenna connectors, the new card I have has four antenna connectors however one of these four is for Bluetooth since this card also replaces/upgrades the Bluetooth as well. By having three instead of two WiFi antenna it further boosts the WiFi performance. My Mac Pro 5,1 like all 5,1 models came with three WiFi antenna already fitted one of which was deliberately unused but was therefore ready for this newer faster card.