How to connect to wireless n

I have a wireless n capable laptop Win 8. I have just bought a dual band Billion router. Having set it up both wireless lights are lit indicating both wireless nets are active.

During set up I made sure the SSID of each network was different. I can't see the 5 GHz one in the list of available networks. However it is present when using a Vista laptop (not n capable).

Using InSSIDer version 3 on the Win 8 laptop. I can't see the 5GHz.

Edited by wingco1 (Thu 25-Apr-13 13:49:31)

Are you sure the wireless card supports 5Ghz? Also note some chipsets that do NOT support 5Ghz will happily display the SSID even though it is a 5Ghz one, which leads to confusion as it will fail to connect.

To be quite honest I'm not sure.

802.11bgn, 2x2, dual band delivers up to 300 Mbps speed and greater range and reliability. Energy efficient 2 for greater mobility and convenience.

I thought that was what 'dual band' meant. Am I wrong?

Is that on your router on Win8 laptop?

It sounds to me like your WIndows 8 laptop isn't equipped with a wireless card that can support 5Ghz. Try and find out the make of the wireless card and then google it to see if it does support 5Ghz.

Your vista laptop might also not support it but it might be one of those devices that can pick up the SSID but just can't connect to it.

That's on the Win 8 laptop. It's not clear to me at all. I know the Vista machine doesn't, it's too old.

It's not a great problem, I just thought the Win 8 machine would support it.

Can you confirm that the W8 laptop will automatically connect to the 802.11n router using wireless n?

Edited by wingco1 (Thu 25-Apr-13 18:39:33)

According to this Intel document the Win8 laptop should work on Wireless N but definitely will NOT work in the 5GHz band.

Try traking all encryption off and see if you can get a connection then.

I suspect "dual band" is being abused by marketing plonkers to mean "using twice the bandwidth" on some of the more antisocial versions of 802.11n

For 5 GHz you need 802.11a which wasn't on your list.

In reference to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11#802.11n:

802.11n is an amendment which improves upon the previous 802.11 standards by adding multiple-input multiple-output antennas (MIMO). 802.11n operates on both the 2.4 GHz and the lesser used 5 GHz bands.

Thanks all.

wouldn't you expect to see 802.11a compatibility if the kit did 5 GHz ?

So you're saying that if it supports 802.11n at 5Ghz then it should also support 802.11a?
Dunno.

Yeah your wireless card does not support 5Ghz.

5Ghz is terrible at getting through walls anyway. You might be better taking the router back and getting a 2.4 Ghz only device if you want to save some dollar.

There is two kinds of 5Ghz

Basically there is older laptops like your vista one. These will support likely 54Mbps on 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz.

Newer laptops are usually 75Mbps, 150Mbps or 300 Mbps on wireless N 2.4 ghz. No 5ghz.
All apple laptops etc that's not older than 3/4 years old works on 5Ghz and 2.4 generally.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Fri 26-Apr-13 00:19:44)

well b/g/n suggests full backward compatibility at 2.4 so why not a/n at 5

at the ragged edges of range it has fallen back to the older / simpler coding methods anyway.

Yes. Dual Band (as in 2.4GHz and 5GHz) wireless n devices are backwards compatible with 802.11a. It is a requirement of the 802.11n standard. (802.11a compatibility is not required in 2.4Ghz only devices and 802.11b/g compatibility is not required in 5GHz only devices)