There ’s no engineering simultaneously more useful and thwarting than Wi - Fi . Wireless local area networking should n’t be projectile science at this point , even though it need diabolical deliberation and progressively sophisticated physics .
While set up a Wi - Fi meshing has become simpler over time and networks more honest , when a connection does n’t work , you could tear your hair out . This might explicate my expanding frontal bone blank .
I have n’t yet been able to crack why some group O cristal user uphold to have connection issue with Yosemite . In successive update , Apple has apparently solved frequent disconnect topic for some user , but they persist .
However , in this newspaper column I walk through a mystery direct by a colleague that , in the unconscious process of working out , will allow for a lot of insight for those of you inconvenience by the brokenheartedness of inconsistent conditions that ruin streaming .
Google for it
Aaron in Kansas City , a longtime email and Twitter booster , wrote in to brag about his Google Fiber throughput . No , await , he did n’t ( but I can still be jealous of gigabit broadband ) . Rather , his Google - supply Wi - Fi router was n’t playing courteous with an raiment of Macs and Apple base stations . Despite have a get at torrent of bandwidth , Aaron could n’t get reproducible , hiccup - spare cyclosis , among other problems , whether he used AirPlay or Rogue Amoeba’sAirfoil .
A immediate spot of background . Wi - Fi works in two different frequency band , 2.4 gigahertz ( gigacycle per second ) and 5 GHz . Each band is divided up into communication channel to allow multiple connection to operate in the same surface area without causing unmediated interference . Apple started adding support for 5 gigacycle per second networking in 2006 with the Intel processor switchover . Apple get ship coincident dual - set fundament station in 2008 — 1 that could make two web at once , one in each frequency range .
The 2.4 gigacycle per second ring is congested , but work well through walls and over farsighted distance ; 5 GHz ca n’t penetrate solidness as well but has relatively few user . Shorter distance entail less congestion , because few adjacent web interfere .
Aaron has a admixture of old and new Macs , his old being a 2006 MacBook , plus some iOS devices . All MacBooks support both frequency set , the first contemporaries to do so . All the troubleshooting advice I seek with Aaron would work with anyone ’s internet . I started out with the usual :
Consider whether interference is an issue . If you ’re near an industrial area , some microwave oven sealers and other equipment can ptyalise out noise in the 2.4 gigahertz dance band . Near a hospital or corporate campus ? Their internet might whelm yours or , using techniques the FCC seemingly has now found invalid , may attempt to shut down “ rogue ” networks — any net that the system ca n’t discover as its own but which has a signal that their sensors can measure .
It ’s unacceptable without a spectrum analyser or specialized whiff software to see what ’s in truth happening in these bands , but you could get a survey of what other Wi - Fi electronic web are present with Apple ’s built - in Wireless Diagnostics in OS 10 oriStumbler($25 ) . Apple ’s program can be launch by holding down Option , select the Wi - Fi computer menu , and choosing Wireless Diagnostics . Then pick Scan from the Windows menu .
you could scan for networks in your vicinity with Wireless Diagnostics .
burst the 2.4 gigahertz and 5 GHz set . Nearly all modern 802.11n and 802.11ac routers , those using the latest two Wi - Fi specifications , accept connections simultaneously over both frequency bands using the same electronic web name . However , you could make unequalled connection names . This lets you hale a computer or fluid gadget to connect to 5 GHz , which might be preferred to reduce interference or produce high throughput .
AirPort Utility lets you set the name of a 5 gigacycle per second net on an individual basis from the 2.4 GHz web .
In AirPort Utility , pick out a bag post , fall into place Edit , click the Wireless tab , and then click Wireless Options . suss out the 5 GHz internet Name , and enter a unique name . Click Save and then Update , and the base station restarts . Now pick out the 5 GHz connection name from any devices you want to force onto the 5 GHz connection , and take away the original connection name .
In iOS , tap the i release next to the web you want to remove , and then tap blank out This web . corroborate by tapping Forget . In OS X , in connection Preferences , select the Wi - Fi adaptor , click Advanced , select the connection in the Preferred Networks list , and then click the – ( the minus sign ) and confirm by tick Remove . Click OK , and then click Apply .
Remove an unwanted Wi - Fi internet to prevent an automatic connexion .
you may also employ AirPort Utility to see what stripe and at what speed any given machine has connected . snap a base station , oscillate over a name in the Wireless Client lists , and you ’ll get a popover . The PHY label will say b / 1000 / n for 2.4 gigahertz and a / n or a / n / ac for 5 gigacycle per second .
check that your ethernet cables are n’t twisted or degraded . A sorry or fail cable can still work — it ’s not an all or nothing proposal . But you ’ll see strangely humbled or discrepant rates . Examine your overseas telegram between a broadband modem and a router , and if you have a spare , try swapping out cables to see if your problems disappear . This has solved some baffling consistence takings for me after all else has break down . ( Also , you need what is hollo Category 5E or Category 6 telegraph — Cat5E and Cat6 for short . Monoprice sell a 7 - invertebrate foot Cat6 ethernet line for $ 1.67 , for case . Older “ Cat5 ” will by and large figure out , but it ’s not guaranteed to be up to the task , especially over longer ravel . )
With multiple groundwork stations , verify they ’re all using the same certificate . In trouble-shoot Aaron ’s mystery story , I may have solve one of my own . We have three base station in my modestly sized sign so as to fill up in poor coverage areas at polar ends of our part finished basement . The automatic handoff ( roaming ) , that ’s supposed to do work seamlessly , fails frequently .
I find that my principal foundation post was using motley WPA / WPA2 Personal security , a bequest mode that supports really quondam Macs and other gadget , while the other two base place used WPA2 Personal . I update the configuration on the main base station , and the roaming problems have appear to disappear .
Unfortunately , none of these suggestions help Aaron .
The signal is coming from inside the house
Aaron turned to local family - theater specializer for help . This profession has grown in jump and bound over the last several year as many hoi polloi have bought an interconnected array of equipment and installed 5.1 or 7.1 verbaliser system of rules . Such installers now have to be electronic internet Guru , too , because so many devices are Internet or electronic internet capable .
Using a site - survey shaft , his advisor found 19 networks seeable from Aaron ’s house . The 2.4 GHz set used for Wi - Fi has 14 numbered canal , 11 of which are sound to apply in America . ( Various channels are available in dissimilar state . ) However , adjacent channels all overlap a routine , and can make web lag . Channels 1 , 6 , and 11 mostly do not overlap , and Aaron ’s installer find that all web he get word in a CAT scan were on those three groove and most on television channel 11 . This amount of co - channel usage can definitely kink up dependable throughput .
The installer move Aaron ’s 2.4 gigahertz networks from distribution channel 11 to 8 , and fixed a configuration problem that properly split the 2.4 and 5 GHz networks into two unique names . That seems to have done the trick : no more audio stuttering . I typically do n’t urge using any but channels 1 , 6 , or 11 , because any other distribution channel interferes with and is interfered from the overlap of at least two other channels ’ dealings ( 1 and 6 or 6 and 11 ) .
There ’s one more trick Aaron did n’t employ , but it ’s utilitarian to know . It ’s a little - screw fact outside of Wi - Fi nerd dress circle that some 5 GHz channels utilise much higher - signal strength to send information than others . The low - count channel uncommitted in many country ( 36 , 40 , 44 , and 48 ) can use just 5 percent — yes , 1/20th!—of the big businessman of a high - count line ( 149 , 153 , 157 , and 161 ) under American rule .
With the nonremittal machinelike canal setting , a base station will almost always beak a low - keep down channel whenever it ’s restarted . If you engage the channel to 149 or above , you could often staggeringly protract the internet ’s range — though you may then interfere with neighbor ’ networks , which can reduce both networks ’ maximum throughput .
To change the channel with an Apple base station for either 2.4 GHz or 5 Gc , follow the steps as above to set a 5 Gc internet name , and you ’ll see pop - up options for 2.4 gigahertz Channel and 5 GHz Channel . If these are put to Automatic , pluck channels base on a sketch you ’ve done with iStumbler or Wireless Diagnostics , and then click Save and Update to re-start the al-Qaeda post with the Modern configurations .
limit the 5 gigacycle channel to one of the higher Book of Numbers ups transmittal might by up to 20 time that of the lower - numbered channels .
Wi - Fi in world-wide and Apple in picky need Wi - Fi to crop without any extra configuration . A few mouse click , a selection , and go ! Thus , when something ’s awry it ’s often quite obscure or maddening because it ’s so far out of the norm . Aaron had to call in expert , but now you ’re equipped to harness the challenge solo .
