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Purhonen

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I have a 2007 HP laptop running Windows 7. Recently had Google Fiber Internet hooked up (100 Mbps).

Google Network box has two frequencies: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.

My iPhone 7+ and iPad Mini 4 (both running IOS 11.0.3) both receive both frequencies.

My HP laptop picks up only the 2.4 GHz channel.

Why? My guess is my laptop hardware (the NIC) is too old. Could that be it?

Thanks, Steve

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securitybreach

You can get a nice usb wifi stick for pretty cheap nowadays. There are many available for under $20 from amazon: https://goo.gl/gUeufQ

 

BTW I am very envious of you being able to get Google Fiber where you live. The fastest I can get in New Orleans is 300 mbps down (I usually get around 440) and 30 up. I would love to be able to get gigabit speeds but I just looked again and you said "100 mbps", is that right?? I didn't realize that they had lower speeds.

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It should be noted that 5GHz is not necessarily better. While it tends to be less crowded because fewer devices use it, it also has less range because it is less able to penetrate common barriers like walls, floors and ceilings without significant signal attenuation.

 

While 5GHz can [in theory] support speeds up to 1300Mbps, 2.4GHz can still support up to 600Mbps which is nothing to sneeze at and still 6 times faster than your Internet connection. If you live in a house (vs a large apartment complex), it is not likely you will notice any difference if you get 5GHz adapter. While your 100Mbps Internet connection is still very impressive, it is still a bottleneck compared to your local network (everything on your side of the modem) speeds.

 

If you really want to open the floodgates between your 2.4GHz notebook and your gateway device (the fiber modem/router), go Ethernet instead. With its theoretical speeds up to 1000Mbps over wire, there are no worries of interference or signal attenuation from barriers and of course, less security concerns too.

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Thanks for everyone's feedback - you confirmed my suspicions that my hardware is almost as old as I am.

 

SECURITYBREACH: I live in a 40-unit condo and Google wired the entire building last Spring for FREE. They offer three services: a TV package, 100MBps Internet and 1GBps Internet. The slower is $50/month and the faster is $70/month.

Thanks for the link, I think I'll give the old laptop a nice, shiny new accessory.

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securitybreach

Thanks for everyone's feedback - you confirmed my suspicions that my hardware is almost as old as I am.

 

SECURITYBREACH: I live in a 40-unit condo and Google wired the entire building last Spring for FREE. They offer three services: a TV package, 100MBps Internet and 1GBps Internet. The slower is $50/month and the faster is $70/month.

Thanks for the link, I think I'll give the old laptop a nice, shiny new accessory.

 

That's a pretty good deal really. I pay $90 just for internet and I get 450 down and 30 up.

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