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I have an Apple Airport Extreme 802.11ac wireless router at home and am only connecting at a max of speed of 72Mbps (usually closer to 11Mbps if I'm more than 20 feet away from the WAP). I have two other 802.11ac laptops at home (Samsung AB9+ and rMBP) and my two other computers are connecting up at 800Mbps+ and pulling down the same on Internet speed tests; yes, I have real GigE connectivity. Is anyone else having these problems?
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Could you post the same picture but using different SSID for both bands? I'm just curious.
Sure thing. Here's the same setup except the 5 GHz band has a dedicated SSID, and both machines are closer to the router.
So much better...!
For what I can see your MBA went from the 500s to the 700s. So having the same SSID in both bands does not sound to me a good idea. 😉
Also I notice that for a surface pro 3 a "microsoft" product they should have more options on the drivers option tab. A cheap generic wireless ac card have more options on the driver than an expensive "microsoft" product. Not good!
I honestly believe that this behavior is intentional. Microsoft seems to be trying to focus on stability and low power consumption versus full speed performance. I still think that they should give us some sort of software toggle regarding hidden options.
I have a sp3 with the 9/9/14 firmware update...at home I have no problem, IF i have one ssid for the 2ghz band and a complete different ssid for the 5 ghz band. If i choose to connect to the 5ghz ssid it connects at 866mbps, in other words wireless AC.
At work is another story we have multiple access points using the same SSID for both bands. It seems like when you have the same ssid for both bands its automatically selects the 2ghz band in lieu of the 5ghz band. Its kind of funny that we put an access point right beside the surface at only 5ghz band. The others access points had 2ghz band and 5ghz band no matter how many times i disconnect and connect the wifi and connect to the same ssid it automatically select one of the access points on 2ghz band even if it was 100 feet or more away. We disconnect that access point and automatically select another access point that was on the same 2 ghz band that was a little closer.
So in other words the surface pro 3 behavior is that is selecting the 2 ghz band not the 5ghz if the ssid are the same. The only way to force it is to create a different ssid for 5 ghz band. Thats why you only see 144mbps or less using the same ssid because i guess is using Wireless N 2ghz at 150 mbps. Wireless AC does not work on 2ghz band.
Those are my finding. I dont know why Microsoft have taken son long to fix this issue. I don't think is hard to fix. Other wireless AC adapters have better logic on selecting the best connection.
I have been seeing the same exact issue with my home network. For now, i've split it into 2 frequencies, but i *really* don't think thats an acceptable solution - the network adapter should always choose the best frequency, and with all my other dual band devices in my house, that's always 5ghz.
So - Microsoft, at the very least, please allow a setting in the driver configuration so that I can specify to use the 5ghz band on a combined SSID....or better yet, fix the logic :-)
I have a sp3 with the 9/9/14 firmware update...at home I have no problem, IF i have one ssid for the 2ghz band and a complete different ssid for the 5 ghz band. If i choose to connect to the 5ghz ssid it connects at 866mbps, in other words wireless AC.
At work is another story we have multiple access points using the same SSID for both bands. It seems like when you have the same ssid for both bands its automatically selects the 2ghz band in lieu of the 5ghz band. Its kind of funny that we put an access point right beside the surface at only 5ghz band. The others access points had 2ghz band and 5ghz band no matter how many times i disconnect and connect the wifi and connect to the same ssid it automatically select one of the access points on 2ghz band even if it was 100 feet or more away. We disconnect that access point and automatically select another access point that was on the same 2 ghz band that was a little closer.
So in other words the surface pro 3 behavior is that is selecting the 2 ghz band not the 5ghz if the ssid are the same. The only way to force it is to create a different ssid for 5 ghz band. Thats why you only see 144mbps or less using the same ssid because i guess is using Wireless N 2ghz at 150 mbps. Wireless AC does not work on 2ghz band.
Those are my finding. I dont know why Microsoft have taken son long to fix this issue. I don't think is hard to fix. Other wireless AC adapters have better logic on selecting the best connection.
