Re: What speed is the wireless on my laptop?

On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 2:37 PM, Lukas Beeler <lukas.beeler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

wrote:

On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 20:10, Dan <dan27649@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 18:00, Dan <dan27649@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I'm using a Lenovo ThinkPad T61, which has an Intel 4965AG adapter.

That's a 4965AGN, stripped of 802.11n functionality.

Kind of figured that, but there's no clear documentation on that. If you
search for 4965AG on Intel's website, you get the specs for 4965AGN.

Look at the HW Service Manual:

http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/42x3546_03.pdf

It *is* an 4965AGN, but with the .n part disabled.

It helps if I look in the right place! So it sounds like Intel never made a
4965AG before they made a 4965AGN; I figured the latter was just an upgrade
to the former. Any idea why they would disable the 'n'? (Maybe not ready
for prime time? It looks like 'n' was just formally approved a few months
ago.)

>> No. But a router that is capable of 802.11a (basically, 5Ghz 802.11g)

will perform better, because fewer people use the 5Ghz band.

O.k., this is where I got messed up. I made the bad presumption that the

a,

b, g, n amendments each represented an upgrade on the data transfer rate.

a: 5Ghz, 54mbit (Not widely used)
b: 2.4 Ghz, 11mbit
g: 2.4 Ghz 54mbit
n: 2.4 Ghz, 5 Ghz, 150 Mbit, 300 Mbit, 450 Mbit, 600 Mbit. And there's
a lot of draft-n equipment out there that won't play nice with other
802.11n devices.

As you can see, 802.11n is a real mess. You really need to be VERY
careful when buying an 802.11n device.

'b' sounds like a step down from 'a'! What was up with that?

802.11n is also available in 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz modes.

Do these have to be mutually exclusive or can the same 'n' device have both
modes? In case you have a laptop like mine stuck at 2.4GHz and another
laptop that can use the 5GHz? John, you make a good point for considering
'n' right now for just that reason.

Thanks again, gentlemen! I learned a lot!

- Dan