Help BT Infinity 2 - What Wireless Speed Can I Expect With My S2

[rozel]

Hi all

I took delivery and went "active" with BT's Infinity 2 Broadband, here in the UK the other day (78mbps up and 19mbps down - in theory). Using the usual speedtest.net measurement, the maximum I seem to be able to get with our S2's is about 10mbps down and 1mbps up.

I was sold the Infinity 2 on the basis that I will get a minimum of 58 down and 16 up. My PC is currently getting 75 down and 15.5 up so very pleased there and downloading via newsgroups is getting me a stable 80 down woohoo!

In our family we have 2 x S2's and 1 x S4.

I was under the impression that S2's could receive a 5ghz signal if my Router transmitted this - it does - the Standard BT Home Hub 4. It of course also transmits the usual 2.4ghz too.

Messing about with my S2's settings doesn't reveal anything where I can connect at 5 ghz - usually, I think, you select the screen of wifi networks, Menu and Advanced whereupon people on the net say you can choose between 2.4, 5 or "auto".

I do not get this option and so am connecting at 2.4ghz.

The reason I am posting this is because the maximum speed our mobiles can download at is about 10/14mbps. 14 with the S4 and 10 for the S2's.

As far as I can make out, the S2 can in theory download at up to 65mbps - indeed when connected the wifi connection says "connected at 65mbps".

So why are we only getting 10 or 14 mbps? Is this something to do with the connection frequency or something else?

Can we connect at 5ghz here in the UK? - if not, is this why the option to connect at this frequency is not available?

HELP !!!!!

 

[rozel]

I have managed to sort some of my problem - the HH4 was set by the engineer to "Mixed-mode WPA & WPA/WPA2". Just set it to WPA2 only and voila! I am getting over 33mbps down now

However I think I could squeeze some more out if I could connect at 5Ghz.

Seems the problem I am having is solely down to the lack of options on my phone.

Not sure if this is a bug - there is a band switcher apk over at xda but I am not sure about installing it.

Has everyone got the option to connect both to 2.4, 5 and Auto ? This option is missing on my 4.1.2

Would like somebody to reply please

Further update...............

I have set separate SSID's on my router, one for the 2.4ghz transmission and a different one for the 5ghz one. My S2 sees both but will only connect to the 2.4ghz SSID. It simply refuses to connect to the 5ghz SSID - it tries but fails at authentication and after several attempts gives up.

There seems much written about this - the S2 definately is dual band or so I have read. That said was it only the later phones which had this? I seem to have unearthed a can of worms here and would like some experts to chip in they can please?

TAIA

 

[rozel]

Problem solved!!!

I am a complete moron in that this morning I had saved to clipboard my Router's password and when pasting it into the SSID for the 5Ghz connection, I completely forgot that I had saved something else into the clipboard - a lengthy url!

Just checked, inserted the correct password and it connected in an instant! Job done It still tries to connect to the 2.4Ghz SSID first though and would have liked the option in the phones "Advanced" Settings, but oh well, you can't have everything.

So what have I found? Really no speed difference but 5 Ghz seems slicker and snappier whilst browsing. We shall see.

I have a large house and am getting the drift that 5Ghz may not travel as well through walls as a 2.4 Ghz signal. In the landing at the top the stairs in our property, I have set up an "Extender" for use with wifi devices in the upstairs of our house. It worked quite well this morning but that was before I had tweaked the wifi encryption. I am keen to try this out but it will only work with the 2.4 connection.

Have heard a lot of bad things about the BT HH4 but so far it is doing what it says it will do on the tin.

Hope this all helps some others.

 

[Slug]

Really no speed difference but 5 Ghz seems slicker and snappier whilst browsing. We shall see.

There's no difference in theoretical max throughput between 2.4GHz and 5GHz, but the 5GHz band is (currently) much less congested so you may experience less packet drops and other symptoms.

I have a large house and am getting the drift that 5Ghz may not travel as well through walls as a 2.4 Ghz signal.

The shorter wavelength 5GHz signal doesn't penetrate solid walls as well as the 2.4GHz one for sure.

If you want to maximise throughput, and possibly annoy your neighbours into the bargain, try doubling the channel width to 40MHz (if available with your router). This is quite feasible with the 5GHz band but be warned, on 2.4GHz you'll end up occupying over 80% of the band which can interfere with not only other nearby users but also Bluetooth devices, home automation systems and other wireless devices. In theory you could achieve up to 600Mbps with a MIMO-compliant router that can xmit and receive on four antenna and send/receive four data streams.

 

[rozel]

Thanks for confirming what I have found Slug. Outside of the room where my router lives, connection to the 5Ghz SSID is almost impossible so I would say it doesn't travel at all!

My extender however is working flawlessly now and much better than when I was using my Netgear WNR3500 Router. The HH4 Hub seems to play better with it. There is some overhead with extenders but the higher speed I started with means in my remotest bedroom, I still get speeds of 10mbps which is more than adequate for my use.

Definately the move from Mixed Mode WPA/WPA2 to WPA2 only has made the biggest speed difference throughout our property