I think the newer Macs and iOS devices are dual band. The problem is you can't tell them which band to use, so they connect to the strongest signal. Unfortunately, that doesn't always mean the "better" signal.
-Brian From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Coehoorn, Joel Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2011 10:11 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Disappointing numbers of 5ghz clients There was another thread on this same listserv -a month or two back basically complaining about the lack of consumer laptops with 5ghz radios. When your average student or parent goes to buy a laptop for college, pretty much everything they see is still 2.4Ghz. Even if they're looking for 5Ghz (and few do), most laptops just advertise for b/g/n and don't otherwise tell you what spectrum it will use. The result is exactly what you're seeing: the cleaner 5Ghz band is barely used, and students complain about throughput on 2.4Ghz. Hopefully by next year's buying season we're seeing more 5Ghz laptops in the market, but even then it will take a while before your upperclassmen have the technology. Joel Coehoorn IT Director 402.363.5603 On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 9:05 AM, Jennifer Francis Wilson <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Anyone happy with the numbers of 5ghz clients connecting to their networks, compared to 2.4ghz clients? I'm only seeing around 25% of clients on 5ghz, despite having a decent density of dual radio 2.4/5ghz APs with band select switched on. A reasonable percentage of the 5ghz clients are from laptops we loan out which we know connect to 5ghz most of the time. Most clients seem to either not be 5ghz capable or their wireless NICs/drivers aren't choosing the 5ghz signal. (we have 802.11n on both 2.4 and 5ghz, with 20mhz channels on 5ghz and use the same ssids on both bands) Jen. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
