Channel bonding can push your network speed to its theoretical limit
An 802.11n Wi-Fi network connection supports as much as three hundred Mbps of rated theoretical bandwidth under exceptional case situations. However, an 802.11n link will occasionally operate at plenty decrease speeds like one hundred fifty Mbps and below.
For an 802.11n connection to run at its maximum pace, Wireless-N broadband routers and network adapters need to be linked and running in what’s called channel bonding mode.
802.11n and Channel Bonding
In 802.11n, bonding makes use of adjoining Wi-Fi channels simultaneously to double the bandwidth of the wi-fi link as compared to 802.11b/g. The 802.11n fashionable specifies 300 Mbps theoretical bandwidth is to be had when the use of channel bonding. Without it, about 50 percentage of this bandwidth is lost (truly barely more due to protocol overhead concerns), and in the ones instances, 802.11n equipment will normally report connections in the a hundred thirty-150 Mbps rated variety.
Channel bonding appreciably increases the chance of interfering with nearby Wi-Fi networks due to the expanded spectrum and strength it consumes.
Setting Up 802.11n Channel Bonding
802.11n products generally do not permit channel bonding by using default however as an alternative run in conventional single-channel mode to maintain the risk of interference low. Both the router and wirelessNN customers must be configured to run in a channel bonding mode together to achieve any overall performance benefit.
The steps to configure channel bonding vary depending on the product. The software program will from time to time refer to unmarried channel mode as 20 MHz operations (20 MHz being the width of a Wi-Fi channel) and channel bonding mode as 40 MHz operations.
TIP:Consult your router’s documentation for precise instructions approximately activating channel-bonding mode.
Limitations of 802.11n Channel Bonding
802.11n equipment can ultimately fail to run in the most (300 Mbps) performance variety for those reasons:
- Some 802.11n tools can’t guide channel bonding. For instance, this mode of wireless signaling is government-regulated in positive countries just like the UK.
- If the 802.11n community consists of any 802.11b/g customers, the overall performance of the complete community might be negatively affected, depending at the router’s capabilities. Because 802.11b/g clients do now not help channel bonding, those should be installation properly with a combined mode Wireless N router to minimize performance impact.
- Interference from different 802.11n networks nearby can prevent a Wireless N router from maintaining channel bonded connections. In reality, some Wireless N routers automatically fall returned to single channel operation when they locate wi-fi interference on the channels.
- Even if a connection is able to jogging at three hundred Mbps, it does not mean that gadgets can down load and upload records that speedy. One essential purpose for that is that the ISP subscription would not allow for speeds that excessive (like if you’re most effective purchasing 100 Mbps).
As with different networking requirements, programs going for walks on an 802.11n network will normally see significantly less actual bandwidth than the rated maximums suggest inspite of channel bonding in location. A 300 Mbps rated 802.11n connection will frequently yield 2 hundred Mbps or less of consumer facts throughput.
Single Band vs. Dual Band 802.11n
Some Wireless N routers (so-called N600 merchandise) promote it guide for 600 Mbps speeds. These routers do no longer offer 600 Mbps of bandwidth on a single connection but as an alternative 300 Mbps channel bonded connections on every of the two.Four GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands.