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I bought a DLink DWA-552 PCI N-band adapter and it is able to see my DLINK-615 N-band without a problem.

I bought a Netgear 3700N and Linksys WRT-610N and my dlink adapter is not able to see the 5Ghz band on either router. I am only able to see the 2.4Ghz band , even at very close range.

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I would say it is because the DLink DWA-552 adapter doesn't support the 5 GHz band.

Looking at the specs for the adapter it says it supports IEEE 802.11n and IEEE 802.11g which is the first clue. Usually wireless devices which support the 5 GHz band also include support for 802.11a. Since this adapter does not, it calls into question whether it supports 5 GHz.

Then I noticed the next line or so down in the specs is Wireless Frequency Range: 2.4GHz to 2.4835GHz. Again, I don't see any claims for support for 5 GHz here.

Not all 802.11n adapters out there support both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. This looks to be one of them. It's one way to cut manufacturing costs, I suppose.

BTW, I don't understand the reference to you DLINK-615. The other two routers you mentioned are both simultaneous dual band routers. But the DLINK-615 only supports only the 2.4 GHz band. Right?

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that explains it then. It does appear that I am getting draft N-band bandwidth via the 2.4Ghz spectrum and so your comments validate what i am experiencing. When I bought this adapter that was sure misleading. Makes me want to return it. – djangofan Jun 30 '10 at 21:26
FWIW, a quick way to check if a wireless client adapter supports 5 GHz is to check for 802.11a support. If you don't see it, either look closer or just pass on the adapter. I suppose it's possible to build an adapter which supports 5 GHz in 802.11n but does not support 802.11a. But so far I haven't seen one that does this. (Then again, I really don't get out as much as I used to ... ;-) – irrational John Jun 30 '10 at 22:34
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