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I'm running a network in my house with a single-band router, but have both 802.11n and g devices. As such, as far as I can tell, my network drops down to g speeds (54Mbps) whenever I use a g device on the network - losing out on approx 250Mbps of bandwidth.

I have a second single-band access point and I want to be able to separate my n and g traffic: is this possible? I know it's possible with a dual-band AP, but I'm trying to avoid spending more money when I have 2 APs lying around.

I could also use two different SSIDs, one for n and one for g - but then that involves essentially having 2 different networks to set up on any n device, meaning I need to share two passwords and log into two networks, then set the n to take priority. I'd rather use the same SSID, but one AP transmitting n and the other on g. Will this work? I'm assuming it could cause problems where the device connects to the g network if it's got a stronger signal, but I don't mind that occasionally as long as it will normally connect to the "right" access point.

Will it work? Are there any other potential problems?

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  • You should be able to set both APs to the same SSID, different channels, force N-mode on one and B/G on the other.
    – Brad
    May 5, 2012 at 19:46
  • actually, only the computer using the N device loses out on that bandwidth, and then it is only the bandwidth between that device and that router (or that router and anything else the router is hard wired to). You can't move files at N speeds between you and a computer connected with a G device. Your Internet Connection is probably not even close to G speeds... so although you may be technically losing bandwith, you are losing something you never use.
    – Bon Gart
    May 5, 2012 at 21:21
  • Bon - I see where you're coming from, but I'm not on a 2 machine system. I've got reasonably heavy network traffic (movie streaming, gaming, TV recording, backups) between 4 machines running wireless N - a server and 3 clients. It would be worthwhile offloading the N traffic to allow the G clients to run at higher speed, and to allow the N traffic to run at full speed when I attach G devices Plus my internet is faster than G. Here's a speedtest from a couple of days ago - I'm running through my Uni LAN which can hit 95Mbps (both DL & UL) at peak. speedtest.net/result/1930629557.png
    – Jon Story
    May 5, 2012 at 22:29
  • In that case, I definitely see why you'd feel the loss and want to get the connection speeds up as fast as possible. I think BJ292's solution is the way to go.
    – Bon Gart
    May 5, 2012 at 23:09

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If I was going to do this I'd configure the 2APs with different SSIDs but the same password. I'd restrict the primary AP to 802.11n only if possible. Let the router do DHCP so turn off on the APs. Stick the secondary AP on channel 1 or 11. You probably won't see a huge improvement in service but it is always worth trying.

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