I've been having issues connecting to wifi access points, and I am wondering if the band is messing things up. How do I tell what band a wifi connection is using on the laptop if I don't have access to the router settings?
MacOS – How to tell if the MBA (Mavericks) is connected to the 2.4 or 5 ghz network
macoswifi
Related Solutions
Things to check:
- If you are using WIFI only, you need to set the Service Order and the first will be your WIFI.
From System Preferences > Network
Then Click "Set Service Order"
Drag and drop the WIFI connection to the top of the order list
- On your Network Settings > Wifi > Advanced > DNS, add your Router IP there.
HTH
You can not tell from the iPhone directly (as of iOS version 7 native). You should be able to tell via the wireless router your connected to in it's logging functions, WiFi client list or some similar mechanism within the router. I can't provide you an exact process as every router is different. This answer assumes you do not want to JailBreak your iPhone. If you are not adverse to doing so there may be an app in the Cydia app store that will show more meaningful information with regard to WiFi frequency information.
You can however detect what cell tower frequency your phone uses by using Field Test mode. This will special mode allows users to find out a range of information about the phone’s connection to the network. In particular, the information displayed in the Field Test mode allows users to discover exactly which tower their phone is connecting to and which frequency band (WiFi) the signals are being sent on.
To access this mode:
- Access the iPhone's Field Test mode by typing
*3001#12345#*in the phone’s keypad and press dial. This will bring up the Field Test menu. - Select the “Cell Information” menu option to display a summary of all nearby towers. The “RX” code displays the signal strength of each tower. These RX values are dBm signal strength readings, where lower values means strong signal (so -60 signifies stronger signal than -80). The towers are listed by signal strength, and the top tower is usually the tower your phone is connecting to.
- Selecting the first tower will take you to a further menu that displays more specific information. The “Freq” value shows the frequency block that the network is using. If the Freq number is between 128 and 251, the tower is using the 850 MHz Cellular band. If the Freq number is between 512 and 810, the tower is using the 1900MHz PCS band.
Best Answer
Option + Wifi Menu
Hold the Option key down and select your WiFi icon in the menu bar ( ⌥ +
).
Additional information in the menu includes “Channel:” and (5 GHz) or (2.4 GHz) for the current radio settings.
As seen in Yosemite:
Wireless Diagnostics.app
You can get even more information from System Information. But I usually open the Wireless Diagnostics app (in Applications > Utilities folder). Choose
Window>Infoto get more detailed WiFi networking or scan for better channels, check for interference, etc.