How do I find out if my laptop's Wifi receiver supports 5Ghz networks?

Question

I have a Windows 7 laptop which does not show 5 GHz wireless lans in the wireless network settings.

How can I find out if the 5 GHz range is just not configured (i.e. Switched on) or if this is not supported by the hardware?

Laptop is asus. 4 months old. Windows 7 Premium N55SL series

The laptop has a centrino wireless n 1030 and when i look in its properties, advanced tab i see:

• 802.11n channel width for band 2.4 and value is 20 Mhz only (other option there is auto)
• 802.11n mode (opt. there are enabled or disabled) and its enabled
• ad hoc channel 802.11b/g value here is 11 (you can add or subtract numbers)
• ad hoc QoS mode here value is WMM disabled

other blahblah values and later i see

• wireless mode and value is 3.802.11b/g (other opt. are /b or /g)

Driver is 14.2.1.1

I have a new fiber router that can broadcast on both frequencies so I would like to use them both (router is ok. My phone sees both the wifi networks)

Solution 1

The general solution on Windows is to run the following in Command Prompt:

netsh wlan show drivers

Look for Radio types supported in the output. If you see 802.11a in the list, 5 GHz networks are supported. Otherwise, as in this example, only 2.4 GHz networks are supported:

Radio types supported     : 802.11n 802.11g 802.11b

Solution 2

You can also tell it does not support the 5GHz band because it is only 802.11b/g compatible. b and g don't use 5GHz, unlike a (always), n (sometimes), and ac (always).

Comments

[Evan Carroll]

If using Linux see this question/answer.

[Alan H.]

@EvanCarroll I think you meant “‘sometimes’ is not a helpful answer”. You’ll note that my answer is not, in fact, simply “sometimes,” but rather pointing out that by examining the protocol(s) supported, one can usually infer whether the 5GHz band is supported. If you see a or ac, you have 5GHz. If you see n, you might (but probably not if you don’t see a, since otherwise there is little reason to drop backwards-compatibility with a).

[Evan Carroll]

He already said he had 802.11n. Your question is easily reduced to it sometimes has it. That's not a good answer. For comparison, this method on linux tells you definitively. The question is how to do that on Windows. I don't know, but that's the right answer.

[Evan Carroll]

I'm not sure wtf you're talking about or how you're confused. If I give you a card. And, it has no labels how do you, with only mucking around in Linux, know that it does or does not support 5ghz? May/sometimes is not an acceptable it answer. It either does or does not and I want to know which one.

[qasdfdsaq]

Evan seems to be missing the point here. Having 'n' in the list is not definitive and can be either, therefore you have to look at the other entries in the list to determine for sure, and ignore the value of 'n' because it sometimes can be 5Ghz it cannot be trusted to tell you always. Alan is also off though, because the particular option referred to in the Intel drivers does not display N (or AC) when it's available, it only ever lists (a subset of) a/b/g.

[NoNameProvided]

This should be accepted as the answer.

[Bart Calixto]

Please note, there's a slight chance that 802.11n is shown without 802.11a or 802.11ac and 5Ghz is still supported.