enabling mac address for spectrum internet

Enabling Address For Spectrum Internet Mac OS X

It uses the 2.4GHz band to heat water molecules, warming your food.

The evolution of communications is about taking one kind of thing and making it better, faster, and more reliable.

USB 1 evolved into USB 2; FireWire 400 morphed into FireWire 800; 10 Mbps Ethernet moved into 100 Mbps and then 1,000 Mbps.

Where theres a choice, its between a worse, older alternative and the latest and greatest.

Enabling Address For Spectrum Internet Mac OS X

Youre given a significant choice as to which spectrum band to use or whether to let Mac OS X decide for you.

The choice you make has a huge impact on the distance, robustness, and speed you can eke out of a network without wires.

Wi-Fi can work over one of two spectrum bands: 2.4GHz or 5GHz.

The two bands have quite different properties, and in the past Apples AirPort Base Stations have only been able to use one band at a time.

But the AirPort Base Station and Time Capsules released in March 2009 can operate simultaneously over both bands, removing some of the difficulty of building Wi-Fi networks that work best for whatever devices we attach to them.

Apple also supports both bands in Macs and the Apple TV as network clients.

Nearly all Macs with Intel processors work in both bands, while nearly all Core 2 Duo Macs (and Mac Pros with Wi-Fi) also handle the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi spec.

First-generation Intel Macs have dual-band support, but only for an older standard in 5GHz.).

With all this dual-band support, Apple has tried to keep you from having to make a decision about which band to use, automatically choosing the right frequencies for speed, consistency, and range based on where your computer is relative to a base station at any given time.

Often, taking Apples suggestions makes the most sense, but other times, you want to override automatic selection and other options to produce better, more consistent throughput and range.

Ill look at common problems and solutions that might plague you in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, and then offer advice for manually setting channels in both bands or creating two unique networks with a simultaneous dual-band base station.

Wireless networks work by having a wireless base station transmit data on a given range of frequencies to another device.

Both of the frequency bands used by Apples base stations are unlicensed, which means any individual or organization can build a device that sends signals in the frequency range covered by the band without obtaining permission.

Unlicensed bands require that devices generate no unnecessary interferencemeaning they use as little signal as is necessary to communicate.

What we think of as interference turns out to be other signals that your particular receiving device doesnt want to hear.) Equipment that works in these bands must also be resistant to interference, able to cope with unwanted signals in order to sort out the information it wants to extract.

The tradeoffs between 2.4GHz and 5GHz have to do with interference (almost entirely in 2.4GHz), range, and speed, three properties that all relate to one another.

The more interference, the less speed and range; the greater range you want, the less speed you can have; the greater speed you want, the more you have to mitigate interference and work closer to an access point.

Lets break down the band problems by these categories to see what you can do to affect each related property.

Its one of the most heavily used industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands, which have broad rules to allow equipment that needs to emit a signal to work in within its confines.

ISM devices arent used for communication, but produce electromagnetic signals as part of their operation.

The 2.4GHz band also has a host of other competing uses; 5GHz has the distinct benefit of having very little technology that makes use of the band.

Reducing interference lets networks work at higher speeds and greater ranges.

Lets look through common 2.4 GHz interference problems.

Also see Troubleshooting AirPort Interference, a 2007 article which is a little out of date on some topics, but has more general advice.).

Enabling Mac Address For Spectrum Internet