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Adapter Settings


The Advanced tab displays the device properties for the WiFi adapter installed on your computer.

How to Access

At the Intel® PROSet/Wireless WiFi Connection Utility, Advanced Menu click Adapter Settings. Select the Advanced tab.


WiFi Adapter Settings Description

Name

Description

802.11ac Mode
(5GHz)

The 802.11ac standard builds on 802.11n standard. 802.11ac Mode delivers up to 867Mbps (theoretical) by increasing channel bandwidth to 80MHz and adding higher density modulation (256 QAM). Select Enabled or Disabled to set the 802.11ac mode of the WiFi adapter. Enabled is the default setting. This setting applies to 802.11ac capable adapters only.

802.11n Channel Width (2.4 GHz)

Set high throughput channel width to maximize performance. Set the channel width to Auto or 20MHz. Use 20MHz if 802.11n channels are restricted. This setting applies to 802.11n capable adapters only.

NOTE: This setting does not apply to the Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (uses 20 MHz channel width only).

802.11n Channel Width (5.2 GHz)

Set high throughput channel width to maximize performance. Set the channel width to Auto or 20MHz. Use 20MHz if 802.11n channels are restricted. This setting applies to 802.11n capable adapters only.

NOTE: This setting does not apply to the following adapters:

  • Intel® WiFi Link 1000
  • Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN

802.11n Mode

The 802.11n standard builds on previous 802.11 standards by adding multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO). MIMO increases data throughput to improve transfer rate. Select Enabled or Disabled to set the 802.11n mode of the WiFi adapter. Enabled is the default setting. This setting applies to 802.11n capable adapters only.

NOTE: To achieve transfer rates greater than 54 Mbps on 802.11n connections, WPA2*-AES security must be selected. No security (None) can be selected to enable network setup and troubleshooting.

An administrator can enable or disable support for high throughput mode to reduce power-consumption or conflicts with other bands or compatibility issues.

Ad Hoc Channel 802.11b/g

Select Enabled or Disabled.

Ad Hoc QoS Mode

Quality of Service (QoS) control in ad hoc networks. QoS provides prioritization of traffic from the access point over a wireless LAN based on traffic classification. WMM (Wi-Fi Multimedia) is the QoS certification of the Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA). When WMM is enabled, the WiFi adapter uses WMM to support priority tagging and queuing capabilities for Wi-Fi networks.

  • WMM Enabled
  • WMM Disabled (Default)

Bluetooth® AMP

Enable or disable Bluetooth® AMP. AMP stands for alternate MAC/PHY and uses the 802.11 (Wi-Fi) as the high-speed transport. If disabled, Bluetooth HS is turned off.

HT Mode/VHT Mode/Disabled

This settings lets you select HT Mode (High Throughput mode), VHT Mode (Very High Throughput Mode) or to disable both modes. HT Mode supports 802.11n compatibility, whereas VHT Mode supports 802.11ac compatibility.

Fat Channel Intolerant

This setting communicates to access points that this WiFi adapter does not prefer 40MHz channels in the 2.4GHz band. The default setting is for this to be turned off (disabled), so that the adapter does not send this notification. If the access point continues to use 40MHz channels, the WiFi adapter will also use 40MHz channels if the 802.11n Channel Width (2.4GHz) setting is AUTO.

NOTE: This setting does not apply to the following adapters:

  • Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965AG_
  • Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection

Mixed mode protection

Use to avoid data collisions in a mixed 802.11b and 802.11g environment. Request to Send/Clear to Send (RTS/CTS) should be used in an environment where clients may not hear each other. CTS-to-self can be used to gain more throughput in an environment where clients are in close proximity and can hear each other.

Preferred Band

In an environment with other radiating devices nearby (such as microwave ovens, cordless telephones, access points, or client devices), in order to reduce interference you may prefer the 5GHz band over the 2.4GHz band, or vice-versa. Your choices are:

  • No Preference
  • Prefer 2.4GHz band
  • Prefer 5GHz band

Here are the various Wi-Fi bands:

  • 802.11 legacy - 2.4GHz
  • 802.11a - 5GHz
  • 802.11b - 2.4GHz
  • 802.11g - 2.4GHz
  • 802.11n - 2.4GHz and 5GHz
  • 802.11ac - 5GHz
  • 802.11ad - 60GHz

Roaming Aggressiveness

This setting lets you define how aggressively your wireless client roams to improve connection to an access point. There are five available settings.

  • 3. Medium: This is the default. A balanced setting between not roaming and performance.
  • 1. Lowest: Your wireless client will not roam. Only significant link quality degradation causes it to roam to another access point.
  • 5. Highest: Your wireless client continuously tracks the link quality. If any degradation occurs, it tries to find and roam to a better access point.

Transmit Power

Default Setting: Highest power setting.

Lowest: Minimum Coverage: Set the adapter to the lowest transmit power. Enables you to expand the number of coverage areas or confine a coverage area. Reduces the coverage area in high traffic areas to improve overall transmission quality and avoids congestion and interference with other devices.

Highest: Maximum Coverage: Set the adapter to a maximum transmit power level. Select for maximum performance and range in environments with limited additional WiFi radio devices.

NOTE: The optimal setting is for a user to always set the transmit power at the lowest possible level that is still compatible with the quality of their communication. This allows the maximum number of wireless devices to operate in dense areas and reduce interference with other devices that it shares the same radio spectrum with.

NOTE: This setting takes effect when either Network (Infrastructure) or Device to Device (ad hoc) mode is used.

Wake on Magic Packet

This setting, enabled, wakes the computer from a sleep state when it receives a "magic packet" from a sending computer. The magic packet contains the MAC address of the intended destination computer.

Enabling turns on Wake on Magic Packet. Disabling turns off Wake on Magic Packet. Disabling this only disables the magic packet feature, not Wake on Wireless LAN.

Wake on Pattern Match

This feature wakes the computer from a sleep state when a particular wake pattern is received at the adapter. This feature is supported by the Window* 7 and Windows 8. Such patterns typically are:

  • Wake on new incoming TCP connection for IPv4 and IPv6 (TCP SYN IPv4 and TCP SYN IPv6).
  • Wake on 802.1x re-authentication packets.

Disabling this only disables the pattern match feature, not Wake on Wireless LAN.

Wireless Mode

Select which mode to use for connection to a wireless network:

  • 802.11a only: Connect the wireless WiFi adapter to 802.11a networks only. Not applicable for all adapters.
  • 802.11b only: Connect the wireless WiFi adapter to 802.11b networks only. Not applicable for all adapters.
  • 802.11g only: Connect the wireless WiFi adapter to 802.11g networks only.
  • 802.11a and 802.11g: Connect the WiFi adapter to 802.11a and 802.11g networks only. Not applicable for all adapters.
  • 802.11b and 802.11g: Connect the WiFi adapter to 802.11b and 802.11g networks only. Not applicable for all adapters.
  • 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g: (Default) - Connect to either 802.11a, 802.11b or 802.11g wireless networks. Not applicable for all adapters.

OK

Saves settings and returns to the previous page.

Cancel

Closes and cancels any changes.


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