5ghz wireless network range issue, signal fades after 5 feet

[maddogchen]

I have a Netgear WNDR4500 thats set up in my living room. It has both 2.4ghz and 5ghz signals. My iphone connects to both signals. But when I walk 5 feet away from my router, the 5ghz signal drops a bar and then it switches over to 2.4 ghz. When I have my laptop on my couch which is about 10 feet away in the same room, it always picks up the 2.4 ghz because its much stronger. The 2.4ghz signal is great. I can walk across the street from my house and my iphone says i have full wifi bars. But the 5 ghz not so good. Walk out of my living room and I get barely any signal.

I have the latest firmware from netgear. support from them hasn't been helpful at all. There are no obvious obstructions in the way of signal strength in the living room. My neighbor does seem to have his own 5ghz router. But I'm doubtful that his signal cuts mine in half in my own living room since our houses are 10 feet apart. I've changed channels too, tried it from (i don't remember the exact numbers) 145? to 161? and it hasn't improved anything. I've scanned the nearby wireless networks and I'm not using the same channels as others. I have the latest firmware update from Netgear.

Any ideas? I mainly want it to be able to have a strong 5ghz signal from my couch 10 feet away in the same room.

Thanks

[spidey07]

That sounds like the 5Gh antenna isn't attached on the router. 5 Ghz doesn't penetrate as well as 2.4 Ghz, but not nearly to the detriment you're seeing.

[maddogchen]

Originally Posted by spidey07

That sounds like the 5Gh antenna isn't attached on the router. 5 Ghz doesn't penetrate as well as 2.4 Ghz, but not nearly to the detriment you're seeing.

That doesn't sound good...so return?

[spidey07]

Try turning off the 2.4 radio and see what happens. If you aren't getting good signal strength within 10-15 feet something's wrong. You've already tried changing 5 gig channel so maybe try some further apart. There isn't a whole lot that interferes with 5 gig, some baby monitors/video repeaters but it's rare. I assume you don't have other devices that use "wireless", even if it's not "802.11 WiFi"?