recommended wi-fi mode on home network

[and3rd62]

My wireless router is an older model (AT&T branded) Netgear Versalink 7550 model B90
It provides options for the below-listed wi-fi modes:
1) 11b only
2) 11g only
3) mixed 11b and 11g
4) 11n only
5) mixed 11b, 11g & 11n

My Toshiba S55 C-5274 uses an Intel AC 7265 wireless adapter. It may set to any of the below listed wi-fi modes:
1) 11a
2) 11b
3) 11g
4) 11b/g
5) 11a/g
6) 11a/b/g

Given these options, what would be the modes for each device for optimal performance in terms of speed and connectivity? To me the modes seem mismatched. For instance, the router offers no 11a. The Intel 7265 chip has no option for 11n. Its my understanding that the wireless modes should be matched between devices on the home network for optimized performance

Selecting 11b/llg on both devices seems to provide the best connectivity, but at the expense of speed (limited to 54mbps).

Selecting 11n only or 11b/llg/lln on the router and 11a/b/g on the 7265 adapter increases network speed to 144 mbps but at the expense of sustained connectivity (more frequent disconnects) It seems disingenuous to me that the 7265 offers no option for the faster 11n mode, but yet somehow it still connects when the router is set to 11n.

A bit confused on this. Personnel at AT&T Technical Help Desk advise just set the router to 11a/b/g and forget it, regardless of Intel 7265 settings. This doesn't sound right to me, but dang if I know!

 

[popatim]

See the 1st response on this thread for setup
https/communities.intel.com/thread/61208

 

[and3rd62]

See the 1st response on this thread for setup
https/communities.intel.com/thread/61208

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I was already familiar with that particular Intel Community thread and tried the recommended 7265 advanced configuration settings. But therein lies the problem.

To quote from the thread, "Next, change the Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 advanced settings in order to match the settings with the router. Set the Wireless Mode, example : 802.11 a/b/g/n according to the support mode of your router"

From that thread is where I got the idea that device wireless modes should match. But they don't, unless one is content to be satisfied with being limited to 54mbps network data transfer connection speeds with the older 11b, 11g, or mixed 11b/ modes. Hence, my previous comments about the device settings being seemingly mismatched. As alluded to above, selecting 11n or mixed llb/g/n on the router boosts the maximum network speed to 144 mbps, but at the expense of sustained connectivity since the 7265 apparently doesn't support 11n mode. and continues to experience frequent disconnects. The closest I've come to a solution is uninstalling the Intel AC 7265 PROSet software and using the admin 7265 "drivers only" package. But even then, the quirky 7265 adapter disappoints as the disconnects still continue with the router mode set to 11n. I may not have any other choice than to use the slower 11b or 11g modes, even though that would seem to defeat the purpose of paying for Extreme 6.0 DSL (unless on direct ethernet connection)

 

[popatim]

So setting the HT mode to HT cause frequent disconnects? This I did not know. I knew the card was not well liked but Now I see why. LoL
I assume you already have the latest Toshiba drivers for Intel Bluetooth filter and Intel Wireless lan already installed?

 

[and3rd62]

So setting the HT mode to HT cause frequent disconnects? This I did not know. I knew the card was not well liked but Now I see why. LoL
I assume you already have the latest Toshiba drivers for Intel Bluetooth filter and Intel Wireless lan already installed?

I also read a lot of negative feedback about the 7265 adapter card. I do have the latest Toshiba drivers for the Intel wireless and bluetooth adapters. For most of today, I've been running on 11b/11g mixed mode set on both the router and 7265 adapter (with HT mode set to VHT). So far there have been no disconnects or problems with web pages loading slowly. The disconnects occur at the rate of about every 15 minutes with the router set to 11n and the 7265 HT mode set to HT. I thought about disabling HT mode to see what happens, but I'll just keep using 11b/11g for now. For the most part, I just browse the web and use Outlook for email, so the 54 mbps network speed seems sufficient for that anyway.