Why on my laptop net speed shows 65Mbps while my wifi router's mode is set to 150Mbps?

On my wifi router i have set the mode to 150Mbps, but when i connect to this router it shows only 65 Mbps on my laptop. Why it is so? Does that mean my router is not capable to transfer at 150Mbps or my laptop is not capable to receive at 150Mbps?

Laptop: Lenovo y470 ( core i7 ) [OS: Win 7]
Router: Netgear N150

Solution 1:

Short answer: That's the best your card can do when communicating with your AP.

Long answer:

Lenovo says your Y470 contains an "Intel 1000 BGN Wireless" card. Apparently it's more properly known as an "Intel WiFi Link 1000 BGN" card.

According to the Wi-Fi Alliance's certificate for that card, it is only capable of a single transmit stream (that is, it's not actually MIMO on transmit), and it is not capable of HT40 (a.k.a. "wide", 40MHz channels). In effect, it's pretty much "N in name only". The best speed it can transmit at it 65 or maybe 72.2 megabits per second.

Your card looks like it's capable of receiving 2 spatial streams at HT20, which means that with 2- and 3-spatial stream N APs (Wi-Fi routers) it could receive at up to 144.4 mbps, but unfortunately your AP is another form of non-MIMO -- and thus basically "N in name only" -- AP. It only supports a single spatial stream, although it does support 40MHz channels. So the best signaling scheme your AP and client both support is single stream HT20, which tops out at 65 mbps with a long guard interval, or 72.2 mbps with a short guard interval.

The Wikipedia article on 802.11n has a nice table of 802.11n data rates based on the number of spatial streams, 20- or 40MHz wide channels, and long or short guard intervals.

It's sad to me that so many "N in name only" products are being sold that don't really support the flavors of N that make it shine. The 65mbps that your card/AP combination tops out at isn't that much better than the 54mbps that 802.11a delivered a decade ago.

Solution 2:

Most 802.11n products will knock your throughput down by up to 80% if you use WEP or WPA/TKIP security. The reason is that the 802.11n spec states that the high throughput rates (link rates above 54 Mbps) can't be enabled if either of those outdated security methods are used.

Quoted from 5 Ways To Fix Slow 802.11n Speed on Small Net Builder