Douglas Drake asks:
I have a dual band wireless router. Is there an advantage to selecting a higher or lower band connection?
9 Answers -
musicphann
July 5, 2012Most modern routers will automatically broadcast both bands and your computer will hook up to the fastest one that it can handle. If you’d like to choose one you can dig into your router settings page. You may have 802.11a, b, g, or n. a is the slowest option, n is the fastest. See what your laptop supports. Most recently manufactured machines will support g or n.
Dalsan
July 5, 2012Actually, the bands are 2.4GHz and 5GHz, and depends on if your adapters can connect to them. The higher frequency would be a little faster.
Whoops!
July 5, 2012No problem. We’re all here to learn and help.
July 5, 2012Also, the higher frequency probably would have less interference as there are many devices in the home that could use the same frequency as the lower one.
July 5, 2012Here is an article about the frequencies, and would help you decide which to go with. Like I said not ail devices would connect to 5GHz as the adapters would not be able to accept it, but you could benefit more from 5GHz if you don’t have devices that wouldn’t connect to it. 2.4GHz is the most compatible though.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/06/ask-ars-why-do-wireless-routers-still-cost-so-much/
July 5, 2012Thank you for this info
July 5, 2012You’re welcome. I recommend trying both to see if you notice a difference. If you don’t notice much difference, its purely your choice on whether to have it compatible with many devices or not. If you want better compatibility, then stick with 2.4GHz.
July 5, 2012Richard Carpenter
July 5, 2012Just want to add that, your connection speed for add devices connected to the access point will be as fast as your slowest device. Meaning, if someone has a device connected at 802.11b (11 Mbps) then everyone else will run at b (11 Mbps) speeds.
Basically, only as fast as your weakest link
ferdinan Sitohang
July 5, 2012You can use any band you like. Before you choose, you must ensure that all the peripherals, device that you are going to use are compatible or can detect the signal.
Oron
July 5, 2012Generally, the 5GHz has a shorter range than 2.4HGz and, as others have mentioned, less interference. The shorter range can be a good thing (reduces interference with others’ network and ability of others to eavesdrop on your network), or a bad thing (doesn’t get to all parts of the house). In a nutshell, 5GHz can be seen as more of a specialist band, presenting higher compatibility barriers, but offering (a little) more security.
Josh Vogler
July 8, 2012I don’t think the bands really come into play with 1 device, or if you are experiencing inference. Where it helps out is if you have more than 1 device. Then you can connect to the 2.4 with one device and the 5 with the other. If they were both on the same band, you would be sharing that throughput. If you split them up, you will maxing out each device, possibly doubling the performance of each device if you are doing something network intensive on each device.
Ashley C?rdwell
September 6, 2012Most of all computers and phones only support 2.5Ghz, you would need to change the wifi card for use with 5Ghz.
Alex Perkins
September 14, 2012Use the 5GHz band, it has way less interference due to its under-utilization. Make sure your devices can use 5GHz wireless though.
Alex Perkins
October 4, 20125GHz if your devices support it. It has way less interference then the 2.4GHz band due to it’s under utilization. Less interference = better performance.