Do 'N' band devices have better range with an 'AC' wireless router?

rwayne · Apr 18, 2013

I was told that an 'AC' router will not provide greater range if all you have is 'N' Band devices. It was explained to me that an 'AC' device or receiver is required to pick up on the 'AC' frequency which will result in greater range.

Is there any truth to that?

I have zero AC devices and I am trying to decide on purchasing a AC router for $149 vs $79 for an N band router. If no additional range is gained on N band devices from an AC router then I see no reason to spend twice as much money.

Any feedback from the forum is appreciated.

bill001g · Apr 18, 2013

You will see no difference in range at all. If a AC device is talking to a N device it will use exactly the same encoding as N so how could it be more. But RANGE is not really related to how the data is encoded.

The main difference between AC and N is the way the data is encoded into the radio channels and how many radio channels you can use. The amount of power you can transmit is exactly the same no matter what you put in the channels. The power level more than anything else determine the range. The main increase you get from AC is you get more total data thoughput. The reason people confuse this is say at 20ft I can get 20m/sec on 802.11n but I can get 80m on 802.11ac. And at say 40ft I can get 2m/sec on 802.11n but I can get 20m on 802.11ac....some people will claim AC goes farther. In a way you get 20m at more distance but the radio signal itself does not travel any further. So if you get no signal at 100ft you will still get no signal no matter how you encode the data.

Also remember 802.11ac only runs on the 5g band. 2.4g tend to have more range in most houses and you cannot run 802.11ac on 2.4g.

jackson1420 · Apr 19, 2013

So it is instead of trying to shoot down a wall (The walls being between you and the AP) with an ACR you are shooting down the wall with a mini gun.

More but at the same range so when you are far away more gets received.

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Do 'N' band devices have better range with an 'AC' wireless router?

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