How does Dual Band work?

am102392

Honorable
Feb 5, 2013
72
0
10,630
I realize this is probably a stupid question but I was wondering if somebody could clear this up. I was looking into upgrading my old wireless router (Linksys WRT54GL) and I was wondering how dual band worked. I realize there is a 2.4Ghz network and 5Ghz network but does that mean there are two different ssids? Occasionally while gaming if we have too many things going on at once I start to lag. I was wondering if I was to use one ssid for myself and one for everyone else would it stop me from lagging? Sorry for so many questions but I am mentally challenged when it comes to wifi.

Should add that I am in the attic with our wireless router in the basement and we have a 25MBs connection (cable). I am using an Asus AC wireless adapter as well.
 
Solution
To add to Pinhedd, the 5GHz also supports AC, which is what you said you have, but is backwards compatible (hence the 2.4Ghz for someone's iPhone). Now if you have a 802.11ac on your computer bit the Router is still 802.11 abgn, you won't use the AC till you upgrade the router.

That said, your issue is Quality of Service (QoS). Once you enable this on all devices (PCs, Router, etc.) you can set in the Router the QoS table on what takes priotiy number 1 , 2, etc. So if Youtube videos could be 5 while Gaming on ports 546-999 is Priority 1.

Also remember for Cable Internet, that is the MAXimum speed you can get, not guaranteed. So that means if everyone was home for the 4th of July weekend (your friends, neighbors, cousins) and they...
Dual-band means that the wireless access point has at least two radios with accompanying antennas which can be tuned to different wireless frequency bands individually.

One radio can be tuned to the 2.4Ghz frequency band, supporting B/G/N devices, and the other can be tuned to 5Ghz supporting only N devices.

If there are no B/G devices, and all N devices are capable of 5Ghz, up to 4 antennas on the transmitter and receiver can be tuned to 5Ghz for optimal performance.

When B, G, and N devices are all sharing the 2.4Ghz spectrum at once, there's a lot of interference and compatibility issues which can clobber performance.
 

am102392

Honorable
Feb 5, 2013
72
0
10,630
So I guess my real question is.......if I stick everyone else on one frequency....and I go on the other one...will I run into interference? They could all live on one frequency with no issues at all.
 
To add to Pinhedd, the 5GHz also supports AC, which is what you said you have, but is backwards compatible (hence the 2.4Ghz for someone's iPhone). Now if you have a 802.11ac on your computer bit the Router is still 802.11 abgn, you won't use the AC till you upgrade the router.

That said, your issue is Quality of Service (QoS). Once you enable this on all devices (PCs, Router, etc.) you can set in the Router the QoS table on what takes priotiy number 1 , 2, etc. So if Youtube videos could be 5 while Gaming on ports 546-999 is Priority 1.

Also remember for Cable Internet, that is the MAXimum speed you can get, not guaranteed. So that means if everyone was home for the 4th of July weekend (your friends, neighbors, cousins) and they got bored before the fireworks and all got on their Cable Internet connection, guess what - you were slowed down too. So just expect that when 'everyone is home' times (usually after work/right after school) you will get slowdowns no matter what you are / not doing in your house.
 
Solution


If your gameplay is lagging while someone else in your household is using the network I'd point to your cable's upstream connection as the culprit, not your wireless connection.

However, your existing wireless router is quite old and is long, long overdue for a replacement. If the cable connection is not the culprit, replacing that wireless router with one that is more up to date may very well solve the problem itself without any special configuration. Dual band routers should automatically toss all 5Ghz N capable devices onto the 5Ghz band where there's tons of bandwidth to go around.
 

am102392

Honorable
Feb 5, 2013
72
0
10,630


The Cable connection isnt the issue at all actually ours is pretty good. I was looking at these two as possible upgrades. I would go the AC route but I'm not sure its actually worth it if I am the only person with an AC compatible device.

http://www.amazon.com/RT-N66U-Dual-Band-Wireless-N900-Gigabit-Router/dp/B006QB1RPY/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-Wireless-Dual-Gigabit-Router/dp/B008HO9DK4/ref=sr_1_9?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1373595551&sr=1-9&keywords=wireless+router

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Dual-Band-Wireless-N-Router-RT-N56U/dp/B0049YQVHE/ref=sr_1_11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1373595591&sr=1-11&keywords=wireless+router
 
Pinhedd: Oh I thought it was already, as the http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/11/Reports/802.11_Timelines.htm shows the last revision was on 4-4-2013 with a 96% acceptance across the industry, and since then the products have been released and now on store shelves. I don't think we will have the 'draft-n' fiasco, the industry learned alot from that.

Back the question at hand: same or very closely priced (as I saw in the stores), you already have a AC device, it is backwards compatible for everyone who isn't. So to me it doesn't seem a big deal getting it, your going to move to AC anyway (just like all the B/G people didn't believe N would ever take off).
 


It wasn't the industry that caused the draft-n fiasco, it was the marketing departments who insisted on having the newest technology on their products even though it wasn't ready yet. It may be 96% accepted, but all it takes is one liberty by one manufacturer within that 4% to cause compatibility issues.

With the bulk of the chips being from Broadcom, Marvell, and Qualcom I doubt that there will be any issues on the scale of Draft-N, but even minor changes can cause immense headaches even if they are resolvable through firmware updates. It's easy to push a firmware update to a wireless radio on a phone, not so much on a PC. I personally will be waiting until the standard is finalized and fully compliant products are available on the market.
 

marcwilliams

Distinguished
Jan 27, 2010
1
0
18,510
I personally like ASUS gear (one of my top five brands) their AC Routers are some of the best in the industry and their latest AC2400 is currently the fastest but that won't last long. Additionally they have quite a few accessories for your new high speed network from WPS extended antennas to USB 3.0 AC Antenna adapters for your computers.

My only question re: this new high speed technology is if I'm in perfect conditions for a wireless setup, same room, less than 20 feet apart from Router, Desktops, Laptops, Tablets & phones will 1.3+ GBs be faster than Gigabit LAN using Gigabit switches?
 


1) Don't comment on NecoPosts. this is over a year old and you should have posted your question as your own new thread
2) That said, even if you had wired point to point from PC to Laptop through switch with CAT6 cables, no normally your not 'running' constant 1Gb (not GB !!!! little b is bit, BIG B is BYTE which is 8 bits in a single BYTE), it just means if your devices transmitting and receiving (say your desktop to your laptop) were perfectly high end hardware, then each device RAM, CPU, I/O ports, and storage device were capable of 1Gb to SEND, then on the other end the same hardware to RECEIVE at that speed (no slow CPU, no slow I/O, slower write times to the storage device, etc.) then your maximum speed during the type of data being sent (aka not 1,000,000,000 individual 1bit files, or 1Gb size file) will achieve that speed.
As you can see there is MANY more parts INVOLVED in that statement then 'can it send that fast' and this still has nothing to do with the Internet (the issue the OP was trying to 'connect' his issues with). That said, for basic systems communicating (Dad send daughter a copy of the party pictures) INSIDE your network, a 300Mbps Wireless connection won't be that major of a differences as compared to a 1Gbps Wired connection for NORMAL data movement among CONSUMERS. The real issue is for business, for example processing 100GB per minute of Credit Card Data for Black Friday from your Cash Registers to the servers for both charging the customer AND inventory control (yes we had 50 models but I show that 45 already sold out). Even when talking 'GAMING' that part isn't going to matter anyway if your 1Gb Wired or 300Mb Wireless connection gets jammed up into a 2Mb DSL connection.