Is 802.11ac compatible with b/g/n devices?

n4v1n

Honorable
Aug 15, 2012
63
0
10,640
Hi,

My queries are below:

1. I was looking for a WIFI router for gaming. I have many queries but first, Scenario is this that I was going to buy a cheap WIFI router which works and connects all my wireless devices. But due to unavailability of the product at that time on my nearby shop, The shopkeeper lent me his some TP-Link WIFI router for 2 days and I brought home. I installed it and connected to my only 1 phone Lumia520 and was playing Counter Strike. I quickly noticed that my net ping has increased and I was lagging drastically. Did some troubleshooting for 2-3 hours then found out when my phone downloads something over WIFI, the device gets chocked. But the thing is I always downloading every time while I am playing online game as I have very good connection and its an EWAN/Ethernet Port connection(Connected to PC Directly)and It does not give me any problem. E.g High ping/choking. So I assumed that the router was unable to handle that much packets flow. So I looked up on net for WIFI Router for gaming and found out that I'll have to buy a very expensive router for that. I mean, I couldn't understand that I would have to buy a 100$-150$ to achive a stable some Game's KB updload/download speed. Didn't understand this. I just want 1 WIFI Router which just work for my Online gaming and doesn't affect my ping anyhow(Damn Serious).

2. Then I did some research for a router and read reviews. I found that almost all of them have connection drop issue or firmware updation issue. Even epensive one's and also Cisco Linksys one's which I did not expect. I mean, is there any product which is just as perfect, cheap, simple wifi router available which just sit and get the job done.

3. While Researching, Came to know that there's some new technology 802.11AC in the market successor to 802.11N. Should I go for it? I mean if i'm gonna buy a router why not it should be a faster 1(But if cheap).

And please recommend me some good/cheap/stable/not headache giving routers :).

Thanks In advance.

4. Is 802.11AC routers are compatible to b/g/n networks? I mean i'm gonna connect my old deivces to my wifi like Lumia520/Old Tablet/Old Laptop etc.
 
Solution
If you are close enough to use 5Ghz rather than 2.4Ghz, you can avoid a lot of interference. Dual band N and all AC routers support 5Ghz. But 5Ghz doesn't penetrate walls as well as 2.4Ghz. The area covered by 5Ghz will be less than 2.4Ghz. 5Ghz is NOT compatible with b or g devices. It may be compatible with n, but that is not certain because a device doesn't have to be dual band to be wireless n.
The easy question first is 802.11ac is compatible with older equipment although I would never run 802.11b or 802.11g because it degrade the performance.

There really is no good WiFi router for gaming. Gaming does not use a lot of bandwidth but it requires very stable packet delivery rates and loss free data streams. WiFi is subject to interference and this causes data errors which causes data retransmissions. This takes time and if it is bad enough the data is lost. So wireless causes large issues for games. Pretty much the only way wireless works well for games is if you have very few people living near you also using wireless and you do not have a lot of other wireless devices in the house.

Pretty much it is the interference that you have no control over that causes all the problem and is why you see complaints in every router....because it is not the routers fault.

You want to play games on wired connections if that is a option.

Other than that you will not see huge difference in how well wireless routers can be used to play games.
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
If you are close enough to use 5Ghz rather than 2.4Ghz, you can avoid a lot of interference. Dual band N and all AC routers support 5Ghz. But 5Ghz doesn't penetrate walls as well as 2.4Ghz. The area covered by 5Ghz will be less than 2.4Ghz. 5Ghz is NOT compatible with b or g devices. It may be compatible with n, but that is not certain because a device doesn't have to be dual band to be wireless n.
 
Solution