Why do I need Dual Band?

jeffgp57

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Sep 2, 2011
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Why do I need to buy a dual band wireless router?

I have connection needs for streaming media, several laptops, and at least two desktops? My home is 2000 SF.

What will be the BEST option for me regardless of price?
 

steimy

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Aug 25, 2011
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I would agree as far as price. I did that for my game systems so they could be hard wired in for better online gaming. But not everyone wants the look of cat5 cables running all over. And it would not solve the whole issue because you would still have no wireless for the laptops.

So the best solution i can think of isn't the cheapest, but would give you a signal all over the house granted each item could pick up a wireless signal.

Let start with the dual band first. In all honesty, if you have any items that are wireless N (802.11N) compatible you would want a 3 band router. It would allow the better 802.11N devices to pick up a better signal while still allowing the slightly less powerful stuff like 802.11G to work. If you don't have any 802.11N compatible things then dual band is fine (and pretty cheap and standard as far as routers go)

Now with 2000 square feet (especially if it is 2-3 floor home) of space to cover just the router alone may not cover it (but try it first by itself to save unwanted expenses), so you may want to invest in a couple of signal extenders (not boosters as those are not generally as good as extenders) that can run the same wireless types as the router. Place them where needed throughout the house and you would have wireless everywhere.

And as first stated for this whole thing to work every item you want to stream things to would need a wireless card (or those USB types i dislike) to pick up the signal.