2.4GHz or 5GHz?

martyos121

So I just got a new Eir router today, and it says in the leaflet it supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz, but I don't know much about this sort of thing, so which one is better and why? Don't want to set up the new router until I know what it means.

guil

They are wifi frequencies. 5ghz will have less interference and more throughput but the range isn't as good as 2.4ghz.

martyos121

Cheers, will probably stick to the 2.4 in that case.

mass_debater

martyos121 wrote: »

Cheers, will probably stick to the 2.4 in that case.

Use both. If your devices support 5ghz connect to that for the fastest speeds, when you in a far away room and are finding that weak connect to 2.4ghz. Your device should then roam between them (depends on device, some are better than others) depending on signal.

ItHurtsWhenIP

martyos121 wrote: »

Cheers, will probably stick to the 2.4 in that case.

Are you living in an apartment or attached housing? If so and if your neighbours are also using 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, they could cause interference if they use the same channels as you.

Get something like this (Android) or this (Windows) and see if there are any nearby wireless networks. If there are, then set your 2.4GHz network to use either channel 1, 6 or 11 - whichever one is the clearest.

If you also have 5GHz enabled, leave the channel setting as Auto.

scamalert

MMFITWGDV wrote: »

Are you living in an apartment or attached housing? If so and if your neighbours are also using 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, they could cause interference if they use the same channels as you.

Get something like this (Android) or this (Windows) and see if there are any nearby wireless networks. If there are, then set your 2.4GHz network to use either channel 1, 6 or 11 - whichever one is the clearest.

If you also have 5GHz enabled, leave the channel setting as Auto.

why do people always suggest to use 1,6,11 channels when they are most frequently used by default-if i open my wifi adapter and scan all wifis around me all i see is channels 11,1 and 6 ,what i did i choose random channel out of the way for 2.5 and same with 5ghz,also increased channel width to 40hz,now this does little to 2.5 but for some reason my card is now doing close to 100mbs on download tests where before it managed barely 30megs at average.

mass_debater

scamalert wrote: »

why do people always suggest to use 1,6,11 channels when they are most frequently used by default-if i open my wifi adapter and scan all wifis around me all i see is channels 11,1 and 6 ,what i did i choose random channel out of the way for 2.5 and same with 5ghz,also increased channel width to 40hz,now this does little to 2.5 but for some reason my card is now doing close to 100mbs on download tests where before it managed barely 30megs at average.

Use whatever works. 1, 6 and 11 are the 3 non overlapping channels allowing you use 3 APs in close vicinity in your house without interference

scamalert

Seems your quite right on that,studying network atm,but wireless isnt necesseray per say,but anyway heres chapter on channels that i think including myself and others can benefit knowing,since skipped really going trough whole wireless chapter:

Selecting Channels

The IEEE 802.11b/g/n all operate in the microwaves frequencies of the radio spectrum. The IEEE 802.11b/g/n standards operate in the 2.4 GHz to 2.5 GHz spectrum while 802.11a/n/ac standards operate in the more heavily regulated 5 GHz band. Figure 1 highlights which 802.11 standard operates in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 60 GHz bands. Each spectrum is subdivided into channels with a center frequency and bandwidth, analogous to the way radio bands are subdivided.
The 2.4 GHz band is subdivided into multiple channels. The overall, combined channel bandwidth is 22 MHz with each channel separated by 5 MHz. The 802.11b standard identifies 11 channels for North America. The 22 MHz bandwidth, combined with the 5 MHz separation between frequencies, results in an overlap between successive channels, as shown in Figure 2.
Note: In Europe, there are 13 802.11b channels.
Interference occurs when an undesired signal overlaps a channel reserved for a desired signal, causing possible distortion. The solution to interference is to use non-overlapping channels. Specifically, channels 1, 6, and 11 are non-overlapping 802.11b channels, as shown in Figure 3.
A best practice for WLANs requiring multiple APs is to use non-overlapping channels. If there are three adjacent APs, use channels 1, 6, and 11. If there are just two, select any two that are five channels apart, such as channels 5 and 10. Most APs can automatically select a channel based on adjacent channels used. Some products continuously monitor the radio space to adjust the channel settings dynamically in response to environmental changes.
As enterprise WLANs migrate to 802.11n, they can use channels in the larger, less-crowded 5 GHz band, reducing “accidental denial of service (DoS)”. For instance, the 802.11n standard uses OFDM and can support three non-overlapping channels, as shown in Figure 4.
802.11n can also use channel bonding, which combines two 20 MHz channel into one 40 MHz channel, as shown in Figure 5. Channel bonding increase throughput by using two channels at one time to deliver data.
Most modern APs can auto-adjust channels to circumvent interference.