As a general rule, high-frequency transmissions suffer from short range, particularly in an atmosphere. 5GHz was implemented in 802.11a in the early days of wif

As a general rule, high-frequency transmissions suffer from short range, particularly in an atmosphere. 5GHz was implemented in 802.11a in the early days of wifi, but suffered shorter range than 802.11b despite its higher bit rate. However, as it's not used as much by consumer devices, the spectrum is generally clearer so you get more consistent data rates. 802.11n and 802.11ac get around this by dynamically hopping between the two bands as necessary to get the clearest signal at the current distance.