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Hey, kinda complicated. The reason they're telling people to use the "5G" network on their access point isn't originated in confusion about 2G/5G (although for
by trangus_1985 5y ago
Hey, kinda complicated. The reason they're telling people to use the "5G" network on their access point isn't originated in confusion about 2G/5G (although for sure some people ARE confused).
The reason they're doing it is that one way people test their internet is go to a download speed tester, and to prevent complaints and confusion, the ISP wants the fastest download possible.
The 2.4GHz band is incredibly noisy, and even a microwave running in an adjacent unit can tank your throughput. 5GHz doesn't penetrate walls as well as 2.4GHz, which means less noise in your house. So an excellent, easy way (for average consumers) to test WAN throughput is by using the 5GHz network with line of sight.
The intent and origination is not 5G confusion, but rather 5GHz's increased bandwidth due to a lower noise environment in the average user's house.
And actually, in a way "get faster speeds if they use the “5G” network exposed by their wifi router" is true: if you live in dense housing, between all of the devices spamming on 2.4 and the fact that walls "quiet" 5GHz reasonably effectively, using 5GHz can actually be a marked improvement for many users!
- Dylan16807 5y agoWhat's really exciting for that sort of conflation is that wifi 6 does not support 6GHz, but wifi 6E does.
- trangus_1985 5y agoYou know, the only thing I actually care about is WPA 3. This stuff is fast enough. I mean yeah, it could be faster, more users, etc. I guess it doesn't realllly matter for home users, sure does for businesses and high usage environments. I'm just being frank though.
- axaxs 5y agoNot just noise..most modern routers allocate more bandwidth to 5ghz. So it is, in a literal sense, faster.
- Dylan16807 5y ago> allocate more bandwidth Do you mean the channel width? Quite possible, but whether that matters depends on whether your internet is faster than your wifi. If you mean allocating portions of your internet bandwidth, that shouldn't happen should it? Any connection method should have access to all of it.
- axaxs 5y agoNot overcomplicating things intentionally. There's other reasons of course...standards, shorter wavelengths, etc. Not referring to priority(second point) but capacity. Tri band routers as I'm sure you're aware dedicate two radios to the 5ghz range, and one to 2.4ghz. If you have say, gigabit internet, your capable bandwidth on 5ghz will be much, much faster, regardless if there's any 2.4ghz interference. If anyone who isn't a radios expert cares... I prefer dongknows when reading about networks. A lot of people for some reason don't seem to like him, but he does a great job of both putting things simply, yet giving enough backing technical specs to not treat the reader like a child. example: https://dongknows.com/home-wi-fi-explained/ https://dongknows.com/home-wi-fi-explained/
- trangus_1985 5y agoWell, there's channel bonding, and wider channels, and a ton of stuff happening in the later standards (AX, 6) that I'm not up to date on, but... I'm pretty sure they get away with cramming more onto 5 largely because of the reduced noise.
- 5y ago
- coin 5y ago> The intent and origination is not 5G confusion, but rather 5GHz's increased bandwidth due to a lower noise environment in the average user's house Then why write 5 GHz as “5G”, dropping the unit?
- natch 5y agoI’m talking about cases where the broadband is the bottleneck, obviously. These are people who do not own a microwave or TV (they’re lucky to have a flush toilet) and their nearest neighbor is far enough away that the neighbor’s WiFi is undetectable, so the issues you mention do not apply. Yet they are told by an installer who does a physical visit to the place to put in a dish that choosing the 5GHz WiFi will make a difference. It won’t.