My router offers both. It seems obvious that 5G is better than 2G. Is it that simple?

5G will be faster.

Yup, 5g about 50% faster. But shorter range.

We have found that 5G has a weaker signal than normal Wi-Fi. I think this makes sense from a physics perspective: higher frequencies have lower energy. We installed a Netgear Wi-Fi monitoring app, and for a given location in our house the 5G has around 14 dB weaker signal than normal Wi-Fi.

The advantage to 5G that I have seen is that you can increase the bandwidth to push more data through. So that may be an advantage despite having weaker signal.

Should all our devices be connected on the same network, or should some be on the 2G?

quote:

Originally posted by Bigboreshooter:
Should all our devices be connected on the same network, or should some be on the 2G?

Personally, I log into both 2.4gHz and 5gHz and then let my WAP handle band steering of my devices for me. Your router may also support this functionality.

my router supposedly switches automatically between 2 and 5 GHz but it never did. When I connected manually to the 5GHz side, wifi speeds were at the max 105 Mbps download. When I connected to the 2.4 GHz, it was only 30 or 60 Mbps (I forget which).

If you want the faster download, then go 5GHz.
I was still able to connect to the router at the second floor when I was on the first floor.

The slight downside was my printer could only connect to the 2.4 GHz freq and was technically on a different network. The workaround was that I can do wireless print direct with it.

quote:

Originally posted by Bigboreshooter:
My router offers both. It seems obvious that 5G is better than 2G. Is it that simple?

No.

2.4GHz, being the lower frequency, will have better range/propagation, but, it has less channels, so it's more crowded, and you may experience lower throughput. (Tho, for 99-44/100% of uses, that last won't matter.)

5GHz will generally get you better bandwidth (though that won't matter for...), has more channels, is used less, over all, gets less interference, but, can have dramatically less range.

In short: For any particular device: If 5GHz works well: Use it. If not: Fall back to 2.4GHz.

quote:

Originally posted by Bigboreshooter:
Should all our devices be connected on the same network, or should some be on the 2G?

See above.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
my router supposedly switches automatically between 2 and 5 GHz but it never did.

That's called "band steering," and is a cooperative mechanism between access point and client(s). For it to work:

• The SSID has to be the same on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz
  
• Band steering has to be enabled on the AP
  
• The client has to cooperate
  

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
The slight downside was my printer could only connect to the 2.4 GHz freq and was technically on a different network.

Not unless your AP or router has that capability and you configured it that way. Otherwise they're on the same LAN, either way.

5g is for 15' close or less.
My phone changes automatically when I go outside. It's allot faster than 2.5g sitting on the couch (12')

A good android app for wifi signal strength is WiFi Analyzer. It is a handy free android app.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

• The client has to cooperate
  

Fat Chance.
In reality, if you log into both 2 & 5Ghz, when you come home, your phone will pick up the 2.4Ghz network first & that's what you'll use. Unless there's an interruption & the phone sees the 5Ghz, you'll probably never use it.

Lots of good info so far.

Look at your environment and clients.
Environment~ is there a lot of congestion ~ notably others with 2.4 then look at the less congested 5.0 band.

Look at your clients ~ desktop, laptop, phone etc ~ what do they support?

Note on band steering: the effectiveness is not always great, the reason: the client is the ultimate decision maker. You can also set preferences on you network adaptor in some cases.

Scenario's where I would actually prefer 2.4.
* Uncongested area where you are the only one around.
* When coverage has a lot of things between you and the AP. Note: 2.4 works much better through walls, etc due to it's longer wavelength.
* When you have that do not support 5.0

Scenarios for 5.0
* Lots of 2.4 in the area
* Wider open areas with less diffusion (walls).
* You are close to the AP like in an apartment.
* Clients support it especially the AC Protocol
* Need for increased bandwidth (must have supporting client too).

** Both can work well if properly positioned in the "listening" area. Thing of placement like an audio speaker in as for optimization. Use multiple AP's when necessary.
** Also note you client plays a big part in performance ~ it is half of the equation.

I don't see the need to use broadcast both bands in most home scenes.
Both in corporate environments are useful.

5GHz is faster and capable of more bandwidth but with a shorter range. 2.4GHz has a much better range but is more limited on bandwidth.

If you live in a densely populated neighborhood, try a product like inSSIDer 4.0. It will scan all wifi frequencies in range and display them on a graph. I found I get much better speed when I select a channel in the 5 range that is little used in my neighborhood. If I pick a busier area speed seems to suffer. The vast majority of my neighbors use 2.4. If range is a problem, you can always install another router upstairs setup as an access point. I have one in my basement and one on my second floor.

 
I have set up my 2.4GHz and 5GHz with different SSID's, so I can choose which one to use if I want. By default, most of my devices will choose the 2.4GHz network. I think it connects faster being the reason for that. I also have a roaming network, with 3 access points, each one configured identically with the same two networks. The client is not always so smart as to pick the strongest signal at first, but generally will settle on the strongest after a while.
 
I pick the 5GHz on purpose when I am close to an AP, otherwise let the client decide.
 

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
my router supposedly switches automatically between 2 and 5 GHz but it never did.

That's called "band steering," and is a cooperative mechanism between access point and client(s). For it to work:

• The SSID has to be the same on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz
  
• Band steering has to be enabled on the AP
  
• The client has to cooperate
  

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
The slight downside was my printer could only connect to the 2.4 GHz freq and was technically on a different network.

Not unless your AP or router has that capability and you configured it that way. Otherwise they're on the same LAN, either way.

With regards to the printer, they are on different networks because the 2.4 and 5 have different SSIDs.

But it sounds like I can give them the same SSID? I'm going to try that. Thanks for the suggestion!

make 2 different ssid's and use both!

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

With regards to the printer, they are on different networks because the 2.4 and 5 have different SSIDs.

But it sounds like I can give them the same SSID? I'm going to try that. Thanks for the suggestion!

No what ensigmatic is correct.
WI-FI is independent of TCP/IP networking.
Wi-Fi just allows you to get to your LAN then it needs to be on the same subnet to communicate.
SSID is not a factor although if you are using a router with DHCP it could be placing them on different subnets.
Additionally, not every printer works on both bands, most are 2.4 although this might be changing on some printers.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
The slight downside was my printer could only connect to the 2.4 GHz freq and was technically on a different network.

Not unless your AP or router has that capability and you configured it that way. Otherwise they're on the same LAN, either way.

With regards to the printer, they are on different networks because the 2.4 and 5 have different SSIDs.

Doesn't matter. They're still on the same network, they're just connected to the same network via different wireless frequencies.

Put another way: If one can reach the other without being routed: They're on the same LAN.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
But it sounds like I can give them the same SSID? I'm going to try that. Thanks for the suggestion!

There's no particular advantage to doing that unless you want to take advantage of band steering--assuming you even can.

I gave my AP two SSIDs on each band. That way devices can join the common SSID and be band-steered, while other devices can be nailed down to one band or the other.