I now own a Netgear Dual-Band model that can do both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks simultaneously. So many articles talk about how fantastic 5GHz is for maintaining fast wireless connections due to so many non-overlapping channels enabling channel bonding without interference. In fact, I have many neighbors with 802.11G networks to interfere on the 2.4GHz band but NONE with a 5GHz network in range. Great, I should be clearing 300Mbps easy right? Wrong.
The one thing many articles fail to mention about the 5GHz band is that it has terrible difficulty penetrating solid objects, namely walls. Thus, the problem of interference is moot if you cannot get a solid signal in a room where you need it. For example, I have a bi-level style house that isn't terribly huge (~2000 Sq. feet with the bottom floor included) and it has a fair number of rooms, which is to say it's not an open floor plan like some ranches in places like Arizona typically offer. Net Tumbler will report a 42-48% signal on the opposite side of the house on the lower floor (it's not really possible to put the router in the center of the house and some tests showed very little difference there anyway, possibly due to the shape of the center being heavily boxed (hallway/bedrooms/bathroom with laundry/garage/stairway underneath). The signal I get on that side with the 5GHz network is more like 22%, which is about what all the neighboring houses report on their 2.4GHz networks, which is to say that's pretty bad and highly prone to dropping thus making 5GHz largely useless outside the room the router is in (where wired gigabit is available and thus moot anyway). Throw in the fact that 802.11G devices like iPhones and iPod Touches will slow your 2.4Ghz router down and you have one slow and/or unreliable 802.11N network that will make you wish you had wired Ethernet throughout the house.
Devices like my Apple TV units usually do well regardless (they don't need 300Mbps to operate), but do sometimes go through fits of pauses (often during daylight hours when interference seems much higher in general), but this promise of 5GHz being the ultimate wireless network is just plain laughable given the problem that spectrum has penetrating solid objects compared to 2.4GHz.
It is also worth noting that operating the 2.4GHz bandwidth in non-bonding (slower) mode often produces faster results since less interference results in better connections and thus faster overall transfers than a dual-channel but unreliable connection.
I don't know off-hand if the latest iPhone4 and iPod Touches finally enabled 802.11N or not, but it's disconcerting that the capability has been in place at least a generation earlier but forced to run on 802.11G anyway, given the negative impact those devices have on a 802.11N network, which often leads to people keeping their old 802.11G neworks and only further crowding the 2.4GHz spectrum.
The one thing many articles fail to mention about the 5GHz band is that it has terrible difficulty penetrating solid objects, namely walls. Thus, the problem of interference is moot if you cannot get a solid signal in a room where you need it. For example, I have a bi-level style house that isn't terribly huge (~2000 Sq. feet with the bottom floor included) and it has a fair number of rooms, which is to say it's not an open floor plan like some ranches in places like Arizona typically offer. Net Tumbler will report a 42-48% signal on the opposite side of the house on the lower floor (it's not really possible to put the router in the center of the house and some tests showed very little difference there anyway, possibly due to the shape of the center being heavily boxed (hallway/bedrooms/bathroom with laundry/garage/stairway underneath). The signal I get on that side with the 5GHz network is more like 22%, which is about what all the neighboring houses report on their 2.4GHz networks, which is to say that's pretty bad and highly prone to dropping thus making 5GHz largely useless outside the room the router is in (where wired gigabit is available and thus moot anyway). Throw in the fact that 802.11G devices like iPhones and iPod Touches will slow your 2.4Ghz router down and you have one slow and/or unreliable 802.11N network that will make you wish you had wired Ethernet throughout the house.
Devices like my Apple TV units usually do well regardless (they don't need 300Mbps to operate), but do sometimes go through fits of pauses (often during daylight hours when interference seems much higher in general), but this promise of 5GHz being the ultimate wireless network is just plain laughable given the problem that spectrum has penetrating solid objects compared to 2.4GHz.
It is also worth noting that operating the 2.4GHz bandwidth in non-bonding (slower) mode often produces faster results since less interference results in better connections and thus faster overall transfers than a dual-channel but unreliable connection.
I don't know off-hand if the latest iPhone4 and iPod Touches finally enabled 802.11N or not, but it's disconcerting that the capability has been in place at least a generation earlier but forced to run on 802.11G anyway, given the negative impact those devices have on a 802.11N network, which often leads to people keeping their old 802.11G neworks and only further crowding the 2.4GHz spectrum.