Your wireless router uses radio frequencies to transmit internet to your WiFi-connected devices like smartphones, laptops, tablets and more. The difference between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz really comes down to two factors: bandwidth (speed) and range. Remember that the speeds you get over WiFi depend on the internet service speed you are paying for.
Free Download specifications. What's new in WiFi Manager 2.6.2 Build 480. The application shows its signal strength and offers to connect to it. As far as program settings are concerned. Mar 12, 2020 All you’ll need is 1GB RAM, 2GB hard disk space, 1GHz processor, and a Wi-Fi (WLAN) adapter. Acrylic Wifi; This tool specializes in giving you visibility of the access point or Wi-Fi router used by your home and neighbors. You can visualize Wi-Fi channels in 5Ghz and 2.4Ghzs, and view a range of access points, including smartphones, laptops.
A 2.4 GHz connection travels farther at lower speeds, while 5 GHz frequencies provide faster speeds at shorter range. Which frequency you choose will depend on where and how you use your WiFi connection most.
A lot of electronic devices and appliances use the 2.4 GHz frequency, including microwaves, baby monitors, and garage door openers. If you have many of these in your home, or if you live in apartments or condos surrounded by other people, that 2.4 GHz band is likely to be congested, which can damage speed and signal quality.
If your device doesn’t need to be moved around much and can be located near your router, 5 GHz is your best choice to reduce congestion and take advantage of higher speeds. Similarly, if you're doing a lot of high-bandwidth activities online, such as gaming or videoconferencing, it's best to use this frequency and move as close as possible to the router. (Better yet, plug directly into the modem with an Ethernet cable if possible, as a wired connection is always more stable and faster than wireless.)
On the other hand, on a device that moves around a lot throughout the day (like your smartphone), especially if you have a large home, the 2.4 GHz frequency is your best bet. This wavelength has a longer range and can penetrate solid objects more easily than the 5 GHz band, making it ideal for devices that are taken from room to room or are more distant from the router.
Whether you choose 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz, you need to make sure your wireless is enabled on your modem/router and set to use the same frequency. Check your specific model of router for compatibility and frequency capabilities.
With a dual-band router, you can set it to transmit at both frequencies concurrently. In this case, you typically have two networks (SSIDs) that appear in your network list, with identical names except for a '5G' or '2.4G' at the end. You can then choose to connect each individual device to either network.
On most newer modems, there is also a way to find the best WiFi channel for your environment and then change the channel as needed in the modem's wireless settings.
Intel WiFi 6 Gig+ is the next generation in-home WiFi technology, designed for the ever-increasing demand of connected homes and gigabit connections. Compared to WiFi 5, it delivers:
WiFi 6 also includes embedded cybersecurity, managed network services and parental controls.
This feature is available with the Greenwave C4000 modem/router.
Talking about 'good signal strength' may have become part of everyday language, but what constitutes a good Wi-Fi signal, really? Do you know what it takes to be able to use demanding services like Netflix and videoconferencing over Wi-Fi?
Signal strength is measured in dBm or decibel milliwatts, which, somewhat confusingly, is expressed only in negative values (with a minus sign in front).
So what are the good and acceptable dBm values for wireless internet?
To measure signal strength at a given location and time, you can use a Wi-Fi scanner. You can read more about this in our article How to find good Wi-Fi channels and bad neighbors.
The measurement you are looking for is RSSI, which is short for received signal strength indicator.
If you are running Mac OS X, you can also measure the received signal strength directly without installing anything: Hold down the Altkey and click the Wi-Fi icon in the top menu, and details of communication with the wireless access point will appear under the name of the active Wi-Fi network.
If you would like to map out the signal for an entire home, we recommend using a heat mapper to create a heat map of good and bad coverage zones. See also: Map your wireless network with a heat mapper.
Have you done your testing and concluded that the signal strength is insufficient? First of all:
Don't be tempted to try to amplify the transmit strength from your router / access point. You may sabotage both yourself and your neighbors in the process, and you risk breaking the law along the way. Read more about this in Don't. Boost. Your Wi-Fi Signal.
Of course, the performance and capacity of the wireless network depends on more than the signal emitted from the access point, but the most important thing you can do for the signal is:
Get further advice on what you can do yourself to improve your home Wi-Fi in: Better Wi-Fi at Home: 18 Free Tips.
Article by Jan Pedro Tumusok and Jorunn D. Newth