What is the difference between 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz Wireless?

The main difference between the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz wireless frequencies is the range. The 2.4 GHz frequency can stretch its capabilities past the 5Ghz frequency. This extension is because individual waves diminish much faster at higher frequencies. If achieving maximum coverage is your ambition, you should remain with your 2.4Ghz rather than going with 5Ghz.

The second variation is the number of devices on these frequencies. The older Wifi G standard only utilizes the 2.4Ghz frequency, as most of the world uses it. 2.4 GHz has fewer channel options. 5Ghz has 23 channels, and there is also less interference with the 5Ghz.

A plethora of Wi-Fi G devices these days means that it is considered impractical to execute a 5Ghz only network. There are also Wifi-N devices that only use the 2.4 GHz frequency and not the 5Ghz. Most Wifi routers can deploy both the 2.4Ghz and the 5Ghz.

The first thing that people always talk about when comparing 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz is the coverage range of the two wireless frequencies. In this regard, the 2.4Ghz wireless has more coverage compared to the 5Ghz wireless. This higher coverage of the 2.4Ghz wireless can be seen as its advantage over the 5Ghz wireless. However, there is always an issue of network overlapping with the 2.4Ghz wireless because it uses fewer non-overlapping channels. This usually happens if many people are using the 2.4Ghz wireless in an overcrowded place. These people will be having this issue of overlapping. Also, it will affect your network speed. On the contrary, the 5Ghz wireless, being a newer version, does not suffer this problem because it has more non-overlapping channels compared to the 2.4Ghz wireless. Another difference is that the 2.4Ghz can accommodate more devices. On the contrary, the 5Ghz can only accommodate fewer devices.

The main difference between the two is their speed. When you say 2.4 GHz, you can tell that this will have a slower speed as compared to 5 GHz. 5 GHz will have a faster speed even if the range is going to be shorter. The best thing that you should remember when making a choice is to consider two things: first is the speed that you need for the type of tasks that you plan to do. The second thing that you have to consider is from where you are working. There may be times when you would need a stronger connection for something that you are doing. There are some dual-band routers that will have the ability to receive and transmit both frequencies. Consider also if this is something that you need.