Wi-Fi Protocols, and why you should switch to 5GHz

    Today, we're talking about the breakthrough of the 802.11 standard, and the comparison between the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz spectra.

802.11a (2.4GHz)

    802.11a was established in 1999 which promised to bring network connections to devices delivered OTA instead of copper cables. It was built around the 5GHz spectrum, but failed to gain much traction in the market.

802.11b (2.4GHz)

    Because the 802.11a were "too much pain." The 802.11b was already been worked on. It basically offered the same features as 802.11a, but used less expensive and more readily available components.

    802.11b saw significant adoption on home and small-office users, whereas 802.11a is on an enterprise network environments. The popularity of this standard began to grow.

802.11g (2.4GHz)

    802.11g by 2003, is a new standard that was already used by many devices before it became "official." This version of the Wi-Fi standardbrought many of the stability-features of 802.11a and the inexpensive comoponents of 802.11b, and also improved a lot upon them, and the speed were upped to 54Mbps.

802.11n (2.4GHz or 5GHz)

    When it came on 2009, it brought with it an incredible speed that had the ability to communicate up to 600Mbps. It also included the ability to work in either 2.4GHz or 5GHz spectra. Like the previous standards, 802.11n was backwards compatible with its predecessors. Unfortunately though since most devices that was readily available on the market were equipped with 2.4GHz antennas, there was no point to use 5GHz at all.

802.11ac (2.4GHz and 5GHz)

    802.11ac was 'official' on January of 2014, though many devices were already available for this specification. This standard brings the maximum data rates up to 1Gbps (almost double that of 802.11n). In most 802.11ac routers, both 2.4GHz and 5GHz hardware is included, which can run simultaneously.

Why use the 5GHz spectrum?

    Mainly because of the 5GHz's reduced noise. This will provide faster data rates, fewer disconnections, and a more enjoyable experience. Bluetooth and other wireless peripherals aren't intrusive on the 5GHz spectrum so there's a significant amount of less interference. Microwaves don't operate up here either (even the newly released ones), so the source of noise is eliminated too. (Unlike in 2.4GHz)

    With a stronger signal and faster throughput, less power is required to get your signal above the noise floor, which would result in better battery life in addition to better network performance, for your smartphones and tablets. However, not all of your devices are going to have 5GHz compatibility built-in, those will still work every bit as well as they did before on 2.4GHz, but will work even better now that you'll be offloading traffic from that network and putting on your 5GHz network.

    Given the advantages, there are also disadvantages. Given the same power, the higher the frequency, the shorter the distance a signal can travel - which means your signal may not travel as far as it would have on a 2.4GHz network.

    Since the signals might not travel as far, that means you may not have as much interference from neghbors as you would have on 2.4GHz. Neither will your neighbors (which could very well be a major advantage to both you and them). 

    Another potential advantage is that 5GHz signals may be able to get into places that 2.4GHz couldn't reach because of their waveforms.

    

All in all...

    I'd recommend that you upgrade your router to the new 802.11ac and setup to both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. You'll have less noise, less interference, better speeds, and better connection reliability. Although not many devices would support 5GHz, least you're going to be ready for the future.