What's your favorite band?

Most modern routers have 2 "bands" that they broadcast, you may have heard about them previously. These are the 5GHz and 2.4 GHz bands.

The 5Ghz band

The 5GHz band is faster but shorter range. It is great for stationary devices that are the same room as the router, or through a single thin wall. If a customer is running speed tests on a wireless device you want them to connect to the 5GHz network while they run the test as it is the most similar to a wired speed test that way.

Not every WiFi device can connect to the 5GHz band, which can cause device setup problems if customers try to do this.

Also note 5GHz is NOT the same as 5G, the next generation cell phone network technology.

The 2.4Ghz band

The 2.4GHz band is slower but longer range. It is useful for devices that move through the home or that are not close to the router. It is a more consistent band which maxes out around 30Mbps to each device in the real world, which is more than enough to stream HD video. It just won't win any awards for speed!

Why should most devices be on 2.4GHz?

Most devices don't need more than 5Mbps and the 2.4GHz band is more than capable of that! As well, devices that move throughout the home such as phones and laptops can experience problems on 5GHz as they move to areas of weaker signal just one room away from the router.

Merged vs Split bands

You will often hear people (and RouteThis) talk about merged vs split bands. The important thing to note is that the way that these 2 bands exist in the real world is as 2 separate networks broadcast by your WiFi router.

"Merged" bands are when the 2.4 and 5GHz bands have the same name. Phones and other devices cannot tell the difference between the two and will try to connect to the "better" connection. This doesn't always work well in practice and can be considered a coin flip.

"Split" bands are when the 2.4 and 5GHz bands have different names such as AT&T918 and AT&T918_5G. This will allow each device to be set up to a specific network name to "stick" them to a specific band.

Split or Merged, that is the question

At RouteThis we recommend split bands if possible, but your specific company may have their own policy. Split bands give more freedom to troubleshoot and more power to control how the network operates. For example:

• I can connect all devices that move around the home to 2.4GHz so they never experience dead zones

• I can connect streaming and gaming devices that are close to the router to 5GHz to improve their speeds

• I can have my customer connect to 5GHz to run speed tests to demonstrate that they are receiving enough bandwidth for their plan/uses

Congestion and channels

You've probably seen before that wireless networks have different "channels" available. They are usually only useful on the 2.4GHz band and usually have 1-11 available as options.

You can think of channels as lanes of a highway. If one lane is very busy, it's moving slower, so you want to change to the most empty lane. When the channel is very busy (from all of your neighbour's WiFi networks) we say it is congested. Congestion can cause:

• Slow speeds throughout the home or at least to most devices on the 2.4GHz band

• Drops/Intermittent connections

Remember the "lanes"! Channel 1 has the least congestion so we want to go there to move fast!

In practice for 2.4GHz networks we only ever set them to channels 1, 6, or 11. The reason isn't as important as remembering to choose the least congested channel between 1, 6, and 11 or to try all three to see if any fixes a customer's issue. Even if a channel such as 5 looks less congested, you should not change to this channel!

You will need a tool such as RouteThis that can tell you if there may be congestion impacting a customer's network, then these settings can be changed on the customer's router by you or them.

Why might we only pick 1, 6, or 11?

A WiFi network doesn't only add congestion to the network it is on. Think of it as a "wide load" truck that slows down traffic in the lanes (channels) on either side! This basically means that 1, 6, and 11 are the least congested channels by default. Device manufacturers work together to ensure this as well by setting defaults.

Interference and router position

The last factor here can affect the entire WiFi network quite easily but is often overlooked in troubleshooting: where the router is set up.

For a standard wireless router, the ideal position would be in the middle of the home, 10 feet away from any other object, suspended by a string:

Yes, very practical

There are several things that can heavily affect a router's WiFi signal and how far networks will reach ("coverage") and how strong the networks will be (in terms of speed):

✓ Routers should not be in/near a window (unless they are wireless/LTE and use a SIM card like a phone)

✓ Away from other WiFi devices and routers, even Smart Home hubs, gaming systems, Smart TVs, etc.

✓ They should not be on top of or beside other electronics (including TV boxes!)

✓ They should be far away from microwaves, cordless phones, and baby monitors as their wireless signals interfere with WiFi

✓ Away from large metal objects such as fridges, large TVs (don't put a router between a TV and a wall!), radiators, etc.

✓ Routers should not be near large water storage such as aquariums and water coolers

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There is a common myth that WiFi is directional. It is not! Think of it as a giant ball coming off of the router in every direction. It gets weaker when it hits other solid objects or electronic signals.

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Router positioning/interference from these items can cause:

• Slow speeds for some or all devices

• Worse coverage/device disconnections

• Complete WiFi drops at random intervals

• Other really odd problems that happen "randomly"

The fastest way to check router position is with a photo or video from the customer if you have a tool available. Otherwise, have the customer describe the room starting from the router and working outwards.