Should I opt for a 5GHz router?

[Aaron11]

Back in January I posted this. Since that post, I've bought another Wireless-N card (a Linksys WMP600N) and saw no improvement in speed or signal strength. I thought the router was at fault, but having been turned off by my disappointment in my new card, I asked my cousin to bring over his ASUS RT-N16 (with ddwrt installed). The results were the same as with my Netgear WNR2000 even after lots of tweaking, so no increase in speed at all *. So my question is, would I find an improvement in speed if I opted for a dual-band router? All I want is to get my download speeds that I get wired (which is about 24mbps down and 4mbps up, the upload I get already). If I were to opt for dual-band is there one I could find that's selectable dual-band for $60 or even simultaneous? Is getting a dual-band router a wise choice or am I doomed to slow 7mbps download forever over wi-fi?

*N-only devices were connected. I have no G devices on my network.

 

[Aaron11]

*bump* It be nice if people could tell me whether or not I should go to 5Ghz

 

[Orinthical]

Get a router that can do both - enable 5GHz for everything and test it out. If it doesn't work well or is limited because of materials in your house, switch back to 2.4GHz. IF it does work well, enable 2.4GHz as a protected 'guest' network for when your buddies come over. Most decent routers these days have dual radios and some even have two discreet sets of antennae so implementing the above suggestion has no downside.

WNDR3700 all the way.

 

[Skud]

Yeah, get a dual band unit. If you setup both radios with the same encryption and SSID then any clients that support the 5Ghz band will (should) automatically use it. Any that don't will fall back on (and only see) the 2.4ghz radio.



Riley

 

[450]

WNDR3700 all the way.

This. It's the WRT54G of 2010 (except more expensive!).