overview

The 2.4G and 5G mentioned in the title refer to the working frequency bands of wireless devices.

The 2.4G working frequency range is 2400~2483.5MHz, and each channel occupies about 20M. 2.4G is divided into 13 channels. The 2.4G working frequency band is mainly based on IEEE 802.11b and other technical standards. The supported modes include 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11b/g, 802.11b/g/n/ax, the bandwidth supports 20MH and 40MHz, and the working frequency band is 2.4GHz.

The 5G operating frequency range is 5150MHz~5825MHz, and the larger frequency range enables it to have 13 non-overlapping channels (of which channels 100~140 are not available in China). The 5G working frequency band is mainly based on the IEEE 802.11ac technical standard. The supported modes include 802.11a, 802.11a/n/ac, 802.11a/n/ac/ax, the bandwidth supports 20MH, 40MHz, 80MHz and 160MHz, and the working frequency band is 5GHz.

Advantages and disadvantages of 2.4G and 5G

At present, there are many dual-band wireless devices that support dual-band (2.4GHz frequency band + 5GHz frequency band) on the market. The general feature of these devices is that they have 4 independent external antennas. However, at the same time, the wireless terminal can only select one frequency band to access the corresponding wireless network. So, what are the pros and cons of these two frequency bands?

Let's compare these two frequency bands from the aspects of wall penetration effect and network speed.

Through the wall effect

The physical characteristics of electromagnetic waves are that the longer the wavelength, the less attenuation, and it is easier to bypass obstacles and continue to propagate. 5G signal has high frequency and short wavelength, while 2.4G signal has low frequency and long wavelength, so the attenuation of 5G signal is greater when passing through obstacles.

Therefore, at the same distance, the wall-penetrating ability of 5G signal is weaker than that of 2.4G signal, which is the case for all dual-band wireless routers.

Internet speed

The operating frequency of the 2.4G frequency band is 2.4~2.4835GHz, and the bandwidth is 83.5MHz. The working frequency of the 5G frequency band is 5.150~5.725GHz, and the bandwidth is 575MHz. For example, under the bandwidth of 20M with 2×2 antennas, the 2.4G frequency band can achieve the highest transmission speed of 144Mbps.

Currently, wireless terminals support the 2.4G frequency band by default, and relatively few wireless terminals support the 5G frequency band.

The bandwidth of the 5G frequency band is wider and the wireless environment is relatively clean. Therefore, under the same signal strength, the network speed of the 5G frequency band is faster. Games and so on, for example, under the 2×2 antenna 80M bandwidth, the 5G frequency band can reach the highest transmission speed of 866Mbps.

Docs uses a table to sort out the respective advantages and disadvantages of 2.4G and 5G Wi-Fi:

Which frequency band is more appropriate to use?

To sum up, the two frequency bands of 2.4G and 5G have their own advantages and disadvantages, but not only one of them can be chosen. When the wireless network is used in a complex environment, with various terminals and a large number of accesses, the two frequency bands can be used together to maximize the wireless advantages.

For general home users, Doc recommends:

Connect less mobile terminals such as set-top boxes, network TVs, desktops, and smart homes to wireless networks in the 5G frequency band.

Connect notebooks, mobile phones and other terminals that need to be moved frequently to the wireless network in the 2.4G frequency band.