Improving Network Performance with Dual-Band Wireless Technology

In this and other chapters, dual-mode wireless hardware has been discussed, such as APs designed to connect with 802.11a and 802.11b or 802.11g clients. If your home or office network is used for streaming audio and video, consider using a dual-band AP and compatible client hardware to improve overall performance.

A dual-mode wireless network can use either its 2.4GHz (IEEE 802.11b or 802.11g) or 5GHz (IEEE 802.11a) radio to connect with a given client. In essence, a dual-mode wireless network with both types of clients is like having two separate networks that can communicate with each other.

By contrast, a dual-band wireless network uses both frequencies at the same time. Typically, the 2.4GHz band is used for standard wireless network tasks such as Web surfing, email, file and folder sharing, and printer sharing, while the 5GHz band is used for streaming audio and video. Thus, you can surf the Web on a dual-band wireless client and play streaming video on the same client at the same time, at the maximum speed possible.

Dual-band wireless clients, like dual-mode (sometimes called tri-mode) wireless clients, can connect to existing 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11a APs. Thus, a dual-band wireless client is essentially a universal client for standard wireless networks, and can benefit from greater speed when connected to a dual-band wireless network that separates high-bandwidth traffic from lower-bandwidth traffic. In such cases, high-bandwidth traffic should use the 5GHz (IEEE 802.11a) frequency, and low-bandwidth traffic should use the 2.4GHz (IEEE 802.11g) frequency.