last updated 28 June 2020
Contents:
Standrds: | 802.11n vs 802.11ac | My Tests | 5 GHz vs 2.4 GHz. | Does your laptop support 802.11ac? | Designation ACxxxx | 2016-17 reviews | Tri Band Router - Ranking | SmallNetBuilder | Some router Specs | WAN to LAN thruput | Speed Examples | Personal Testing and experience | Wi-Fi Mesh Networking | Terms: | Links to related pages |
In 2020 Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) wireless routers began rolling out.
See:
Wi-Fi 6, explained: how fast it really is - The Verge
Designation / Notation ACxxxx
AC1900 = AC Standard 1900 Mbps total (600 Mbps on 2.4 GHz and 1300 on 5 GHz)
To get higher than 1900 Mbps routers use 2 5Ghz radios (tri-band).
See terms below for more specifications
802.11n vs 802.11ac
802.11n and 802.11ac are both dual band routers with 2.4 and 5 GHz radios.
802.11ac can support more antennas, up to 8, and has a higher bandwidth per antenna vs 802.11n.
802.11n supportes four spatial streams (4x4 MIMO) and a channel width of 40MHz
802.11ac suports eight spatial streams and has channels up to 80MHz wide
See MIMO: Why Multiple Antennas Matter | Cisco Meraki Blog
Does An AC Router Improve N Device Performance? - SmallNetBuilder
They compared AC routers against the top-ranked ASUS RT-N66U as the reference N router.
Download speed improvement:
See more throughput comparisons below.
See Also What is 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and how much faster than 802.11n is it? | ExtremeTech
and Gigabit Wireless? Five 802.11ac Routers, Benchmarked - 802.11ac: Tom's Hardware
My Tests
5 GHz vs 2.4 GHz.
2.4 GHz more penetrating power to go thru walls.
More interference from other devices, cordless phones, baby monitors, etc.
I got mixed results with a Netgear R6250 (AC1600) at our cabin thru a
floor and 2 walls. 2.4 was faster some times and 5 GHz was faster others
5 Ghz - More bandwidth
I got better throughput thru 4 walls on 5 GHz (117 Mbps) than with 2.4 GHz
with the D-Link DIR-868L AC1750 supplied by Optimum (Cablevision).
My cordless phone is 1.9GHz so should have not been a problem on either band.
In my tests tests thru a wall I got
ARRIS DG1660A 802.11n 20 Mbps
Netgear R6250 (AC1600) 130 Mbps
See Wireless Wi-Fi Testing
Does your laptop support 802.11ac?
Windows:
See Using Device Manager to verify a network interface card | FiOS Internet
Go to Control Panel > Device Manager look under Network Adapters
Or you may have to click Network Adapter
You may see things like Gigabit (Ethernet ) Controller, Bluetooth Device
If you see something like "Intel dual band AC3160" or "Dell Wireless 802.11b/g/n"
That is your Wireless adapter - AC3160 is an 802.11ac wireless adapter
Or google the model of the Network Adapter to see what it supports
You may also right-click on the adaptor in Device Manager, click Properties
and then switch to the Advanced tab.
You'll see a list of properties, one of which should mention 5GHz for an N or AC.
Mac:
Go to About This Mac under the apple menu
Go to "System Report > select Wi-Fi under network
"Supported PHY Modes" will list which standards it supports
Old Standards
Standard | Frequencies | Speed | Notes |
802.11g | 2.4GHz | 54mbs |
Wi-Fi 4 802.11n | 2.4GHz 5GHz | 300 Mbps 450 mbps | 300mbps with 2 antennas, 450mbps with 3 antennas. Typical speeds are more accurately around 130mbps or less. |
Wi-Fi 5 802.11ac | 2.4GHz 5GHz | 300-600Mbps
1.3Gbps | Stronger signal strength. Up to eight spatial streams (MIMO)
Actual results showed average throughput of around 8-900 Mbps
|
802.11ad | 2.4GHz 5GHz 60GHz | 400-800Mbps
1.7Gbps
4.6Gbps | 60GHz will not propagate thru walls. When roaming away from the main room, the protocol can switch to make use of the other lower bands.
|
Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax | 2.4GHz 5GHz Eventually 1GHz & 6GHz | 1.2Gbps
1.3Gbps | Stronger signal strength. Up to eight spatial streams (MIMO)
Actual results showed average throughput of around 8-900 Mbps
|
Terms:
802.11 - IEEE specifications for wireless local area networking (WLAN)
DLNA - Digital Living Network Alliance - Certifies products for Audio, Video and Image
TVs, PCs, Mobile Phones, NAS servers, DMAs
DMA - Digital Media Adapter - Interface to devices like TVs and Stereos
DOCSIS - Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification
DOCSIS 3.0 - 2006 - IPv6 support, 4 channel,
download bandwidth of 1.5 Gbit/s and upload of 150 Mbit/s based
DSSS - Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (Radio Technology)
HTTPS - Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (uses SSL)
mDNS - multi-cast DNS
MIMO - Multiple Input, Multiple Output - Antenna technology using multiple antennas
MU-MIMO - Multi User MIMO
NAS - Network Attached Storage (Hard drive accessible over the network)
OFDM - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (Radio Technology)
PoE - Power over Ethernet
SNMP - Simple Network Management Protocol - Remote management
SSID - Service Set Identifier - Network name
SSL - Secure Sockets Layer - Uses cryptographic protocols for secure network communications
UDP - User Datagram Protocol
Wave 2 -
WPS - Wi-Fi Protected Setup
Links:
Related pages here: Wireless Networking | Multi-Band Wi-Fi in tech | Wireless Security
| Personal Testing and experience | Wireless Encription | Wireless Networking bandwidth - configuration
Old versions of this page 2012 | 2017
Note: some of the above haven't been updated it quite a while.
Other sites:
How To Buy A Wireless Router - 2017 Edition - SmallNetBuilder
Why High Power Routers Don't Improve Range - SmallNetBuilder
Wireless B vs G vs N vs AC | What Is The Difference?
The Best Wi-Fi Mesh Networking Kits for Most People | The Wirecutter
Standard IP Addresses
IEEE 802.11 - Wikipedia,
WiFi Standards in Plain English
How to improve your wireless network and boost its signal
Routers 2012
Personal Testing and experience
Internet TV - Web TV
|