What is the difference between 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz Wi-Fi?

Wirelss 2.4 GHz vs 5 GHz Wifi

Nowadays when you buy a new Wi-Fi router, you may notice that the router has both 2.4 GHz (gigahertz) and 5 GHz (gigahertz) mentioned on it.

These are the frequency bands is how wireless data is transmitted between wireless devices.  These bands are radio waves that carry the data, and these bands are either 2.4 gigahertz or 5 gigahertz.

Most of Wi-Fi routers will only transmit one of these bands, which would be the 2.4 band and that's because it's the most common frequency used nowadays.  They are called single-band routers, but newer Wi-Fi routers will transmit both the 2.4 and 5 gigahertz bands.  These are called dual-band Wi-Fi routers.

2.4 GHz Band

The 2.4 band works well because it’s the standard wi-fi band used on old routers.  Due to day-to-day development, it's not just a standard band that's used in Wi-Fi routers, It's also the standard band that's used in a lot of other wi-fi devices, like microwave ovens, cordless phones, Bluetooth devices, and wireless cameras, all used a 2.4 gigahertz band.

This the fact that so many other devices use the 2.4 band, the signal became overcrowded and was causing a lot of interference with Wi-Fi signals and when this happens it slows down the Wi-Fi network speed.  Sometimes could cause you to lose connection to the Wi-Fi router.

To cover this issue the 5 gigahertz band was introduced, the 5 gigahertz band is a newer band and it's not as commonly used as the 2.4.  As its used by fewer devices, the 5 gigahertz is not as crowded.  Therefore, there is no interference or minimal interference using the 5 gigahertz would relieve the problem related to slow network speeds and connection drops that will be caused by interference from other devices.

Another reason why the 2.4 is more vulnerable to interference is because of the difference in wireless channels.  A wireless channel is just a way to fine-tune and alter a frequency Sometimes you might need to change to a different channel.  If you are experiencing interference from different wireless devices and changing to a different channel will give you that ability.  The 2.4 gigahertz band has 11 channels to choose from but of these 11 channels, only 3 are non-overlapping.  Basically, you have three solid channels to choose from.

5 GHz Band

On the other hand, 5 gigahertz have more channels. It has 25 non-overlapping channels.  The main differences between a 2.4 and 5 gigahertz band are the speed and the range that they cover. The 2.4 gigahertz band Transmits data at a slower speed than the 5 gigahertz, but it does have a longer range than the 5 gigahertz.

The 5 gigahertz band transmits data at a faster speed Than a 2.4 but it has a shorter range. The 5 gigahertz has a shorter range Because it has a higher frequency and higher frequencies have a harder time penetrating solid objects, such as floors and walls in a building.

Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage of a 2.4 gigahertz is that it has a further range, and it can penetrate solid objects better, however, the disadvantage that it has is that it's more vulnerable to interference because so many other devices use the same band and it's also slower than the 5 gigahertz.

The advantage of the 5 gigahertz is that it has a higher transfer speed and it's less vulnerable to interference but at the same time it does have a shorter range and it has a harder time penetrating through solid objects.