Can dual band router make 5GHz device talk to 2.4GHz device?

[Nagaraj1979]

If a device on 5GHz wants to talk to 2.4GHz device (both are connected to simultaneous dual band router), can dual band router handle the request from 5GHz directly and up on realizing that 2.4GHz device can not receive 5GHz, will convert and send the same request via 2.4GHz radio to reach 2.4GHz device so that these devices on different bands can talk to each other???

 

[rolli59]

A dual band router means it is both 5GHz and 2.4GHz and it will transmit on both frequencies making two wifi connections available so I do not understand the question!

 

[ptaylor101]

Yes they can as long as they are talking via router.
I have a router the is dual band, 2.4ghz and 5 GHz. My laptop uses the 5ghz band solely. Everything else is 2.4ghz. I can talk with everything else through the router.

 

[Nagaraj1979]

A dual band router means it is both 5GHz and 2.4GHz and it will transmit on both frequencies making two wifi networks available so I do not understand the question!

Thanks for quick reply! My question is if my Laptop is on 5GHz and phone is on 2.4GHz, is it possible for this dual band router to play any role so that my laptop can access my phone?

 

[rolli59]

Yes the router can let the misc devices talk to each other regardless of what wifi connection they are on.

 

[Nagaraj1979]

Yes they can as long as they are talking via router.
I have a router the is dual band, 2.4ghz and 5 GHz. My laptop uses the 5ghz band solely. Everything else is 2.4ghz. I can talk with everything else through the router.

You mean to say, your 5GHz-only laptop can, for e.g., access 2.4GHz printer?? (both are connected to this dual band router). If yes, I am just curious, how it is possible since laptop and printer both uses different frequencies and is it that the router converts request from 5GHz laptop and sends it as 2.4GHz radio to printer???

 

[rolli59]

Router sets up one network but transmits on both frequencies, so data from one device will always be transmitted to the other device regardless what frequency it is on.

 

[Nagaraj1979]

Router sets up one network but transmits on both frequencies, so data from one device will always be transmitted to the other device regardless what frequency it is on.

You mean to say, dual band router has the capability to identify request received from 5GHz source, identify the 2.4GHz destination and convert that accordingly to 2.4GHz and send it via 2.4GHz antenna/radio???

 

[rolli59]

Router sets up one network but transmits on both frequencies, so data from one device will always be transmitted to the other device regardless what frequency it is on.

You mean to say, dual band router has the capability to identify request received from 5GHz source, identify the 2.4GHz destination and convert that accordingly to 2.4GHz and send it via 2.4GHz antenna/radio???

Yes basically! I have a home network with 6 computers, smart tv's, tablets and telephones and can stream from anything to anything regardless of what connection is used on my dual band router.

 

[Nagaraj1979]

Router sets up one network but transmits on both frequencies, so data from one device will always be transmitted to the other device regardless what frequency it is on.

You mean to say, dual band router has the capability to identify request received from 5GHz source, identify the 2.4GHz destination and convert that accordingly to 2.4GHz and send it via 2.4GHz antenna/radio???

Yes basically! I have a home network with 6 computers, smart tv's, tablets and telephones and can stream from anything to anything regardless of what connection is used on my dual band router.

BUT, it's also possible that your devices are equipped with dual band wireless adapters!!!

 

[ptaylor101]

The trick is, setting up each device so another device can access it. Some are easy, some are natural and self explanatory, and some are like pulling teeth. In each case, security is primary. You only want to open that device up to you, not everyone else.

 

[abailey]

You have to think of the frequencies just like another medium to carry your signal. Just like your router can take your 5ghz device and let it communicate with anything that is wired to the router (like your internet connection). Just think of the different frequencies as different wires that all come back to the router.

 

[ptaylor101]

Or better yet, planes, trains, and automobiles. A package (packet of data) needs to get to one location, say, post office (router). Doesn't matter how it got there, plane, or train, or car, ( wires, wireless, frequency), it got there and you can access it or it can come to you.

 

[Nagaraj1979]

You have to think of the frequencies just like another medium to carry your signal. Just like your router can take your 5ghz device and let it communicate with anything that is wired to the router (like your internet connection). Just think of the different frequencies as different wires that all come back to the router.

Yes, and I guess that is the difference between wired and WL connection where as WL connectivity runs on different frequencies requiring different hardware structures and what I have been thinking is 5GHz device as such can not talk to 2.4GHz (vice versa ) via a dual band router. The channels in 2.4 and 5 GHz use completely different wavelength which needs a conversion mechanism in order to serve this purpose which I don't think exists in any dual band router! Makes sense?

 

[rolli59]

You have to think of the frequencies just like another medium to carry your signal. Just like your router can take your 5ghz device and let it communicate with anything that is wired to the router (like your internet connection). Just think of the different frequencies as different wires that all come back to the router.

Yes, and I guess that is the difference between wired and WL connection where as WL connectivity runs on different frequencies requiring different hardware structures and what I have been thinking is 5GHz device as such can not talk to 2.4GHz (vice versa ) via a dual band router. The channels in 2.4 and 5 GHz use completely different wavelength which needs a conversion mechanism in order to serve this purpose which I don't think exists in any dual band router! Makes sense?

It is one router with one server that handles data. It does not have to convert anything since the frequency does not change the data. It just transmits it on both frequencies!

 

[Nagaraj1979]

Or better yet, planes, trains, and automobiles. A package (packet of data) needs to get to one location, say, post office (router). Doesn't matter how it got there, plane, or train, or car, ( wires, wireless, frequency), it got there and you can access it or it can come to you.

But what if the packet is big(5GHz) and sent to post office (router) via a truck(5GHz radio) and receiver path accommodates just a car(2.4GHz radio)!!! Post office being capable of handling truck and car packages, will it be able to convert truck packages to car packages and send, (which essentially needs internal conversion between 5 and 2.4GHz antenna!)

 

[abailey]

You have to think of the frequencies just like another medium to carry your signal. Just like your router can take your 5ghz device and let it communicate with anything that is wired to the router (like your internet connection). Just think of the different frequencies as different wires that all come back to the router.

Yes, and I guess that is the difference between wired and WL connection where as WL connectivity runs on different frequencies requiring different hardware structures and what I have been thinking is 5GHz device as such can not talk to 2.4GHz (vice versa ) via a dual band router. The channels in 2.4 and 5 GHz use completely different wavelength which needs a conversion mechanism in order to serve this purpose which I don't think exists in any dual band router! Makes sense?

I see your thinking but there also has to be a conversion mechanism between wired and wireless. As long as your router supports simultaneous 2.4ghz and 5ghz operation then the conversion between those frequencies and wired connections is all built in. Now there are some dual band routers that can do either 2.4ghz or 5ghz but not both at the same time. Those would not work for you.

Just remember no matter how it gets to the router once it enters the router it is converted to electrical signals that run over copper through the circuits. So it is not like it has to convert straight from 2.4ghz to 5ghz. It converts from 2.4ghz to electrical over copper, back to 5ghz. And yes if your router is dual band, it actually has 2 different radios built in, and often times separate antenna as well.

 

[Nagaraj1979]

You have to think of the frequencies just like another medium to carry your signal. Just like your router can take your 5ghz device and let it communicate with anything that is wired to the router (like your internet connection). Just think of the different frequencies as different wires that all come back to the router.

Yes, and I guess that is the difference between wired and WL connection where as WL connectivity runs on different frequencies requiring different hardware structures and what I have been thinking is 5GHz device as such can not talk to 2.4GHz (vice versa ) via a dual band router. The channels in 2.4 and 5 GHz use completely different wavelength which needs a conversion mechanism in order to serve this purpose which I don't think exists in any dual band router! Makes sense?

I see your thinking but there also has to be a conversion mechanism between wired and wireless. As long as your router supports simultaneous 2.4ghz and 5ghz operation then the conversion between those frequencies and wired connections is all built in. Now there are some dual band routers that can do either 2.4ghz or 5ghz but not both at the same time. Those would not work for you.

Just remember no matter how it gets to the router once it enters the router it is converted to electrical signals that run over copper through the circuits. So it is not like it has to convert straight from 2.4ghz to 5ghz. It converts from 2.4ghz to electrical over copper, back to 5ghz. And yes if your router is dual band, it actually has 2 different radios built in, and often times separate antenna as well.

abaily, thanks for all response! I am just talking about wireless.
5GHz signal reaches router and converted to electric signals, then it is sent to 2.4GHz client via 2.4GHz antenna, is this what you are saying?

 

[rolli59]

DATA bunch of 000 and 111 gets received on one but transmitted on both frequencies so yes that is in a sense right.

 

[ptaylor101]

Yes, data is sent from laptop on 5ghz carrier. The data is encoded into the 5ghz. The router gets the data via the 5ghz signal. It strips the data from carrier, the 5ghz. It sends it to whatever, either by wire or wireless. It will encode the data on whatever signal, in this case, 2.4ghz. The device will get the 2.4ghz signal and strip the data from it.
Kinda like a radio station does with music. It encodes the song onto another frequency for transmission. The radio gets that signal and is able to extract the song from the carrier.
Lot more to it but the concepts are the same.

 

[Nagaraj1979]

Thanks to all for your replies but I am still confused. Doesn't matter, will get in touch again if i need, meanwhile share any similar views! Much appreciated!!!

 

[kesslermo]

I have a similar problem. Each band was setup as a wirelss network connection. I can only access the 2.4ghz band with the wireless printer. The printer is not visible to the computer logged into the 5ghz band. The computer is also connected to a VPN using the 5ghz band. When not connected to the vpn, the computer appeared to be on the 2.4 band and could see the printer. Any suggestions to see the printer while connected to the vpn? The DNS assignments appear to overlap regardless of the band. Gateway and subnets are the same both bands. Thanks

 

[Sam_264]

Not sure why I'm updating this old a thread but I ran into an issue today that is relevant:

Epson printer on 2.4GhZ Network, everything else on 5GhZ. Printer very unreliable. Would sometimes print, but often require a reboot to become available. Switched everything to 2.4GhZ network which solved the problem.

Explanation:
Network BRIDGING happens at OSI layers 1-Physical and 2-Data Link, below the Networking layer (3). The 2.4GhZ network and the 5GhZ network are bridged on my Comcast router by default, as I suspect they are for the other posters who can seamlessly use devices on both networks. Frames are forwarded from the network of one transponder to the other, so that the routing (layer 3) sees just one network and assigns IP addressing.

Doing some light reading on Bridging, there are a few flavors, some of them requiring an addressing table that sort of looks like an ARP Cache. The general KISS rule applies here... nuking the whole bridging complexity solved the problem. In theory I lost a little bit of the speed of the 5GhZ network, and am competing with all of my neighbors for spectrum. Ideally I could have put the printer on the 5GhZ network, but it didn't have a 5GhZ transponder.