Why is 2.5ghz faster than 5gh?

[larryralph]

I have a Western Digital WD900 router set up as a wireless access point. It works well. It is a dual band router.

My question is about the speed. When I run SpeedTest while connected to the WD900, the 2.5ghz band is consistently faster than the 5ghz band. Typically faster by about 20%. I've tested on iPads and Android. Always the same.

I always assumed the 5ghz band would be faster. Or am I wrong!

Any ideas why this is? Thanks for any ideas.

 

[getochkn]

I dunno. I get the same thing. 2.4ghz is the best for me. Even have one or two AC devices that are sort of meh. lol.

 

[xfirestormxx]

Well, the higher the frequency (of a wireless signal), the shorter the range. So technically, 2.4GHz has a longer range, which could be why the 5GHz is not providing the full speed. Both only have a maximum data rate of around 54 Megabits/second.

Did you test the network standing next to the router, or far away from the router?

 

[Eximo]

No issues with an AC adapter on 5Ghz, but transmission range is through two walls at a range of about 3m. It really does come down to range. 2.4Ghz is a lot better at penetrating walls as well.

Speed is about the number of channels and MIMO technologies. Most consumer devices don't have such features and generally stick to one or two channels.

Very expensive routers and cards exist, but more then the average user needs. The routers exist for business environments with dozens of users in range at once.

 

[larryralph]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I do recall reading that 2.4 has more range. Further reading confirms.

 

[xfirestormxx]

That's good. Please mark an answer as solution 🙂