- 1. Use the Same Manufacturer for All Gear
- 2. For Full Improvements, Replace Adapters
- 3. Don't Mix Wireless B/G with N
- 4. By Default, the Higher Speeds Won't Work
- 5. Use 40MHz-wide Channels Only with Strong Signals
- 6. Carefully Select 40MHz-wide Channels
- 7. For Fastest Wireless-to-Wired Connections, Go Gigabit
- 8. For Best Throughput, Take Advantage of the 5GHz Band
- 9. For Best Performance, Don't Use WEP or WPA
- 10. Make Use Of Your Old Wireless B or G Gear
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8. For Best Throughput, Take Advantage of the 5GHz Band
Wireless B and G gear use the (now congested and interference-prone) frequency band of 2.4 GHz, while Wireless A (primarily used in enterprises for high performance applications) uses the 5 GHz band.
To take advantage of the less-congested band, for more channels, and to enable higher throughput levels, Wireless N supports both bands. Whether you can actually use either band depends upon the particular networking equipment you have.
Most consumer and small business gear primarily supports only 2.4 GHz, while some dual-band equipment is available.
If your network requires the best performance possible, such as for voice and video applications, consider using the higher band.
Just remember that the range will be reduced, simply because of the laws of physics. When using Wireless N 5 GHz gear, you'll see about the same ranges as provided by Wireless G.