Difference between 2.4G and 5G Wifi

Science and Technology
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Not strictly related to Linux but I recently had an interesting discussion with a not-so-technical friend who confused 2.4G and 5G wifi as 2nd generation and 5th generation.

I can see why there is a confusion. Terms like 3G, 4G and 5G got popular due to the rise of smartphones. It is easy to mistake 5G of wifi connection for 5th generation of network.

Here’s the thing:

In terms of Wi-Fi networks, G in 2.4G and 5G are the frequency unit GHz. It has nothing to with 5th generation of cellular data networks.

Historically, the 2.4GHz frequency band has been used for common household for years. From your TV remotes to garage openers, from microwave owens to Bluetooth devices, all of these operate in the 2.4GHz range. That’s because this is one of the frequency band that is allowed to be used by the public, unlike many other frequency spectrums that are reserved by governments for commercial and military purposes.

This 2.4 GHz worked fine in the early 2000s when the internet speed was limited. But as the need for high speed internet speed grew, the already crowded 2.4GHz didn’t have enough bandwidth.

So, 5GHz was then introduced around 2009 although not many home router and computers were capable of operating on the 5GHz frequncy bandwidth.

In more technical details, 5 GHz frequncy band has more non-overlapping channels and thus we have better signal quality along with more bandwidth:

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You might have experienced this if you have dual band router. When you connect to 2.4G, the internet speed is slower but the range is more. It can connect until a longer distance.

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And when you connect to 5G, the internet speed is faster but 5G signal doesn’t go as far as the 2.4GHz.

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In 2025, most laptops, computers etc has the capabilities to connect to 5GHz channel and most of the newer routers are dual band, offering both 2.4GHz and 5Gz bands. For the ease of understanding, it is named as SSID_2.4 and SSID_5g.

It’s the extra g in 5g that makes people confuse the g of GHz with g of generation.

I guess most of you folks already knew this but I shared it nonetheless.

Happy Friday :slight_smile:

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Superb thanks for sharing that. Many get lost as to the difference especially with telephones and then connecting to the home wifi or mobile signals.

Perhaps you could follow up with how to choose which wifi on a router.

Every year we hold conférences in my village, one per week for the summer, this year we have asked for the same information be delivered by one of our speakers as he taught this in uni. I will ask for a copy of his slides, but they will be in french so limited but if relevant will post them. (Also he does tend to go off subject )

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You show 22Mbps vs 100Mbps… 4x increase.
Thanks Abhishek, I did not appreciate the speed difference or the range issue.

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Glad you liked it.

If you opt for a fiber optics network, the router that comes with it should be dual band. Meaning, if you scan for wifi signals, it will show two available networks: your_wifi-SSID_2.4 and your_wifi-SSID_5g.

Your computer or smartphone can connect to either of them. There are like two separate access points.

I have not set up a dual band router manually. It just came with the fiber network connection.

This is a nice activity. And I guess most of us tend to go off the subject :wink:

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I never remember the subject that’s why I tell stories.

I have fibre in my home but it only offers one connection which I guess is the fastest. Orange my supplier tend to just do easy options not to confuse clients. There are other providers but orange own the line and box so one stop shop if problem others subcontractor blame each other for problem

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It makes sense. 2.4 Ghz has a longer wavelength and penetrates walls and other obstacles better. 5 Ghz has a shorter wavelength and can encode more information that way. Like higher sampliing rate for CD audio.

The new WiFi 7 routers support 2.4 Ghz, 5 Ghz, and 6 Ghz. The 6 Ghz looks to be super-fast but is more sensitive to being blocked by walls and such. WiFi 7 equipment is too expensive for my use at this point and none of my end user devices support it yet. Maybe a year or so from now things will be different.

When I had my fiber installed, and previous DSL or cable as well, the provider always had the default option of including a modem with or without WiFi. I always try to use my own equipment because it’s usually better quality and it avoids any monthly rental cost for the equipment. The upfront cost of buying my own is paid for in less than two years. They would not necessarily locate the WiFi router in the most effective location either. They would get the wire/cable/fiber in the building and put all the equipment right there, in a far corner of the basement. Obviously not ideal. WiFi is like a retail outlet: “location, location, location”. :slight_smile:

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I had thought of buying my own equipment and not renting due to cost each month, 19 years ago it was easy to buy but now orange have the market and very hard to buy and set up..

Silly question but why do the operators choos similar numbers to the phone network , so if you see 5g is that wifi or phone network.

We got court out visiting Marrakech a few years back, my wife thought she was connecting to the hotel wifi 5g but in fact it was mobile network and she paid a fortune for internet access, before i realised and cut her off to connect via mine on wifi

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That is too bad. Some ISPs will probably be like there. You may not have the option to bring your own equipment.

To be clear, there is a fiber conversion module supplied by my ISP, so I have an ethernet connection for my router.

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We do have sfr (vodafone), Bouygues, and free. Each offer a router for the fibre and totally different prices for rental of the box plus the line. The main issue is when it goes wrong they blame each other or your equipment. Then getting the set up spec for a seperate purchased box is the pits. Been there tried it for clients and in the end just say buy orange then after a years contract change but if it goes wrong good luck for a quick fix.

20 years of rental now I could have bought the company cheaper.

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haha Paul, it reminds me of those days before fibre in France and the wet string that Orange used for connecting phone lines and the internet. Visited a place in the Vienne (very rural France) on a Sunday to buy some tractor equipment and passed by a ditch containing about 4 big blokes musing over two ends of a cable with much scratching of heads… on arrival at our destination a short way up the road, we asked them what was going on. Turned out that one farmer had raised the bucket on his tractor when existing a field and tore down the Orange telecom cable which promptly snapped. As with all things rural in France, they called the Maire and he sat in the wet ditch with the others figuring out which cable to reconnect to its opposite using insulation tape to get the line working again for the rest of weekend until Orange could be expected to make an appearance.
If you’ve ever seen the French classic comedy The Gendarme of Saint-Tropez you’ll understand the context. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I am guilty of doing something similar, not once but 2 seperate times.

I cut the branches of a tree outside my home, one landed on the cable, after swinging about for 10 mins, just before i got my ladder in place … it broke. Not effecting me but my farmer in the house at the end of the lane. I used a chocolate block and tape then waited till we had a storm to blame the cut where I remove the connection.

Last time a clients dog chewed the box and cable, bank holiday thursday, no work friday. So back out with another block and sticky backed tape…

Now orange charge for calls so ready to do blue péter fixes. Shame fibre is not as easy to repair.

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We had a fencing contractor putting in posts with a hydraulic driver. The very last post hit a phone line about 600mm underground, and cut off several neighbours.
Normally that would incur a fine, but we had requested a map from the Telco before proceeding, and the map clearly showed the phone line outside our fence, not inside where we put the post.
It was a 20 pair copper wire cable. They reconnected every pair, covered it with silicone sealer and reburied it.

Our neighbour was not so lucky. They put in a dam and damaged a fibre optic cable… cut off the whole local town. After that some posts with warning signs appeared all along the fibre optic line.

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Mine says this

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I have no idea what the Split button does.
No mention of your_wifi-SSID_2.4 and your_wifi-SSID_5g.

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