Dual Band Routers????

Im curious to know the capabilities of Dual band routers.
Can they use two bands at once ie g and n? Or dis is simply one band type at two different frequencies?
If it can broadcast bot g and n at the same time, how does one do this?

Thanks in advance

Fry

 

These are completely independent networks so you can have a 802.11g network on 2.4GHz and 5GHz network running @802.11n.
You can't run "g" on 5GHz because "g" was 2.4GHz only- it's equivalent on 5GHz was 802.11a.

Here's how UI looks for Linksys E4200.
If you change it to "manual" you can set both separately.

 

so if I understand correctly,If I connect a dual band router to my modem I will be able to use both G and N devices at the same time?

 

One thing I forgot to mention- I was referring to a simultaneous dual band routers and assuming you were doing the same thing.
Dual band is 2.4GHz or 5GHz and simultaneous is 2.4GHz and 5GHz.

I don't see where the modem comes in- what are you trying to achieve and with what hardware?

As for "at the same time part" the router will be transmitting two networks- let's say 2.4GHz 802.11g and 5GHz 802.11n. You will be able to connect i.e. with your smartphone to 802.11g and at the same time with your notebook to 802.11n but not from one device to both networks at the same time. If it sounds like an unnecessary explanation- sorry but that sometimes causes confusion, so better safe than sorry.

 

Yes, I was referring to simultaneous dual band routers.
I am trying to be able to use N for my laptop and G for the rest of the household members laptops.
Where the modem comes in is I have a 2wire router/modem from ATT that I want to bridge to a router.

 

OK. That can be done assuming the Wi-Fi card in your laptop is capable of 5GHz (since you have to run "n" on 5GHz in this setup).
Just out of curiosity- what router is it?

 

Don't forget, usually, you can set a n network to mixed mode to allow both g and n devices to connect to it at g and n speeds respectively.

I have a 2wire in bridge mode hooked up to a Linksys E3000, 2.4GHz in mixed mode, g devices connect at g speeds and n devices are at ~150Mb/s. My 5GHz network is N only and for my use alone. In my experience, the 2wire is rather weak as it doesn't handle a lot of connections well and it is limited to g speeds.

 

I was looking at either the Linksys E3000 or Netgear WNDR3700-100NAS

 

Both are very good. Netgear is better overall but it the choice between the two may depend on a price.

 

I was leaning towards the netgear. I'll probably wait until a sale between now and January 1.