If I disable the 5GHz radio on my router will it improve my 2.4GHz performance or range?

Question

I have an ASUS RT-AC53 dual-band router having 3 antennas. Currently, it is emitting both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi radios.

I am just curious if I disable the 5GHz radio will it anyway improve the performance or signal range or availability of the 2.4GHz signal? If I did this, would the antenna which is getting used for emitting the 5GHz signal, will instead be used for 2.4GHz?

Solution

I am just curious if I disable the 5GHz radio will it anyway improve the performance or signal range or availability of the 2.4GHz signal?

Modifying or disabling the 5 GHz configuration, will not help with interference, within the 2.4 GHz frequency range. If you have 2.4 GHz performance problems, only changing the 2.4 GHz channel configuration, or reducing the interference that exists within that frequency range will help with that issue.

Is there any possibility for the antenna which is getting used for emitting the 5GHz signal, will instead be used for 2.4GHz?

The antenna that comes with the ASUS RT-AC53 already supports both. So the antenna is being used for both 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz.

Comments

[LPChip]

Scientifically speaking, it is possible that there is an improvement, but it is marginal. This would be due to interference signals that the 5Ghz could modify which in result could affect the 2.4Ghz signal. But I have to agree, if it would affect the signal, it is going to be small enough to not be noticeable in 99 out of 100 cases. Just thought I would point this out.

[Ramhound]

@LPChip - These routers typically have 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz radios that are sensitive enough that they are not affected by interference on entirely different frequency bands other than those they are designed to recognize. I am not entirely sure I agree with your "scientific speak" statement for that reason. In other words, interference within the 5.0 GHz frequency band, should not have an effect, on devices connected to the 2.4 GHz frequency band.

[Ramhound]

The only possible way you would have that happen is if you had a rogue device, and since every device must be certifiied to avoid that situation, that isn't really going to happen in any modern market.

[LPChip]

I'm talking about the fact that a 2.4Ghz wave and a 5.0Ghz wave will travel in a room and pass each other. Normally this will not affect the signal, but an object in the room may alter the wave in such way that one waveform affects the shape of the other waveform. But again, this would be a very small change and error corrections will filter it out, but there will be a performance impact. Yes it is very small. So small that people don't even consider this to be an issue. That's why I started with scientifically speaking.

[LPChip]

In the same way metal can interfere with a wifi signal, so can the 5Ghz signal that goes through metal create a very small magnetic field where that field can then alter the 2.4Ghz signal.

[Tim_Stewart]

@lpchip: We are talking about a difference in frequencies that are billions of cycles per second apart. If it's not in the receivers bandwidth range it will not interfere, scientifically speaking the only way this could happen is if the transmitting device was defective, and in that case no devices would be communicating on the 5ghz band as they wouldn't be able to sync with csma/ca. Really they wouldn't even see a SSID at all in scans. +1

[Ramhound]

@LPChip - Metal distorts a radio signal, but it won't slow a 5.0 GHz, to the point a 2.4 GHz would even recognize it.

[Tim_Stewart]

@Lpchip: Also, with 802.11n and above using multi-path techniques/MIMO, your reference to signal distortion with metal is invalid. After 802.11a/g multi-path fading, out-of-phase signals from metallic reflection, and destructive interference from reflection were resolved with multiple tx/rx antenna chains & a nice algorithm to put it all back together on the receiver end. Simply put, what caused awful performance in 802.11b/a/g is now an advantage in routers that support 802.11n/ac and beyond.