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Comment by gtdawg | Hacker News Reader

All devices going forward (especially isp routers) _should_ use only 5ghz.

Consumers should have to spend extra on 2.4 AP gear to support legacy client devices. 5ghz has reduced propagation and there are so many more channels available that it is actually optimal to use in dense evvironments. Mesh wifi is pretty much a requirement for a lot of users to keep the same coverage with multiple rooms compared with their existing 2.4 ghz network.

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As far as I understand, 5ghz is weak on distance which is a problem at my apartment building. Every time I'm on the 5G SSID, the internet becomes unusable in the bedroom and kitchen which makes 5G unusable for me because my devices don't select the 2.4ghz band automatically.

I'm a little late with my reply, but I wanted the solution to be here as well.

Poor 5ghz propagation solved:

https://eero.com/ https://lumahome.com/ https://madeby.google.com/wifi/how-it-works/ http://www.samsung.com/us/smart-home/ https://www.open-mesh.com/

Mesh networks are definitely cool but the biggest downside is that they are a bit pricy and I have heard that some of them do not work well. I cannot speak for any of those which you provided, though, except google which works well supposedly.

5GHz isn't a panacea, at least in my experience. It doesn't penetrate walls well enough to reach to the edges of my (quite small) apartment, so my laptops and other devices drop down to an acceptable rate on 2.4GHz.

In addition, I think Sonos still sells devices without 5GHz radios (and probably plenty of other companies).

Maybe you have thicker walls, but 5Ghz should really be able to work in a small apartment.

Lack of support is a huge problem though. Tons of devices are sold without 5Ghz support.

I live in NYC with old, thick walls (and a lot of interference, even on 5GHz). Even though my apartment is small, there are 3-4 walls separating where my AP is (at one end) and the other end of my apartment (the bedroom).

Same experience here. Amusingly, 5ghz works halfway down the block outside the building but dies in my bedroom. It's an older building, and the walls are built like bunkers.

2.4ghz works perfectly, and always has. I think the real answer here is more dual band routers, even in cheapo ISP provided combo boxes.

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