Part 1: The Cluttered Wireless 2.4GHz Band

Most of today's wireless routers support 802.11g (Wireless-G) and many of them start to support 802.11n (Wireless-N) after the specification has been finalized in October, 2009. If you've bought a laptop or wireless router after 2009, chances are that they will support 802.11n and 802.11g.

Wireless-G and N can both utilize a common network frequency at 2.4GHz, it's the same old 2.4GHz that have been used by earlier 802.11 and 802.11b networks, and also by most of the home & office wireless telephones and remote controls.

With so many devices using 2.4GHz in your house, and your neighbors' surround you, 2.4Ghz networks are extremely cluttered with dozens maybe even hundreds of wireless devices.

To reduce interference to some degree, the 2.4Ghz network is divided up into 14 channels, with each one having its own frequency very close to 2.4GHz. They are 2.412, 2.417, 2.422, 2.427, 2.432, 2.437, 2.442, 2.447, 2.452, 2.457, 2.462, 2467, 2.472, 2.484 Ghz.

In North American only the first 11 channels are used, while in the rest of the world all the first 13, with Japan also using the last channel in their 802.11b standards.

Most 2.4GHz device can choose their channel at one of the 11 frequencies. The larger the difference in the frequency, the less interference the devices will encounter. Setting your device away from a cluttered channel might help a little back in 2003 when not so many Wireless G devices were around.

However, it doesn't really help that much in 2010. By default, all wireless routers choose Channel 6, the one in the middle. If you and your neighbors did not change channel in your routers' setting page, you are stuck in Channel 6 with a lot of other devices. Even if you are smart enough to change to Channel 1 or Channel 11, your laptop probably would still go head-and-shoulder with someone else's devices in the same or a near-by channel.

Unless you live in a big house with a huge backyard, your network environment will be all very cluttered.

Does Wireless-N Help?

The new Wireless-N standards can utilize both 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz frequency bands.

Despite so, most routers that support Wireless-N still don't support 5GHz, and they are using the same old, cluttered, 2.4GHz. Of course, in a perfectly clean environment, you will still benefit from Wireless-N's wider range and faster data transfer rate. But if your router sits in a noisy 2.4GHz environment, it might not perform as well.

This is why so many users still don't feel much of improvement after having upgraded to a Wireless-N router. Their gaming, P2P downloading, transferring files or streaming media are still slow or jerky, or they stop altogether from time to time.

Sure, the router could be overheating or have a flawed firmware, but more likely, you have a noisy, cluttered wireless environment that keeps interfering your wireless communications. It's like a terrible traffic jam on a Friday afternoon, only every day for your router.

Fortunately, Wireless-N supports 5.0GHz, and it's like a whole new open world, where your wireless devices can escape to.

In Part 2, we will discuss how Wireless N dual band router will help you cut through the interference and gives you much higher throughput and range.

So let's have a break and I'll see you in Part 2.