2.4GHz Wifi speed question?

[rheyL]

Good day guys, I have a question regarding wifi speed, specially 2.4ghz. I have an old laptop which only have 2.4ghz wifi, if I buy a router will the internet speed increased? 

This router https://www.tp-link.com/ph/home-networking/wifi-router/archer-ax55/

 

Our ISP is rated at 400Mbps, my PC which has a wifi card with 5ghz gets the maximum speed. In the router specs it says at 2.4GHz it will get 574Mbps but on 802.11ax only, and my laptop has only b/g/n only. Will it increase or not?

[CyberneticTitan]

AX is backward compatible with N (and operates on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz), so I wouldn't go out and buy a new N router.

 

2.4GHz is likely very congested and outside of perhaps setting the center channel to a less congested band, there is not much else you can do. Consider buying a used AC/AX USB WiFi adapter for <$10.

[whispous]

If we look at this realistically, how fast do you need the internet to even be on an "old" (as you call it) laptop? If it's for web browsing, video watching, etc then even if it only hit 50mbps you'd not notice.

[Donut417]

45 minutes ago, rheyL said:

Will it increase or not?

WiFi is a two way street. The limitation on speed is not just the router but also the wireless card inside the laptop. If its 2.4 Ghz only then its WiFi 4 or older. So I doubt you will see much of an increase. Id like to say Ive seen seen a WiFi 4 router rated for more than 300 Mbps on 2.4 Ghz, getting max speed is a pipe dream on WiFi in most cases.

[Alex Atkin UK]

13 hours ago, Donut417 said:

WiFi is a two way street. The limitation on speed is not just the router but also the wireless card inside the laptop. If its 2.4 Ghz only then its WiFi 4 or older. So I doubt you will see much of an increase. Id like to say Ive seen seen a WiFi 4 router rated for more than 300 Mbps on 2.4 Ghz, getting max speed is a pipe dream on WiFi in most cases.

Yes, I think they used to advertise 3x3 MIMO at 40Mhz channel width, which is completely unrealistic.  For one thing in a congested area you should only be using 20Mhz to keep crosstalk lower, and laptops rarely came (or indeed still come) with more than 2x2 MIMO.

Back before WiFi was popular I could get 150Mbit out of 2.4Ghz at 2x2 40Mhz, but once the neighbours got WiFi that was no longer possible.

 

Also as @whispous said, an older laptop is unlikely to get much benefit from faster speeds anyway as what you're doing will be CPU bound.

USB sticks are an option but only the larger ones supporting 2x2 MIMO, the mini ones are usually 1x1 with poor reception.  Compatibility could be an issue depending on what OS is on that laptop too.