Dual standard router?

MassiveEntropy · October 15, 2015

So I just recently bought a Nintendo New 3DS XL, and it didn't even cross my mind that I would be unable to connect to my universities wifi. That being said, connecting to the internet is not a dire need of mine, so I am not looking for crazy eloquent solutions, nor a very high price point. Essentially, what I was wondering, was if I could run both 802.11ac/802.11n and a 802.11b standard off of one router? Or if there is a special kind of router or a special router made for this purpose? I had an idea that a dual band router could run 802.11ac/802.11n on the 5ghz band, and the 802.11b on the 2.4ghz band. Anyone know of such product? Am I on the right thought process?

Samfisher · October 15, 2015

So I just recently bought a Nintendo New 3DS XL, and it didn't even cross my mind that I would be unable to connect to my universities wifi. That being said, connecting to the internet is not a dire need of mine, so I am not looking for crazy eloquent solutions, nor a very high price point. Essentially, what I was wondering, was if I could run both 802.11ac/802.11n and a 802.11b standard off of one router? Or if there is a special kind of router or a special router made for this purpose? I had an idea that a dual band router could run 802.11ac/802.11n on the 5ghz band, and the 802.11b on the 2.4ghz band. Anyone know of such product? Am I on the right thought process?

AC on 5ghz and G on 2.4 is workable if the router BIOS has those options open for you. Physically it is possible. The 3DS is g though not b. G has higher bandwidth (54Mbps vs 11Mbps)

MassiveEntropy · October 15, 2015

AC on 5ghz and G on 2.4 is workable if the router BIOS has those options open for you. Physically it is possible. The 3DS is g though not b. G has higher bandwidth (54Mbps vs 11Mbps)

You are correct on the g for the 3ds, thanks for the correction. So I would need a dual band router for this, correct? Also, is there a way to make sure the router has the BIOS options for this, or if there is a way to install a different BIOS on the router to get those features?

Wombo · October 15, 2015

So I just recently bought a Nintendo New 3DS XL, and it didn't even cross my mind that I would be unable to connect to my universities wifi. That being said, connecting to the internet is not a dire need of mine, so I am not looking for crazy eloquent solutions, nor a very high price point. Essentially, what I was wondering, was if I could run both 802.11ac/802.11n and a 802.11b standard off of one router? Or if there is a special kind of router or a special router made for this purpose? I had an idea that a dual band router could run 802.11ac/802.11n on the 5ghz band, and the 802.11b on the 2.4ghz band. Anyone know of such product? Am I on the right thought process?

Many devices can do this. If you want to run all 3 standards at the same time look for at least a tri-band device. Check the spec sheet for how many of these different standards they can actually use at the same time. Most will do 2 with no problem, some trouble comes with adoption of 3 and 4 running simultaneously.

For a dual band router if you tried to run AC/N on 5Ghz it would run at the highest speed possible for the lowest standard of device connected. If you only had AC, it would do AC; AC and N clients, it would only do N. Dual band will work overall but if you want everything to work at their highest rated speeds I suggest a tri-band device.

Samfisher · October 16, 2015

You are correct on the g for the 3ds, thanks for the correction. So I would need a dual band router for this, correct? Also, is there a way to make sure the router has the BIOS options for this, or if there is a way to install a different BIOS on the router to get those features?

Most do already. Rarely has a router come default with ONLY N, it's always set to auto negotiate b/g/n when needed so unless you were forcing N-only devices on your 2.4GHz network, it will work straight out of the box. Just don't connect to the 2.4 one if you need speeds above 54Mbps