2.4 GHz or 5 GHz Wi-Fi?

Wi-Fi uses radio bands to broadcast the internet around your house.  It can use the 2.4 GHz or 5GHz bands. Most Wi-Fi devices support 2.4 GHz connections, while some equipment supports both. Home broadband routers that feature both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios are called dual-band wireless routers while some that can broadcast one 2.4GHz and two 5GHz signals are tricky-band routers.

Confusing?  Well, I was playing around with trying to automate my garage doors and virtually all of the devices I tried, Chamberlain, MeRoss and iSmartgate all require a 2.4GHz connection.   Normally, you can get that connection with the combined signal from your router but for some reason these devices require a dedicated 2.4GHz band.  So, I went through the somewhat arcane process of separating the bands on my Velop Tri-band mesh network.  In the process, I learned a bit about when and where to use each band.

The higher the frequency of a wireless signal, the shorter its range. 2.4 GHz wireless networks, therefore, cover a larger range than 5 GHz networks. specifically, signals of 5 GHz frequencies do not penetrate solid objects as well as 2.4 GHz signals, and this limits the reach of 5 GHz frequencies inside homes.  This may explain why outlying garage openers might prefer the 2.4 GHz network.

A 5 GHz network can carry more data than a 2.4 GHz network so it is technically faster. Your devices that generate or consume the largest amount of network traffic, like your AppleTV or game consoles, generally run fastest over the 5 GHz link.

When I separated my network, I immediately noticed that I had stronger signal further away from a Velop node with the 2.4 GHz network than the 5GHz network.  This not only made my garage door openers work better but also improves connectivity of things like my Hue lighting.  On the other hand, my Sonos network and my Apple TV like the 5GHz signal and even with my marginal broadband here in the mountains I get good streaming of video and music.

Another thing to consider, especially if you do not live in an isolated area like mine is interference. Some cordless phones, automatic garage door openers, and other home appliances use 2.4 GHz band signals. Because this frequency range is commonly used in consumer products, it's become saturated with signals. This makes it more likely that a 2.4 GHz home network will suffer interference from appliances than will a 5 GHz home network. This can slow down and interrupt Wi-Fi network speeds.

Out here in the boonies, having a separate 2.4 GHz network to run most of my gear and a separate 5GHz signal for data heavy signals makes a world of sense.

In terms of HomeKit garage door openers I can only recommend the Chamberlain/Liftmaster solution.  Their solution works with just about any opener but unless you are using a Chamberlain/Liftmaster MyQ device you will need both the MyQ Hub and the MyQ Homebridge.   Meross and iSmartgate just would not connect to HomeKit no matter what I did.  Even the MyQ had issues and you need to ignore their set-up directions to get it right.  Thankfully, others have encountered the same issue and I was able to find the solution easily.  More on that in a future article.