**The Wireless Router: A Misnomer with Three Discrete Components**
A wireless router is often considered to be a single, self-contained device that manages all the traffic on a home network. However, this assumption is not entirely accurate. Inside that box, there are actually three discrete components, each of which can usually be turned off if desired.
The first component is a router, which serves as the traffic controller between the home network and other networks out there on the internet. It directs all the data packets coming from your devices to their intended destinations. The second component is a network switch, which controls all the devices connected to the same network segment within your home. Lastly, there's a wireless access point (AP), also known as a radio with antennas that communicates with all your wireless standard-compliant devices over approved frequencies, typically in the 2.4 and 5 gigahertz ranges.
**The Access Point: The Heart of the Matter**
The important piece of the puzzle for this discussion is the access point, which uses the same wireless AC standard as previous models but achieves significantly more than its advertised maximum speed of 1900 megabits per second. This might seem counterintuitive at first, given that a dual-band AC 1900 AP never actually achieves an aggregated value of 1900 megabits over both the 5-gigahertz and 2.4-gigahertz connections simultaneously.
The reason for this discrepancy lies in how clients like phones or computers are designed to use these frequencies. An individual client is not designed to utilize both frequencies at the same time, rendering the point of tri-band or dual-band devices moot if true max connection speeds are still stuck at 1300 megabits per second. Think of it as adding more lanes to the highway rather than increasing the speed limit.
**The Benefits of More Bands and Radios**
More bands or radios mean smoother operation with a greater number of connected devices, thanks to Wi-Fi's polite communication protocol that requires every other device in a given frequency has to wait its turn. By moving some devices onto one frequency and others onto a completely separate non-overlapping frequency, you're dramatically improving the overall amount of data you can throw through the air.
More bands also help address overall Wi-Fi slowdowns caused by legacy or slower clients connecting to the network using "steering technology," where a client is steered away from a faster AP in favor of a lower-capacity one. By utilizing more and more of the available wireless spectrum per radio, you can transmit and receive on multiple frequencies concurrently.
**Challenges with Increasing Bandwidth**
However, there are challenges with adding more bands or discrete radios to your AP. Firstly, increasing spatial streams increases power consumption and heat output, which is a big deal for clients like phones or laptops. If these devices don't support the faster link speed, you won't get any benefit from it.
Another issue is creating new link speeds that can only be achieved by sprawling across more of the available spectrum, leading to interference from overlapping networks with your neighbors. This problem is already a concern with 2.4-gigahertz Wi-Fi, and adding even more frequencies will likely exacerbate this issue.
**Learning Resources from Lynda.com**
If you're interested in learning more about networking or video editing, among other topics, we recommend checking out Lynda.com, our sponsor for today's episode. With a 10-day free trial, you can try it out before committing to a paid plan. Their courses are updated constantly with great content from industry experts.
We've had several team members at Linus Media Group who have learned their skills from Lynda.com, and they're all extremely reasonable plans. Our viewers have told us that their feedback has been great, and we encourage you to try it out for yourself as well. Head over to lynda.com techwiki to sign up for the free trial and start learning today!
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso you're shopping for a wireless router and they all seem to be more or less the same you're getting kind of bored and just gonna grab the one with the prettiest boxes whoa look at that wireless 3200 are you freaking kidding over three gigabit wi-fi speed with tri-band technology time to throw out all your wired devices that are limited to wussy one gigabit connections right actually no and i'll explain why but first let's get our terminology straight a wireless router is a bit of a misnomer but the term is so universally used that we're kind of stuck with it inside that box is actually three discrete components each of which can usually be turned off if you want to use a standalone appliance for that functionality instead so the first one is a router the traffic controller between the home network all of your devices are connected to and all the other networks out there on the internet number two is a network switch the traffic controller between all of your devices and number three is a wireless access point or ap a radio with antennas that is sort of like a mini cell tower in your house that communicates with all your wireless standard compliant devices over the approved frequencies usually in the 2.4 and 5 gigahertz ranges all right so with that out of the way the important piece of the puzzle for this discussion is the access point how can it use the same wireless ac standard that we've already had for a couple of years and achieved so much more than the 1900 megabit max that we've seen advertised on dual band wireless aps up until now well a big part of the problem actually lies in the marketing for these devices a dual band ac 1900 ap never actually achieves a 1900 megabit link speed to anything literally never that's an aggregated value for both the wireless ac 1300 megabit 5 gigahertz connection and the wireless n 600 megabit 2.4 gigahertz connection when they're being used concurrently but an individual client like your phone or computer would not be designed to utilize the two at the same time so what would be the point of tri-band or even dual band for that matter if true max connection speeds are still stuck at 1300 megabit think of it like adding more lanes to the highway rather than increasing the speed limit more bands or radios mean smoother operation with a greater number of connected devices because wi-fi is a polite communication protocol every other device in a given frequency has to wait its turn while another one is talking so if you move some of your devices onto one frequency and others onto a completely separate non-overlapping frequency you're dramatically improving the overall amount of data you can throw through the air more bands also helps address overall wi-fi slowdowns that occur when a legacy or slower client connects to the network using banned steering technology and two separate five gigahertz radios each supporting three spatial streams the ap can sort the devices connected to it according to their capability with all the slow clients on one radio or going and being scrub land on that radio by themselves and the faster ones on another improving performance for your shiny new gadgets sounds cool linus but if adding more bands or discrete radios doesn't increase point-to-point connection speed then how can we ever replace our wires well the way it's been done up until now has been to utilize more and more of the available wireless spectrum per radio by transmitting and receiving on more frequencies concurrently like a wireless 802.11 ac compliant device must support at least two antennas operating together for example but there are some issues with that number one is that more spatial streams increases power consumption and heat output which is a big deal on the client side where you might have a phone or a laptop and if your clients don't support the faster link speed then you'll get no benefit anyway and another is that with the limited number of five gigahertz frequencies or channels available creating new link speed standards that can only be achieved by sprawling across more and more of the available spectrum will result in interference from the overlapping networks of your neighbors very soon just like we already have with 2.4 gigahertz wi-fi speaking of neighbors our friendly neighbors over at lynda.com are the sponsor of today's episode lynda.com is a great online resource for learning you can pick up a new skill for a hobby like photography or you can pick up new skills for a profession like photography or video editing in fact we've got a couple of people working here at linus media group that have got some of their online education from lynda.com their plans are extremely reasonable they offer a 10-day free trial so you can try it out before you commit and their courses are updated constantly with great content from industry experts so head over to lynda.com techwiki to try out the free trial and to potentially sign up just like actually a lot of our viewers have already linda's told us that their feedback is great the feedback that i get from people on twitter is great good stuff all around thanks for watching guys like this video if you liked it dislike it if you thought it totally sucked and leave a comment if you have any comments or if you have suggestions for future episodes as fast as possible just like this one oh and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't alreadyso you're shopping for a wireless router and they all seem to be more or less the same you're getting kind of bored and just gonna grab the one with the prettiest boxes whoa look at that wireless 3200 are you freaking kidding over three gigabit wi-fi speed with tri-band technology time to throw out all your wired devices that are limited to wussy one gigabit connections right actually no and i'll explain why but first let's get our terminology straight a wireless router is a bit of a misnomer but the term is so universally used that we're kind of stuck with it inside that box is actually three discrete components each of which can usually be turned off if you want to use a standalone appliance for that functionality instead so the first one is a router the traffic controller between the home network all of your devices are connected to and all the other networks out there on the internet number two is a network switch the traffic controller between all of your devices and number three is a wireless access point or ap a radio with antennas that is sort of like a mini cell tower in your house that communicates with all your wireless standard compliant devices over the approved frequencies usually in the 2.4 and 5 gigahertz ranges all right so with that out of the way the important piece of the puzzle for this discussion is the access point how can it use the same wireless ac standard that we've already had for a couple of years and achieved so much more than the 1900 megabit max that we've seen advertised on dual band wireless aps up until now well a big part of the problem actually lies in the marketing for these devices a dual band ac 1900 ap never actually achieves a 1900 megabit link speed to anything literally never that's an aggregated value for both the wireless ac 1300 megabit 5 gigahertz connection and the wireless n 600 megabit 2.4 gigahertz connection when they're being used concurrently but an individual client like your phone or computer would not be designed to utilize the two at the same time so what would be the point of tri-band or even dual band for that matter if true max connection speeds are still stuck at 1300 megabit think of it like adding more lanes to the highway rather than increasing the speed limit more bands or radios mean smoother operation with a greater number of connected devices because wi-fi is a polite communication protocol every other device in a given frequency has to wait its turn while another one is talking so if you move some of your devices onto one frequency and others onto a completely separate non-overlapping frequency you're dramatically improving the overall amount of data you can throw through the air more bands also helps address overall wi-fi slowdowns that occur when a legacy or slower client connects to the network using banned steering technology and two separate five gigahertz radios each supporting three spatial streams the ap can sort the devices connected to it according to their capability with all the slow clients on one radio or going and being scrub land on that radio by themselves and the faster ones on another improving performance for your shiny new gadgets sounds cool linus but if adding more bands or discrete radios doesn't increase point-to-point connection speed then how can we ever replace our wires well the way it's been done up until now has been to utilize more and more of the available wireless spectrum per radio by transmitting and receiving on more frequencies concurrently like a wireless 802.11 ac compliant device must support at least two antennas operating together for example but there are some issues with that number one is that more spatial streams increases power consumption and heat output which is a big deal on the client side where you might have a phone or a laptop and if your clients don't support the faster link speed then you'll get no benefit anyway and another is that with the limited number of five gigahertz frequencies or channels available creating new link speed standards that can only be achieved by sprawling across more and more of the available spectrum will result in interference from the overlapping networks of your neighbors very soon just like we already have with 2.4 gigahertz wi-fi speaking of neighbors our friendly neighbors over at lynda.com are the sponsor of today's episode lynda.com is a great online resource for learning you can pick up a new skill for a hobby like photography or you can pick up new skills for a profession like photography or video editing in fact we've got a couple of people working here at linus media group that have got some of their online education from lynda.com their plans are extremely reasonable they offer a 10-day free trial so you can try it out before you commit and their courses are updated constantly with great content from industry experts so head over to lynda.com techwiki to try out the free trial and to potentially sign up just like actually a lot of our viewers have already linda's told us that their feedback is great the feedback that i get from people on twitter is great good stuff all around thanks for watching guys like this video if you liked it dislike it if you thought it totally sucked and leave a comment if you have any comments or if you have suggestions for future episodes as fast as possible just like this one oh and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already\n"
