Do My Devices Have to Use the Same Wi-Fi Range to Communicate With Each Other?
Everyone has questions about wireless networks – and that’s okay. There is a lot you might not know about Wi-Fi, even if you have successfully configured your router and are sitting right now browsing Lifehacker on your laptop, desktop, smartphone or tablet.
In this 911 tech support column, I previously covered some of the more serious questions you need to understand if you want the fastest connection at home, including which wireless range to use for the best connection, as well as which wireless channels. your wifi networks should be using. These are complex topics, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t lose sight of the basics.
Lifehacker reader Daron recently emailed me the following question:
“I have a wireless printer located next to my router. 2.4 or 5? I always thought that your laptop and printer must be on the same channel to work properly. “
If I were you, I would use my 2.4GHz wireless printer, but you could also use 5GHz if you really want to. I don’t know what kind of printer you have, but I’m going to assume that all wireless printers can connect to 2.4GHz Wi-Fi networks, and there are probably some that cannot connect to 5GHz networks. Honestly, this is the only reason to prefer one over the other.
Since your printer is so close to the router, any range must be fast enough for your printer to use. (I’m assuming you’re not submitting huge print jobs that take up a lot of bandwidth; if so, or if you have a wireless AC printer and want to make the most of it, you’ll want to upgrade to 5 GHz.)
As for your side comment, this is a wireless myth that I’m happy to dispel. All your connected devices should be able to see each other, whether you’re using 2.4GHz or 5GHz – no problem. There are some cases where they cannot, but this is usually not present in the default router settings. For example, if you are using a guest network, devices connected to it may not see anything connected to your main network (either by default or due to an option you toggled when setting up the guest network).
Your router may also have some kind of ” access point isolation ” – a similar function. If you’ve enabled this, and you probably shouldn’t, then the connected devices shouldn’t see other devices on your network. They will have access to the Internet, but nothing more.
Otherwise, the decision to connect to 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz is band and speed dependent. While this is not a guaranteed rule of thumb, I found that 2.4GHz allows you to extend the range – albeit at slower speeds – than 5GHz, but if you are in both, choose 5GHz for the fastest connection possible. And if your devices are simple and don’t need that much speed, choose 2.4GHz for them and leave the 5GHz bandwidth free for high-bandwidth devices.