dual band routers vs normal routers

[robina_80]

ive seen a few routers that offer dual band capabilities ie work on the 2.4ghz and 5ghz freq, they say so you can use one for normal internet use and the other one ie the 5ghz one to stream download content and so it doesnt conflict with any electrical wireless devices in the house but this is the part i dont get,

lets say you got a 10Mbps connection and your using one computer to email surf the web and another computer is downloading or streaming a video, your still going to use the same bandwith as you would a normal router wouldnt you because it would just split the difference or use as much as it needs what will the dual band one do different?

 

[naiops]

essentially most routers for home use are just a switch with a point to point link on one of the ports to a router interface. And in the case of sharing bandwidth, if you have a 10mbps connection each port has a dedicated 10mbps speed so each one will get 10mbps not share it. hope this helps.

 

[The_Other_One]

First off, I wouldn't worry too much about 802.11n seeing as the standard's still not set yet (WILL IT EVER BE FINALIZED?!) Heh...but once it's set, devices should be a little more inter-compatible.

Hmm... as for the packaging, I don't quite understand what they're trying to get at either. Yes, you will be sharing one internet connection and are limited to whatever is coming through that connection. However, I suppose if you have many computers all fighting over the 2.4GHz band, you could get some collisions and conflicts. The 2.4GHz band is pretty full (wifi, cordless phones, bluetooth, some wireless peripherals) These could conflict with the networks performance or vise versa. I suppose the only real benefit, though, is to clean up the 2.4GHz band. Computers which can handle 5GHz can stick to that band while older machines can stick to 2.4GHz.