[Zildjian71]

After reading through dozens of router posts here and elsewhere I realized there was one router specification that was being glossed over or not revealed.

Simultaneous Dual Band!

Most dual band routers employ exotic band switching of one radio. If a QoS feature is enabled then the band switching will favor media streaming and gaming, leaving leftover bandwidth to normal data streams. This is OK for one media/game client on the network but it bogs down with two or more QoS clients.

QoS stands for Quality of Service or the traffic you don't want interrupted by normal data.

A simultaneous dual band router allows for two radios and two SSIDs to function at the same time in the Wireless N band. In the case of my Netgear N600 I can set up normal data on the 2.4 Ghz radio and all QoS traffic separated on the 5 Ghz radio with its own SSID.

With my router setup like that we no longer have lagging, dropouts or router rebooting during family vid chats. This feature is available on many brands of routers not just Netgear.

We have our phones on the normal data stream and our PlayBooks on the QoS stream.

Its like having two routers in one box. It is also priced like two routers, expect to pay $100+ US.

So having said all that, a simultaneous dual band router isn't your grandfather's router.

[jonathon.94]

After reading through dozens of router posts here and elsewhere I realized there was one router specification that was being glossed over or not revealed.

Simultaneous Dual Band!

Most dual band routers employ exotic band switching of one radio. If a QoS feature is enabled then the band switching will favor media streaming and gaming, leaving leftover bandwidth to normal data streams. This is OK for one media/game client on the network but it bogs down with two or more QoS clients.

QoS stands for Quality of Service or the traffic you don't want interrupted by normal data.

A simultaneous dual band router allows for two radios and two SSIDs to function at the same time in the Wireless N band. In the case of my Netgear N600 I can set up normal data on the 2.4 Ghz radio and all QoS traffic separated on the 5 Ghz radio with its own SSID.

With my router setup like that we no longer have lagging, dropouts or router rebooting during family vid chats. This feature is available on many brands of routers not just Netgear.

We have our phones on the normal data stream and our PlayBooks on the QoS stream.

Its like having two routers in one box. It is also priced like two routers, expect to pay $100+ US.

So having said all that, a simultaneous dual band router isn't your grandfather's router.

Thank you for this information but what exactly is the point?