WiFi Frequency & Channels
Computer Science: OCR GCSE, topic 1.3.18
WiFi Frequency and Channels
Radio wave communications are subject to interference if another transmitter is transmitting at a similar frequency. We try to split the frequencies into bands and channels to avoid this interference.
Frequency bands
- Most WiFi standards transmit data using radio waves in one of two frequency bands:
- 2.4 GHz.
- 5 GHz.
Frequency channels - 2.4GHz band
- To maximise the amount of data we can send, we subdivide the frequency bands into smaller channels.
- There are 13 channels in the 2.4 GHz frequency band.
- Only three of these channels do not interfere with each other.
- This means that the 2.4 GHz range is not effective at supporting many networks.
Frequency channels - 5GHz band
- There are 24 non-overlapping channels in the 5 GHz band.
- This makes the 5 GHz band much more effective for supporting a high number of networks.
Test yourself on WiFi Frequency & Channels
Why do we subdivide frequencies into bands and channels?
Why is the 5 GHz frequency band considered better than the 2.4 GHz band?