How Altair's Electromagnetic Solutions Led Me to Optimize Working from Home
How Altair’s electromagnetic solutions led me to optimize working from home.
Recently, I completed work on a new E-Guide that focuses on Altair’s electromagnetic solutions and wave propagation tools for effective 5G product design and network planning. This was a huge learning experience that exposed me to the ins and outs of our 5G solutions and how they can help companies design better products and optimize their connectivity operations. Through this process, I also learned something about dual band wireless networking that I have since applied to my ‘working from home’ set up with great benefit. Continue reading to find out how I discovered something many people probably already know, yet blew my mind…
Admittedly I tend to change which room I work from throughout the day, mostly because I can’t sit still for too long (cue memories of school parent’s evenings). I learned very quickly though that my connection speed in the kitchen is nowhere near as good as when I am closer to the router thanks to the thick Scottish walls of my property. You don’t have to be a genius to expect this, but I wanted to figure out what I could do about it before I got around to buying a Wi-Fi extender.
For the less technically minded (me), modern Wi-Fi routers transmit both 2.4Ghz and 5GHz bands and through a protocol known as band steering, connected devices automatically select which band to connect to. By default, these bands are combined into one Service Set Identifier (SSID), however, it’s possible to split these 2 bands and choose which one to connect to. Why would you want to do this? Well, first we need to understand the difference between 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz and why band steering isn’t the most reliable process.
2.4GHz was the original band used by most routers, and some older devices still solely support it. The longer waves used by the 2.4GHz band make it ideal for long range applications as it can be transmitted effectively through solid objects and walls. This band is a crowded place though, with everything from Bluetooth headphones to microwaves operating here. If you’ve ever walked close to an anti-theft device positioned near a store doorway while wearing Bluetooth headphones, you’ll know what I mean.
5Ghz has more channels with more bandwidth available on each channel, leading to higher speeds. Additionally, this band is not as cluttered as 2.4Ghz so you’re less likely to suffer interference problems. The drawback of this band however is that it struggles to penetrate solid objects. A more detailed comparison of these two bands has been written about by us in an interesting article you should check out.
At this point, you’d be forgiven for thinking the best solution would be to split the bands and let your device chose the best one to connect to, a conclusion I came to. However, devices and routers react to changes in signal strength in many ways, often resulting in suboptimal choices. For example, your smartphone may continue to connect to a weak 5GHz network until it disappears instead of connecting to a stronger 2.4GHz network. Additionally, the router may transmit 2.4GHz to your laptop because it didn’t receive a ‘5GHz preferred’ message.
After tinkering with my router settings I was successfully able to split the two available bands and choose the appropriate connection. Now when I work in the kitchen, I connect to the 2.4GHz signal knowing it can penetrate the many walls between me and the router. If I need a change of scenery and decide to switch to a room closer to the router, I switch to the 5Ghz signal knowing I’ll benefit from the increased speed.
This certainly isn’t a ground-breaking discovery and I’m sure many of you were aware of this from the get-go. However, this little bit of knowledge has saved me long download times and frustration to say the least. To learn more about how Altair’s electromagnetic and network planning simulation solutions can help companies prepare for the 5G revolution, see our new E-Guide
Comments
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Thank you so much for sharing! This was a very timely post, as we just moved into a new house and the brick walls were causing internet performance issues.
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Altair Employee