Xfinity Internet Connection?

[George Redmon]

Hi Everyone,

I just noticed this morning that i have two internet connection options for my Xfinity internet service. Now seems i have a 5G option. I connected to the 5G, and wow is it faster. Now is this the one i should be using? Will my bill or rate go up if i stay on this 5G thing? Is this 5G connection where i should be connect for internet now? Man this stuff just keeps on a changing. No....i don't game, but i sure like the connect speed now.

I have enclosed a screen shot of my connections. Mine is NETGEAR19-5G & NETGEAR19. I switched it to the NETGEAR19-5G from the NETGEAR19. Was that ok to do?

Thanks for any help you can throw my way. Much appreciated. George

[Wiz Feinberg]

Most modern routers offer high band and low band wireless broadcasts. The low band uses 2.4Ghz. This frequency penetrates walls better and travels further than the higher frequency 5Ghz band. However, as you noted, it has slower data transfer. If you are able to connect successfully to the faster 5Ghz band, stay with it. If you go outside, or to a distant interior room, you may need to connect to the 2.4 Ghz band to penetrate the walls.

If you have a smart TV and connect wirelessly, try to use the 5Ghz band for the faster data transfer. Otherwise, connecting via an Ethernet cable is the fastest.

[Ian Rae]

I live in a small house with thin walls and the router right by the TV, so I'm enjoying the 21st century to the full.

I still remember when you could go out for a meal while a webpage squeezed its way down a phone line

Not all "progress" is good, but broadband is.

[Wiz Feinberg]

BTW, George, the 5G on your wireless router has absolutely nothing to do with the 5G that is coming to cellular networks. Entirely different animal.

[Ian Rae]

5G on the router is technical - it means 5 Gigahertz.

5G describing a cellular network just means "5th generation" as far as I know.

[Jack Stoner]

I get the same downlink/uplink speeds on my "5G" router with both wired and wireless connections.

Currently with Spectrum, I'm getting 111 Mb/sec downlink and 12 Mb/sec uplink.

When I worked on the Apollo program, our "high speed" links between the tracking stations (I was on the Ascension Island tracking station) and Goddard Space Flight Center (and Houston) was 4.8 Kb/sec!

[Ian Rae]

Jack, that's an amazing historical detail.