Upgrading to a high-speed internet connection won’t boost your network on its own. You also need a router that can use new Wi-Fi technologies, has more Wi-Fi bands, and supports modern features. Getting these particular routers will give you access to speeds you’ve never seen before.
What Are Tri-Band Routers?
If you’ve purchased your router anytime in the last three years, chances are you’ve got a dual-band router—hosting one 2.4GHz and one 5GHz network. On most dual-band routers, the available bandwidth is spread equally across all connected devices since each frequency only has one band. This reduces the network speed to the slowest device on the network, meaning faster devices don’t get to use their full potential.
Tri-band routers add another 5GHz or 6GHz network to the mix, offering more speed, bandwidth, and channels for a more stable and faster Wi-Fi connection. Most routers will also ensure that faster devices get a less congested band than the slower ones, ensuring each device can get as close to its maximum network speed as possible.
Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 tri-band routers typically add a second 5GHz band to your existing 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, giving faster devices a second channel to connect. Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 routers generally add a 6GHz band for more consistent and slightly faster download and upload speeds while bringing all the stability and bandwidth benefits from having a separate band.
More Bands Mean Less Network Congestion
As you can probably guess by now, the biggest benefit of upgrading to a tri-band router is the additional 5GHz or 6GHz band. The additional band delivers more Wi-Fi channels, which in turn means less network congestion for compatible devices. In most cases, Wi-Fi devices will connect to the appropriate band when set to dynamic allocation. However, you can also set each Wi-Fi band with a unique SSID (Wi-Fi network name) and manually assign each device.
This has several advantages. First, you avoid network congestion. It’s no secret that as the number of connected devices on a band increases, the internet speed and connection stability drop significantly. So, if you’ve got a dozen devices like your laptop, smartphone, smart bulbs, and other devices hooked up to the same band (or network), you’re not going to get the best Wi-Fi experience.
By contrast, having more bands means that devices can be allotted to separate networks, giving them the bandwidth they need. Since each network now also has fewer devices, you enjoy better network stability and lower interference from household appliances as the faster 5GHz and 6GHz bands are less prone to external interference.
If you’re running a mesh network, a tri-band router will dedicate one band to communication between the mesh router and its satellites—called backhaul. A dual-band router would have to use one of its existing bands for backhaul connectivity, limiting the bandwidth available for actual internet access.
They Can Handle More Devices
Since tri-band routers give you more channels, and each channel now has a lower number of devices, you can also connect a larger number of devices before your router starts acting up. If you want to connect dozens of devices, especially smart appliances, cameras, baby monitors, or anything else, a tri-band router is the way to go, but you should also look out for theseadditional features when buying a new router.
If you’re experiencing issues with more devices connected to your network, it might be time for an upgrade. If you’re using a router that came with your internet connection, there are plenty ofreasons to replace your ISP-provided routerfor a better one, as you’ll likely get better multi-device support and management capabilities.
You Get Better Wi-Fi Range
Better range isn’t exactly a feature of tri-band routers, but 2.4GHz, the Wi-Fi band with the largest range, is going to be full of devices and interference anyway. Not to mention, it has the slower speeds you’ll be getting.
However, the two additional bands you’re getting will now have much better stability, meaning you can technically get better range. This will not significantly increase your range, and you’ll still have tofix Wi-Fi dead spotswith a repeaterora mesh system. But you will get better speeds and stability even if the signal isn’t as good, extending the usable range of your router.Having the optimal router locationalso matters here.
There are plenty of reasonswhy your home can use a tri-band router. And if you’re looking for a router for an office or work setup and need the additional bandwidth and ability to hold a higher number of wireless clients, a tri-band router is a must. With internet speeds on the rise, it’s not wise to leave the bandwidth that you’re paying for on the table.
