Does DISABLING the 5G network in Airport Utility for my AirPort Extreme (latest gen) ease up load on the airport extreme or it makes no difference?

[Benz63amg]

i only use the 2.4ghz wifi access point in my apartment, i never connect to the 5g network as the performance just isn't consistent for whatever reason and the range is lacking, it may be due to the age of the airport extreme but whatever (its the latest AC Model that apple released before they discounted it and it is about 4 years old if not older)

i just went into Airport utility and DISABLED the 5G network, is it good i did that or should i keep it enabled and broadcasting even though im not using the 5g network? i got a warning in airport utility telling my that the overall performance of my network will be decreased if i disable 5G but why would that be the case if i only use the 2.4ghz access point anyway?

Thanks in advance

 

[slyronit]

Turning off 5Ghz will have no impact on 2.4Ghz performance, although it may free up the 5Ghz channel for your neighbours.

Higher frequencies cannot penetrate walls as well but in the same room 5Ghz will blow away 2.4Ghz. But this also means less interference in 5Ghz with your neighbours.

One thing you can try is use the same SSID names for both and let individual devices choose which band they want to use; should be better than not using 5Ghz at all.

 

[Benz63amg]

Turning off 5Ghz will have no impact on 2.4Ghz performance, although it may free up the 5Ghz channel for your neighbours.

Higher frequencies cannot penetrate walls as well but in the same room 5Ghz will blow away 2.4Ghz. But this also means less interference in 5Ghz with your neighbours.

One thing you can try is use the same SSID names for both and let individual devices choose which band they want to use; should be better than not using 5Ghz at all.

Thank you! I will keep it disabled then as I stated in the original post, I don’t want to use 5G at all in my apartment I just wanted to make sure it wouldn’t affect my 2ghz network as the AirPort Extreme prompt warned me against when I went to turn off 5G in airport utility.

 

[Juicy Box]

I have been doing the exact opposite, well, not disabling the 2.4GHz band, but I separated the two bands by having a slightly different network name on the 2.4GHz band, and only using the 5GHz band on most of my devices.

I was having issues on different AirPort Extreme base stations where things just started to slow down randomly.

I would normally troubleshoot, but figured my 6th Gen AirPort Extreme was 7 years old, and used non-stop, maybe it was at the end of its life.

Everyone seems to rave about mesh systems, so I did research, got one of the highest rated, expensive, best performing tri-band mesh systems.

Long story, but I had the same exact issue, along with many other ones related to the downsides of a mesh system.

I troubleshooted the mesh system (which I should have done with the AirPort, and sane me lots of time), just to find out that the 2.4GHz band performed horribly on my brand new mesh system.

I got things working okay when I disabled it, and only used the 5GHz band, but wondered if the same was happening to my AirPort.

I did a factory reset, set up the AirPort with separate network names for the two bands, moved all my all my devices that was compatible to the 5GHz band.

I was pleasantly surprised that the old 6th Gen AirPort Extreme out performed the band new, expensive mesh system when using just 5GHz.

I returned the mesh system, and purchased 4 more 6th Gen AirPort Extremes on eBay, creating a wired AirPort “mesh” network in my home.

The reason I keep the 2.4GHz around is that I have a few devices that are not compatible with the 5GHz band, otherwise, I would just run the 5GHz.