Esto también se puede leer en español.

Leer en español

Don't show this again

Computers Leer en español

Home networking: Everything you need to know

Wi-Fi, access point, router, 802.11ac... networking can be a pain! But it doesn't have to be if you know what you're doing. This is where you start.

Editors' note: This story was originally published on Dec. 9, 2014, and has been updated frequently with latest information.

When it comes to home networking, there's a soup of technical terms, LAN, WAN, broadband, Wi-Fi, CAT5e, just to name a few. If you're having a hard time with these basic terms, you're reading the right post. Here I'll (try to) explain them all so that you can have a better understanding of your home network and hopefully a better control of your online life. There's a lot to explain so this long post is just the first of an evolving series.


1. Wired networking






Josh Miller/CNET







A typical CAT5e network cable.
A typical CAT5e network cable. Dong Ngo/CNET








2. Wireless networking


Basic terms



Dong Ngo/CNET







Wi-Fi standards






On each band, the Wireless-N standard is available in three setups, depending on the number of spatial streams being used: single-stream (1x1), dual-stream (2x2) and three-stream (3x3), offering cap speeds of 150 Mbps, 300 Mbps and 450 Mbps, respectively. This in turns creates three types of true dual-band routers: N600 (each of the two bands offers a 300 Mbps speed cap), N750 (one band has a 300 Mbps speed cap while the other caps at 450 Mbps) and N900 (each of the two bands allows up to 450 Mbps cap speed).

Note: In order to create a Wi-Fi connection, both the access point (router) and the client need to operate on the same frequency band. For example, a 2.4 GHz client, such as an iPhone 4, won't be able to connect to a 5 GHz access point. Also, a Wi-Fi connection takes place on just one band at a time. If you have a dual-band capable client (such as the iPhone 6) with a dual-band router, the two will connect on just one band, likely the 5 Ghz.



On the same 5 GHz band, 802.11ac devices are backward-compatible with Wireless-N and 802.11a devices. While 802.11ac is not available on the 2.4 GHz band, for compatibility purposes, an 802.11ac router can also serve as a Wireless-N access point. That said, all 802.11ac chips on the market support both 802.11ac and 802.11n Wi-Fi standards.


The TP-Link Talon AD7200, the first 802.11ad router.

Josh Miller/CNET

802.11ad or WiGig: First introduced in 2009, the 802.11ad wireless networking standard became part of the Wi-Fi ecosystem at CES 2013. Prior to that, it was considered a different type of wireless networking. 2016 marked the year when the first 802.11ad router, the TP-Link Talon AD7200, became available.

Operating in the 60 Ghz frequency band, the 802.11ad Wi-Fi standard has an extremely high speed -- up to 7 Gbps -- but a disappointingly short range (about one-tenth of 802.11ac.) It can't penetrate walls very well, either. For this reason, the new standard is a supplement to the existing 802.11ac standard and is intended for devices that sit within a close proximity of the router.

It's an ideal wireless solution for devices at a close range, with a clear line of sight (no obstacles in between) such as between a laptop and its base-station, or a set-top box and a big screen TV. All 802.11ad routers will also work as 802.11ac routers and support all existing Wi-Fi clients, but only 802.11ad devices can connect to the router at high speed over the 60 Ghz band.

802.11ax: This is the next generation of Wi-Fi, set to supersede 802.11ac. Like 802.11ac, the new 802.11ax is backward compatible with previous Wi-Fi generations. However, it's the first standard that focuses not only on faster speed but also on Wi-Fi efficiency, especially in crowded air space. In other words, 802.11ax aims to maintain network capacity even during less than ideal conditions. Ultimately, this means it allows for higher ratio of real-world speed versus theoretical ceiling speed. It's also said to reduce energy consumption by two thirds compared to 802.11ac, which is great news for mobile users.

On paper, 802.11ax can be four times faster than 802.11ac, up to some 5 Gbps. Also, an 802.11ax router can boost existing pre-802.11ax Wi-Fi devices' real-world speeds thanks to its ability to manage traffic diversity in dense, overlapping networks. 2017 is the year that networking chip makers, such as Qualcomm, introduced their first 802.11ax chips. That said, consumer devices that support 802.11ax are predicted to be available by the end of 2017 or early 2018.

Wi-Fi designations


600 Mbps 802.11n: As mentioned above, the top commercial speed of 802.11n is 450 Mbps. However, in June 2013, Broadcom introduced a new 802.11ac chipset with TurboQAM technology that raises the speed of 802.11n to 600 Mbps. And also for this reason, 802.11ac routers are now generally marketed as AC2500 (also known as AC2350 or AC2400,) AC1900, AC1750 or AC1200 and so on. This designation basically means it's an AC-enabled router that offers a combined wireless speed on both bands equal to the number. For example, an AC1900 router is capable of providing up to 1,300 Mbps on the 5 GHz band and up to 600 Mbps on the 24 GHz band. With more and more advanced Wi-Fi chips being developed, 802.11ac has many more designations below.

That said, let me state the rule of thumb one more time: The speed of a single network connection (one pair) is determined by the slowest speed of any of the parties involved. That means if you use an 802.11ac router with an 802.11a client, the connection will cap at 54 Mbps. In order to get the top 802.11ac speed, you will need to use a device that's also 802.11ac-capable. Also right now, the fastest 802.11ac clients on the market have the top speed on paper of 1,300 Mbps, which is equally to the speed of the AC1900 designation. This means getting routers of higher designations are unlikely to bring you benefits in Wi-Fi speeds.

AC3200: In April 2014, Broadcom introduced the 5G XStream Wi-Fi chip that allows for a second built-in 5 Ghz band on the three-stream 802.11ac standard, thus ushering in a new type of tri-band router. This means that, unlike a dual-band AC1900 router that has one 2.4 Ghz band and one 5 Ghz band, a tri-band router -- such as the Netgear R8000 or the Asus RT-AC3200 -- the tri-band router will have one 2.4 Ghz band and two 5 Ghz bands, all of which operate at the same time. In other words, a tri-band router, for now, is basically an AC1900 router with an additional 803.11ac access point built in. With two separate 5 Ghz bands, both high- and low-end clients can operate in their own band at their respective top speeds without affecting each other. On top of that, two 5 Ghz bands also help reduce the stress each places on the band when there are many connected clients fighting for the router's bandwidth.

AC5300: Also known as AC5400, this designation was introduced in 2015. An AC5300 router is a tri-band router (two 5 Ghz bands and one 2.4 GHz band). Each of the 5 Ghz bands have a peak Wi-Fi speed of 2,167 Mbps and the 2.4 GHz band has a cap of 1,000 Mbps.

AC3100: Also known as AC3150, this new designation shares the same Wi-Fi chip as the AC5300 above but in a dual-band setup, the router has one 5 Ghz band (2,167 Mbps cap) and one 2.4 Ghz band (1,000 Mbps cap).

AD7200: This is the latest designation starting with the availability of the 802.11ad routers. This means the router has the top speed on the 60 Ghz band (802.11ad) of 4,600 Mbps, on the 5 Ghz band of 1,733 Mbps and on the 2.4Ghz band of 800 Mbps.

802.11ac Wi-Fi designations

Wi-Fi designation Router type Total Wi-Fi bandwidth Top 5Ghz speed Top 2.4 Ghz speed Example product
AC5300 / AC5400 Tri-band 5,334 Mbps 2,167 Mbps x 2 bands 1,000 Mbps Netgear X8 R8500
AC3200 Tri-band 3,200 Mbps 1,300 Mbps x 2 bands 600 Mbps Asus RT-AC3200
AC3100 Dual-band 3,167 Mbps 2,167 Mbps 1,000 Mbps Asus RT-AC88U
AC2500 / AC2400 / AC2350 Dual-band 2,333 Mbps 1,733 Mbps 600 Mbps Linksys E8350
AC1900 Dual-band 1,900 Mbps 1,300 Mbps 600 Mbps Linksys WRT1900ACS
AC1750 Dual-band 1,750 Mbps 1,300 Mbps 450 Mbps Asus RT-AC66U

3. More on wireless networking


Since the Wi-Fi signal broadcast by the access point is literally sent through the air, anybody with a Wi-Fi client can connect to it, and that might pose a serious security risk. So only approved clients can connect, the Wi-Fi network should be password-protected (or in more serious terms, encrypted). Currently, there are a few methods used to protect a Wi-Fi network, called "authentication methods": WEP, WPA and WPA2, with WPA2 being the most secure while WEP is becoming obsolete. WPA2 (as well as WPA) offers two ways to encrypt the signal, which are Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) and Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). The former is for compatibility, allowing legacy clients to connect; the latter allows for faster connection speeds and is more secure but works only with newer clients. From the side of the access point or router, the owner can set the password (or encryption key) that clients can use to connect to the Wi-Fi network.



Wi-Fi Direct: This is a standard that enables Wi-Fi clients to connect to one another without a physical access point. Basically, this allows one Wi-Fi client, such as a phone, to turn itself into a "soft" access point and broadcast Wi-Fi signals that other Wi-Fi clients can connect to. This standard is very useful when you want to share an internet connection. For example, you can connect your laptop's LAN port to an internet source, such as in a hotel, and turn its Wi-Fi client into a soft AP. Now other Wi-Fi clients can also access that internet connection. Wi-Fi Direct is actually most popularly used in phones and tablets, where the mobile device shares its cellular internet connection with other Wi-Fi devices, in a feature called personal hotspot.

Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output

Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) is a technology first introduced with the Qualcomm MU/EFX 802.11AC Wi-Fi chip. It's designed to handle Wi-Fi bandwidth efficiently, hence iy is capable of delivering better data rates to multiple connected clients simultaneously.

Specifically, existing 802.11AC routers (or Wi-Fi access points) employ the original MIMO technology (aka single-user MIMO) and that means they treat all Wi-Fi clients the same, regardless of their Wi-Fi power. Since a router typically has more Wi-Fi power than a client in a particular wireless connection, the router is hardly used at full capacity. For example, a three-stream 802.11ac router, such as the Linksys WRT1900AC, has a max Wi-Fi rate of 1,300 Mbps, but the iPhone 6s has a max Wi-Fi rate of just 833 Mbps (dual-stream). When the two are connected, the router still uses the entire 1,300 Mbps transmission to the phone, wasting 433 Mbps. This is similar to going to a coffee shop to get a small cup of coffee and the only option is the extra large.



4. Power line networking



