Are you in the market for a wireless Router?

Need to get wireless in your home? Not sure which wireless router to get?

Most people know about wireless a/b/g and even the newer draft-n. Also known as 802.11a/b/g/n

However, not so many people know that Wireless-N can come in 2 varieties.. the 2.4GHz or 5GHz to be exact. Most wireless N routers out there belong to the 2.4GHz version, as it can be downward compatible with the older and slower wireless-G.

Some other routers supports both bands, but can operate only one band at a time (meaning you can choose in firmware, which band 2.4GHz or 5GHz). But if you pick the 5GHz, you no longer have download compatibility to your a/b/g devices.

Now enter a new breed of routers, which can operate with both bands simultaneously. a/b/g devices obviously will go to the 2.4GHz radio, while wireless-N have a choice of two bands to choose from. For low-bandwidth applications you can route it to the 2.4GHz radio while for HD video streaming, go with the 5GHz radio.

Such Dual-band devices are available from most vendors now, like Apple's range of wireless devices Airport Extreme or Timecapsule. Dlink's offering is DIR-855 while Linksys coined up the model WRT600N or WRT610N.

Note that to operate at 5GHz, your devices must also be transmitting in 5Ghz. So in the case of notebook computers with wireless-N (maybe you're out of luck), they will likely be in the 2.4GHz versions. If you are looking for USB wireless-N, be sure to look out for those with dual bands support too!