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Page 56 / 168 Scroll up to view Page 51 - 55
Tri-Band WiFi Connections
56
Nighthawk
X6 AC3200
Tri-Band
WiFi
Router
iPhone 5S with support for only single-stream 802.11n can achieve a maximum WiFi speed
of only 150 Mbps. As more devices connect and begin downloading, the bandwidth is shared
among them as well.
The following example of shared bandwidth shows a dual-band router in which the GHz WiFi
band has a fast 640 Mbps capacity. If only one computer or device connects, the router can
allocate a speed of up to 640 Mbps to that connection, assuming that the device is capable of
that speed. When more devices connect to the 5 GHz band, they must share the bandwidth.
If four devices connect, then the router divides its 640 Mbps capacity by 5, as shown in the
following figure.
Other router
Total bandwidth: 640 Mbps
(150 + 300 + 150 + 1300 + 1300)
÷
5
Internet
5 GHz
Fast
MacBook Pro
300 Mbps
÷
5
iPhone
150 Mbps
÷
5
MacBook Pro
1300 Mbps
÷
5
iPhone
50 Mbps
÷
5
iPad
300 Mbps
÷
5
5 GHz WiFi Band
Figure 7. Dual-band WiFi network with one 5 GHz WiFi band
That means that in the network shown, a computer with a 1,300 Mbps capacity has an
effective WiFi connection speed of 160 Mbps (
1300
5
), and other devices would also see
their WiFi speeds divided by 5.
Tri-band WiFi adds a second 5 GHz WiFi band to the network. This increases the available
WiFi bandwidth, which can be compared to widening the road. In addition to widening the
road, having two 5 GHz bands means that the router has dedicated 5 GHz bands. That’s like
Page 57 / 168
Tri-Band WiFi Connections
57
Nighthawk
X6 AC3200
Tri-Band
WiFi
Router
having two lanes in the wider road instead of one. The router automatically uses Smart
Connect to allocate the fastest devices to the fast lane
Nighthawk X6
Total bandwidth: 1500 Mbps
Internet
5 GHz
Faster
5 GHz WiFi Band
Greater than 2x the performance of other routers
5 GHz
Fastest
iPhone
150 Mbps
÷
3
iPad
300 Mbps
÷
3
iPhone
150 Mbps
÷
3
MacBook Pro
300 Mbps
÷
2
MacBook Pro
1300 Mbps
÷
2
(150 + 300 + 150)
÷
3 + (1300 + 1300)
÷
2
.
Figure 8. A tri-band network has two dedicated 5 GHz bands
In this tri-band network, the first 5 GHz band has a speed of 200 Mbps, and the second 5
GHz band has a speed of 1,300 Mbps.
The slower and faster devices are separated in different WiFi connections to ensure that you
get the best speed on each device. So in the previous figure, all the three mobile devices are
on one 5 GHz band with a combined maximum speed of 200 Mbps and the other 5 GHz WiFi
band is used for the faster 802.11ac devices with a combined maximum speed of 1300 Mbps.
Effectively both slower and faster devices can run faster and the overall network speed
increases by more than two times, from 640 Mbps to 1500 Mbps.
Load Balancing
The router uses load balancing to distribute WiFi connections among all three WiFi bands, to
ensure that both the WiFi bands are utilized. Load balancing avoids overloading a single
5 GHz band and ensures that both the WiFi bands are utilized and device connections are
spread across the two bands.
Page 58 / 168
Tri-Band WiFi Connections
58
Nighthawk
X6 AC3200
Tri-Band
WiFi
Router
For example, if three mobile devices are connected to one 5 GHz band, the fourth device is
automatically connected to the other 5 GHz band.
Internet
Printer
Legacy devices
Dual-band WiFi devices
IP camera
Dual-band AC WiFi devices
iPad
Phone
Fast
2.4 WiFi band
Up to 600 Mbps
Faster
5 GHz WiFi Band 1
Up to 1.3 Gbps
Fastest
5 GHz WiFi Band 2
Up to 1.3 Gbps
MacBook Pro
MacBook Air
iPhone
Desktop computer
Figure 9. Load balancing in a tri-band WiFi network
Slower devices like printers, older computers, or an IP camera connect to the 2.4 GHz band.
Having two 5 GH bands prevents overloading when many devices use WiFi at the same time.
Benefits of Tri-Band WiFi
The tri-band WiFi network outperforms the dual-band network in several ways:
•
More bandwidth is available.
Even with more devices connected to the network, because the connections are spread
across two different bands, each device gets a larger share of the available WiFi
bandwidth. The computers in
Figure
8, A tri-band network has two dedicated 5 GHz
bands
on page
57 have a 1,300 Mbps capacity. They share a 5 GHz WiFi band, and each
has a WiFi connection speed of 650 Mbps, compared to 325 Mbps shown in
Figure
7,
Dual-band WiFi network with one 5 GHz WiFi band
on page
56.
•
Smart Connect directs WiFi traffic to the appropriate lane.
With Smart Connect, older devices do not slow down faster devices.
•
The router uses load balancing to avoid network congestion in each WiFi band.
With load balancing, you don’t have to share your WiFi connection with as many devices.
Page 59 / 168
Tri-Band WiFi Connections
59
Nighthawk
X6 AC3200
Tri-Band
WiFi
Router
Smart Connect
Smart Connect balances your 5 GHz WiFi connections into two different radio bands: the 5
GHz radio 1 band and the 5 GHz radio 2 band. The router uses Smart Connect to choose the
best radio band for your device to give you the best WiFi performance.
Nighthawk X6
2.4 GHz
600 Mbps
Legacy
devices
5 GHz WiFi band 1
300 Mbps
Fast
dual-band
devices
5 GHz WiFi band 2
1300 Mbps
Faster
dual-band
devices
Same WiFi network
name and password
for both 5 GHz
bands—only one
visible 5 GHz band
Figure 10. Smart Connect
For Smart Connect to work, both 5 GHz radio bands must use the same wireless network
name (SSID) and network key (password). That means that when you connect to the router
with WiFi, you see only one 5 GHz SSID that connects to both 5 GHz radio bands.
Note:
If you enable Smart Connect and the SSID and passwords for both
5 GHz radio bands do not match, the WiFi settings for 5 GHz radio 1
overwrite the WiFi settings for 5 GHz radio 2.
Enable or Disable Smart Connect
To enable or disable Smart Connect:
1.
Launch an Internet browser from a computer or wireless device that is connected to the
network.
2.
Type
or
.
A login screen displays.
3.
Enter the router user name and password.
Page 60 / 168
Tri-Band WiFi Connections
60
Nighthawk
X6 AC3200
Tri-Band
WiFi
Router
The user name is
admin
. The default password is
password
. The user name and
password are case-sensitive.
The BASIC Home screen displays.
4.
Select
Wireless
.
5.
Select or clear the
Smart Connect – One Wireless Network Name (SSID) for both 5 GHz
radios
check box.
Selecting this check box turns on Smart Connect and clearing this check box turns off
Smart Connect.
6.
Click the
Apply
button.
Your settings are saved.
Beamforming
Beamforming means that your router actively tracks clients and directs pinpoints Wifi to the
client, rather than just blasting it out in all directions. This means better WiFi range and
performance for your WiFi devices.
The router uses explicit and implicit beamforming to improve WiFi performance. Explicit
beamforming requires the client to support beamforming typically 802.11ac clients support
beamforming. Implicit beamforming means the router can support beamforming even with
clients that do not support beamforming. This router supports implicit beamforming for both
2.4 GHz and 5 GHz clients, which means that it will provide beamforming benefits of better
range and performance for all WiFi devices even older 802.11a/b/g/n, not just the latest WiFi
clients.

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