Nowadays, any router worth its salt will offer at least two radio bands, a 2.4GHz band and a 5GHz band. The 2.4GHz band operates at a lower frequency than the 5GHz band and offers better range because it is more adept at penetrating walls and other structures. However, it doesn't offer the fat pipe and high-speed access that you get with the 5GHz band. Additionally, the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi band has to compete with other devices in the home that use the same frequency, such as microwave ovens, Bluetooth gear, and wireless phones. That said, it is perfectly adequate for tasks like web surfing and connecting to social media services like Facebook and Twitter. If one or more of your devices will be streaming video from a service such as Netflix, or connecting to an online gaming service, the less-crowded 5GHz band offers significantly more throughput with minimal signal interference. Most dual-band routers allow you to assign a band to specific applications and clients, thereby easing the load on both bands. If you have a busy network with numerous clients vying for bandwidth, a tri-band router is the way to go. They use three radios—one that operates at 2.4GHz and two that operate at 5GHz—for load balancing. For example, you can dedicate one of the 5GHz bands to handle tasks like video streaming and torrent downloading, and reserve the other 5GHz band for online gaming, leaving the 2.4GHz band free for applications that don't require lots of bandwidth. If you have a house full of gamers, we have a specific best gaming routers list for you.   Finally, there's the 6GHz band. This spectrum is even less crowded than 5GHz, making it a significant boost to overall wireless network performance. To take advantage of it, you'll need a Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 router. However, even these routers still don't operate at full power on the 6GHz band due to FCC signal strength restrictions, so take performance claims with a grain of salt.