Devolo

Band Steering – Brief definition

Band Steering helps devices that can transmit and receive data on both the 2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies in the home network to make the right choice between the WiFi networks depending on the situation.

WiFi devices that can use multiple frequency bands independently decide which frequency to connect to the router or Access Point. However, they don't always make the optimal decision. Band Steering helps them with this.

What is Band Steering?

Band Steering monitors and organizes the frequency band allocation within a WiFi network. This is especially important in overloaded network environments where many users and various devices are active – for instance, within a multi-family building.


Through Band Steering, all WiFi clients are automatically assigned to their optimal wireless network. The technical characteristics of each device, as well as its distance to the nearest access point, are taken into account.


The result: Through Band Steering, data can be transmitted more efficiently. This applies to the home smart TV, which regularly needs to transfer data-intensive 4K streams. It also applies to the small smart home device that only exchanges small amounts of data sporadically and may rely more on long range.

WiFi frequency band: 2.4 or 5 GHz?

Most (especially older) devices operate over the 2.4 GHz frequency band. The significant advantage: This wireless network has a relatively high range, as lower frequencies can more easily penetrate thick walls, metallic objects, and other potential obstacles.


However, this network provides only a few channels that numerous WiFi clients must share. On top of that, Bluetooth devices, cordless phones, and other household items interfere as well. For this reason, the 2.4 GHz frequency band is generally more prone to congestion.


The newer 5 GHz frequency band can transport significantly larger amounts of data due to the larger number of available channels. At the same time, it is less susceptible to interference because fewer devices utilize this frequency band. Thus, it is ideally suited for data-intensive applications – which should, however, take place near the router or access point. This is because the 5 GHz band has a significantly shorter range than the 2.4 GHz band.


Band Steering encourages as many devices as possible to use the 5 GHz frequency band and relieve the 2.4 GHz band. The result is an efficiently distributed data traffic in the home network, where each device finds the data highway that allows its data to reach its destination as quickly as possible.


The advantage for the user: Band Steering automatically ensures optimal WiFi reception and the annoying manual channel search for performance improvement is eliminated.

Activate and use Band Steering – here's how it works

For devolo products that support band steering, the function is enabled by default. To take advantage of the benefits of automatic band assignment, you only need:

  • Dual-band capable devices that can operate on both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands.
  • One or more access points – ideally in the form of an intelligent mesh network – that are proficient in band steering.

Top devolo products with Band Steering

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* incl. VAT

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* incl. VAT

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