Can a device with a 802.11g NIC see a 802.11ac/n router?

Question

I'm contemplating upgrading to an 802.11ac router. My current router is 802.11n/g. All the wireless devices I have only have 802.11g NICs and can not even see the 802.11n band.

If I upgrade to the 802.11ac router that claims "Supports 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g 802.11n 802.11ac (up to 2.0) specifications" will I be wasting money? One reason I'm worried is one of the devices is a Gen1 PS3 and I'm not sure if I can even use a USB 802.11ac adapter with it.

Answer 1

Although 802.11ac is a 5GHz-only technology, I have yet to see an 802.11ac router that only supports 5GHz. All the 802.11ac routers on the market are simultaneous dual-band, so they do a/n/ac in 5GHz at the same time as b/g/n in 2.4GHz.

So go ahead and buy a simultaneous dual-band 802.11ac router, and your 802.11g NIC will see the router's 2.4GHz b/g/n network.