Do all devices on my 802.11ac router need to support 802.11ac?

Question

I have purchased an iPhone 6, my first 802.11ac device. My current router supports 802.11g/n.

Other devices on my network include:

• A few wired (100mbit ethernet) devices
• A few 802.11n devices

• One 802.11g device, which is only connected infrequently

  1. If I upgrade to an 802.11ac router, will my new iPhone be able to use 802.11ac speeds?
  2. Will the wifi drop down to the lowest speed, as my current 802.11g/n router does when I connect the g device?

If the answer to #2 is "yes", can I circumvent this by buying a new ac router, only connecting ac devices to it, and keeping the old router running as well? (I'd just plug the old router into one of the ethernet ports on the new router.)

Answer 1

1. Yes for sure, if it's set at 802.11ac (5Ghz mandatory)

2. The answer is yes too, since WiFi ac works on a 5Ghz frequency, while N can use 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz and then B/G that only works on 2.4Ghz.

The surest way to make everything work at full speed is to let your actual WiFi router on N @2.4Ghz, and use the shiny new one on ac at 5Ghz

Note that if your first router only supports WiFi Draft N, it will only be at 2.4Ghz maximum

Answer 2

I would add that if your new ac router is an Apple Airport Extreme 6th generation it can operate concurrently at 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz enabling all your devices to connect through it (it will create two SSID's).

Wikipedia entry on Airport Extreme

There may be other routers that provide the same functionality but I can only speak to the Airport Extreme for certain.

It may be worth mentioning that Apple routers are not configurable with the usual web interface, but with a dedicated application which is available for Mac, Windows and iOS, so Android and Linux clients cannot configure the router, although they should have no problems connecting to it.