A tri-band router is a WiFi router that uses three separate wireless radio bands. Tri-band WiFi increases the available WiFi bandwidth for your network to reduce network congestion.
Tri-band routers use different wireless band configurations based on the WiFi standard:
- WiFi 5 and WiFi 6 tri-band routers typically provide a 2.4 GHz band and two 5 GHz bands.
- WiFi 6E tri-band routers typically provide a 2.4 GHz band, a 5 GHz band, and a 6 GHz band.
Most dual-band WiFi routers use a single 2.4 GHz band and a single 5 GHz band. Because each frequency only has one band, the available bandwidth is spread across all connected devices on each band that are downloading data at the same time. This is unfair for faster devices because their speeds are reduced to the speed of the slowest device in the network. Just one slow device can bring down the entire network speed.
Tri-band routers typically add a second 5 GHz band (or a separate 6 GHz band, if equipped with WiFi 6E) for faster devices to increase your available WiFi bandwidth. NETGEAR’s tri-band routers with Smart Connect technology automatically allocate devices to the optimal wireless band, separating fast devices from slow devices on different bands to ensure that you get the best speed on each device.
Mesh WiFi systems often use wireless bands differently than routers. Typically, mesh systems reserve a band for wireless communication between the mesh router and its satellites, known as backhaul. A tri-band mesh WiFi system might provide a 2.4 GHz band and a 5 GHz band for client devices, with a second 5 GHz band reserved specifically for backhaul.
For more information about wireless bands, see What is the difference between 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz wireless frequencies?