5 GHz is hailed as a beneficial feature on an Android head unit, but what is it?
5 GHz android Headunit answers
Do you need a 5GHz for your android head to work well?
No. Having 5GHz for your Android head unit to work is unnecessary unless your phone hotspot doesn’t support 2.4 GHz.
If I don't buy the 5GHz head unit, will the internet still work?
Yes, if your phone supports 2.4 GHz wifi, then you can hotspot your phone to the headunit.
What is 5 GHz
5 GHz refers to the alternative band of frequencies allocated to wifi transmission. The other band of frequencies is 2.4 GHz.
The 5 GHz band was allocated to allow for faster transmission rates and opens up more channels from the more crowded 2.4 GHz band.
2.4 GHz
All Android headunits with wifi can support 2.4 GHz, and every smartphone can support 2.4 GHz. This gives the greatest chance of compatibility between the Android headunit wifi and your phone hotspot. The 2. 4GHz technology has been well-matured, and compatibility issues are rare now. For the greatest chance of connection, try the 2.4 GHz settings on both devices first.
5 GHz
5 GHz comes into its own if your phone you want to hotspot doesn’t support 2.4 GHz. It is unlikely for your Android headunit to suffer from channel interference on the road. The 2.4 GHz congestion that 5 GHz tried to alleviate is in high-occupancy high-rise buildings.
5 GHz gives you a second chance to connect to your phone hotspot if the 2.4 GHz band is too congested. Your home router may not be 2.4 GHz enabled, and connecting your headunit to the home wifi may require 5 GHz enabled.
Faster
A faster connection between your Android headunit and the phone hotspot becomes advantageous when you have a fast SIM connection. This fast SIM connection is 5G (5th generation mobile data). While the 5G SIM will still work in a 2.4 GHz hotspot, the connection will not run at maximum speed. You may not even notice this bottleneck but some just like things as fast as possible.
No hotspot
If you don’t hotspot your phone for an Android headunit data connection but use a data sim, then the 5 GHz is irrelevant. You also have the option to use a mifi adaptor to alleviate the need to connect your phone as a hotspot. The mifi adaptor will need to be 5 GHz enabled to take advantage of this feature on the Android headunit.
Modern progress
The 5 GHz band for the Android headunit wifi is just a modern progression, and the Android headunits are generations behind their cousins: the Android phone. It is a natural progression to see the new ideas from phones being applied to the Android head unit products. Seeing these well-established technologies used to keep the Android headunits current is encouraging.
