Dual Concurrent Wifi

Networking WiFi
1

Hey guys,

short question: Is it possible to use a “dual concurrent” wifi module with IPFire, so that there can be the same WLAN on different frequencies (2,4 and 5 for example).

I know, because of the zone-limitation there would be no chance to create different subnets (two blue zones or something like that) but if you “bridge” the two together in one zone, would it work?

Also, is anyone familiar with “wide band” wifi technology (one wifi spread through 5 Ghz and 6 Ghz)? I cannot seem to find a simple answer to a simple question. :slight_smile:

Greetings

Alex

2

IMVHO IPfire chews IPs (sometimes macaddresses) but not… frequencies.
hostapd manage the wireless network card, however it’s a single network card, no a “triple one”. As structure, usually APs are bridges.

3

That topic is appart from IPFIRE
In short: At the moment there isn’t a true 6GHz WiFi Network.
What is now called WiFi 6 is not in the 6GHz band but is a named protocol.

What they call WiFi 6 is actually 5GHZ AX
The other (older) 5GHz WiFi is called 5GHz AC

4

Okay, obviously wrong place to talk about and again answered questions, that have never been asked or picked out as a central theme in spite of not being it, like so often… now I know how the developers must feel every now and then…

The first answer is not really referencing to my question since I asked IF IPfire could manage a module with dual radio which is capable of “dual band dual concurrent”. Modules like the compex wle600vx or wle900vx are dual band selectables, so you can switch between 2,4 Ghz and 5 Ghz… there are other modules out there, which are dual band dual concurrent, so they can broadcast in both bands at the same time (DBS → Dual Band Simultaniously). My question was if IPfire or specifically hostapd in the way it is implemented in IPfire could handle a module like this, so would you see both bands on the WEBUI and could assign a different (or the same) name to them. Or would you need two instances of hostapd running simultaniosly and if so, is this represented in the WEBUI somehow or not… or would it not work at all?

It’s ok to not know the answer but it’s tiring to read some jabber about something else.

And concerning the second answer, you may not be up to date.

Wifi 5 is 802.11ac (supporting 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz)
Wifi 6 is 802.11ax (supporting 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz)
Wifi 6E is kind of an intermediate step between Wifi 6 and Wifi 7. It is still 802.11ax but supporting 2.4 Ghz, 5 Ghz and 6 Ghz as well.
Wifi 7 is 802.11be (support 2.4 Ghz, 5 Ghz and 6 Ghz)

There are modules out there, which act not as “dual band” but “wide band”, where the broadcasted frequencies are spread over the whole 5 Ghz and 6 Ghz spectrum (hence the name wideband) but it acts in a different way than a “dual band” interface, it is not two different readios it is just one.

My question (which I never asked in the first place, only sounded out if anyone is already familiar with this technology) was about this.

Anyhow, got my needed information from a colleague, no need to continue this thread and I will mark my own answer as solution… :crazy_face: