Difference between Rachel and Rachel 5G WIFI

Support RACHEL-Plus 3.0 (Jun 2018 - 2021)
#1

Hi! Do you know the practical difference between the two separate Wifis emitted by RACHEL-Plus 3.0? How many devices can connect via each of them? Any difference in speed? What requirements from the connected devices?

#2

5G is a much better alternative where available. It requires client devices to have AC wireless cards inside. If you’re noticing bottlenecks in connecting devices via WiFi, you can actually split devices between the two signals.

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#3

Thanks Jeremy. Would you have more information on the type of wireless card necessary for 5G? For example if purchasing mobile phones or tablets are there certain specs to look for?

Also, what does “much better” mean in practice? Can it serve x times more devices or is it y% faster or somehow more reliable?

Best, Mika

#4

Hi Mika
If you mean 5ghz and 2.5ghz then I believe 5ghz is fast but low range and 2.5ghz is slower but more range.
Kind Regards
Howard

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#5

Thanks! This is useful information.

Do you know whether there is any difference in the capacity to server certain max. number of devices? Or can both 5 and 2.5 serve the same number?

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#6

I don’t know about the RACHEL plus but I can use up to about 15 users on a Pi and over 60 on a Synology NAS (5 bay)

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#7

This may help a little or it may not.
IEEE 802.11 Standard
Standard Frequency Data Rate Compatible with:
802.11 a 5 Ghz 54 mbps
802.11 b 2.4 Ghz 11 mbps
802.11 g 2.4 Ghz 54 mbps 802.11b
802.11 n 2.4/5 Ghz 300 mbps 802.11b/g
802.11 ac 2.4 Ghz 450 mbps 802.11b/g/n
802.11 ac 5 Ghz 1300 mpbs" 802.11b/g/n
A couple of things about RACHEL Plus 3.0.

  1. There’s definitely something up with the 5 Ghz radio. I know it should have less range with the higher bandwidth, but it shows signal loss when the RACHEL is sitting right next to my computer. That should not happen If distance is an issue, you might want to stick with 2.4 Ghz.
  2. I’m fairly confident (although not positive) that the CAP supports 802.11 b/g/n at 2.4 Ghz and 802.11 a/n/ac at 5 Ghz. 802.11 n may interfere with 802.11 b/g networks.
  3. The User’s device determines which radio frequency is going to be used. As an example, if you only have an 802.11 a radio on the network interface card, you’re going to use 802.11a frequency & modulation techniques from the CAP.
  4. Last I heard, RACHEL supports up to 50 simultaneous users, but it depends upon what they’re doing. If the users are just reading books, 50 will work, but it they are actively involved in multimedia (like working on Khan Academy or Kolibri), then you’re limited to about 25 simultaneous users if you want decent performance. These are limitations of the CAP, not necessarily the Wi-Fi connection. In all likelihood, the Wi-Fi connection can support more connections than the CAP can support.
    Regards,
    LarryY
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