Your devices could be on the wrong Wi-Fi band, and it's slowing them down

Even with a fast internet connection, the wrong Wi-Fi band can be killer.

By Calvin Wankhede Oct. 25, 2026 6:00 pm EST Proxima Studio/Shutterstock Add Engadget on Google: Google Discover

The average internet speed in the United States has been steadily rising for decades, but that doesn't mean every device in your life enjoys speedy performance. You could be paying for a connection delivering hundreds of megabits or even a gigabit per second, yet your router setup could still result in slow downloads and buffering video on certain devices. Worse still, you may see a strong Wi-Fi signal that doesn't help you diagnose the problem.