The 2.4 GHz band consumes less battery
To surf the Internet wirelessly we can connect to the 5 GHz band and also the 2.4 GHz band. At least most modern devices have these two options. We can say that the first is faster, but more sensitive to distance. On the other hand, the second allows us to connect from further away, it is more stable but has lower speed.
Which consumes less battery in a laptop or mobile? The answer is the 2.4 GHz band. You need fewer resources to be able to establish and maintain a connection. Therefore, if all you want is to use less battery, our advice is to connect to the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band. You will have less speed, you will not be able to reach the peaks that you would have with 5 GHz, but you will have lower consumption.
Of course, other factors must be taken into account as well. Connecting to a Wi-Fi network next to you is not the same as connecting to another much further away. The more stable the connection, the less battery you will consume. Basically this happens because your device is not going to have to constantly reconnect and divert resources to it.
More tips to use less battery over Wi-Fi
But you will not only save battery if you choose the 2.4 GHz band. There are other points to take into account, such as the protocol you use. Today the Wi-Fi 6 protocol is the most recent. Although it is not available on all routers and devices, whenever you can, it is better to take advantage of it since it is more efficient and requires less energy. You can always choose which devices to use on each Wi-Fi band.
It is also important that you try to connect to the best possible network. If you connect to a network with a good signal, you will spend less battery than if you connect to a more unstable one. You can use wireless repeaters or PLC devices, for example, to improve Wi-Fi coverage in a specific area of your home.
Yet another tip is to avoid making heavy use of the connection whenever you can. For example, if you need to save battery and you are going to connect via Wi-Fi, avoid downloading updates at that moment. You can postpone them to download later, when you can connect the device to the power. When you make a lot of use of the wireless network, the network consumption will be higher and therefore it will need more energy resources.
In short, as you can see, using the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band is a good idea to save battery life on your devices. In addition, you can take into account other recommendations that we have given and may be useful in order to save battery.
