The Black Technology Behind Connecting Two Wi-Fi Networks Simultaneously on Phones
When a phone fails to load a webpage or a game responds slowly, we often complain: “Why is it so laggy?”In general, the reasons for a phone lagging can be boiled down to two: either the phone’s performance is not high enough to handle the software or games currently running; or, the network quality is often a significant factor causing the lag.Thanks to the efforts of chip manufacturers like Qualcomm, today’s phones have increasingly higher performance. As long as you have recently purchased a phone, you rarely feel lag during daily use or light gaming.However, with the rapid increase in the number of smart devices and the growing sizes of applications, videos, music, and other files, limited network resources can easily become congested. Sometimes, one may even think, “Wi-Fi is so slow, why not just use 4G data?”To solve this problem, telecom operators have provided faster broadband networks, and in more developed regions, home gigabit networks are already available.At the same time, most routers now support the 5GHz Wi-Fi frequency band, allowing for faster network speeds and wider lanes.However, 5GHz Wi-Fi has a significant weakness compared to traditional 2.4GHz Wi-Fi: its coverage range is relatively small. When farther from the router or when there are many obstacles, the signal strength can drop significantly. Yet, the high speed and throughput of 5GHz make users reluctant to leave it once they have experienced it.Since both 5GHz and 2.4GHz Wi-Fi have their advantages, why not connect to both at the same time?In the second half of this year, the Snapdragon 855 Plus mobile platform has appeared frequently in the smartphone market. Not only are consumers closely watching it, but phone manufacturers have also been launching many models equipped with Snapdragon 855 Plus, such as the OPPO Reno Ace, which became a shining star, achieving sales of 100 million yuan in just 5 minutes after its launch, and winning the dual championship in single product sales and revenue across all platforms.As a flagship model priced over 3000 yuan, Reno Ace’s achievements are quite commendable.
The Reno Ace is equipped with the Snapdragon 855 Plus, which supports Qualcomm’s real-time dual-band Wi-Fi technology, allowing the phone to connect to two frequency bands simultaneously to obtain Wi-Fi signals. In simple terms, it has upgraded from the past 2.4GHz or 5GHz to the current 2.4GHz + 5GHz. Whether it’s dual-band signals emitted from the same router or different routers, the Reno Ace can utilize strategic routing and link aggregation/splitting technology to achieve simultaneous connections to both networks, using two pathways to access the internet.What are the advantages of connecting to two Wi-Fi networks simultaneously? First, the network speed will improve.At the beginning of the article, we mentioned that having too many devices connected to a router can cause network congestion. This phenomenon is particularly evident in smart home-focused households or restaurants providing free Wi-Fi.At the same time, these devices often provide Bluetooth functionality, which also transmits on the 2.4GHz frequency band, further exacerbating network congestion.Moreover, many public places now offer free Wi-Fi, but operators often limit the speed for individual connected devices to accommodate all users, such as capping the maximum download speed for a single device at 200KB/s.This speed… if it weren’t for the data charges, it would be better to use 4G instead.However, if you use a phone that supports dual Wi-Fi functionality, you can establish two connections simultaneously—to connect to another Wi-Fi in the store or to connect to the neighboring store’s Wi-Fi, thus achieving an increase in speed.Reno Ace, relying on the real-time dual-band Wi-Fi technology supported by the Snapdragon 855 Plus, implements a mechanism where when it detects that the current Wi-Fi speed is very slow or the signal is weak, the phone will automatically connect to nearby other Wi-Fi networks (provided that this Wi-Fi has been connected before and the two Wi-Fi are on different frequency bands), allowing both Wi-Fi networks to connect simultaneously for a “dual Wi-Fi network acceleration” effect.Of course, this feature can also be turned on manually.To demonstrate this, we saved two different frequency band Wi-Fi networks on the Reno Ace and simulated a poor network environment by limiting the speed on the main network to 100KB/s.Under such a network condition, we downloaded a game from the app store to see what would happen.When connected to a single Wi-Fi, whether it’s the download speed of the game or the overall transfer speed of the phone, it was only a few tens of KB per second.At this moment, the phone automatically connected to another Wi-Fi signal, and the download speed instantly soared to 3MB per second. Seeing such a scene is incredibly satisfying.Meanwhile, after connecting to dual Wi-Fi, the network latency will also improve significantly.We can see that under single Wi-Fi conditions, the PING value reported by the speed test software is 57.9ms, with a jitter of 236.32ms.After triggering the dual Wi-Fi function and retesting, the PING value dropped to 11.73ms, and the jitter also reduced to 93.84ms, a substantial improvement.When using a phone, speed is not the only pursuit; low latency is also a topic we constantly discuss.In a situation where you and your opponent press the attack key simultaneously, the party with lower latency will always be able to strike first, winning with speed.Therefore, for players of real-time competitive games, the benefits of dual Wi-Fi functionality cannot be overlooked.The two situations mentioned above were tested on two different networks, meaning two different broadband connections.However, not many households are willing to spend extra money to install another broadband line, as one line is usually sufficient.So, how does dual Wi-Fi functionality work in such scenarios?First, you need a wireless router that supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, a configuration that is already common in many households.It is no exaggeration to say that if your router still only supports the 2.4GHz frequency band, it is more important to buy a new router than to buy a new phone.After setting the router to dual-band operation, save both Wi-Fi signals (usually defaulting to xxxx and xxxx_5G) on the Reno Ace and turn on the “Smart Start Dual Wi-Fi Network Acceleration” switch, and then it’s time to witness the miracle.We all know that the coverage range of routers is limited—especially for the 5GHz band—but human movement is free, and we often find ourselves in dead zones where the 5GHz network cannot reach, necessitating network switching.For example, if you are watching an online video and suddenly need to go to the bathroom, you might have to enter a bathroom with poor 5GHz coverage. When faced with such a situation, an ordinary phone would automatically switch to the 2.4GHz network, which has better wall penetration. However, this switching process takes time, and even a few seconds of loading can be frustrating.However, with the automatic dual Wi-Fi feature, the Reno Ace detects the degradation of the 5GHz signal due to distance from the router and automatically connects to the 2.4GHz network, achieving a seamless transition without the “disconnect—then reconnect” process, significantly improving network continuity.As phones take on more functions, battery life is something everyone worries about to some extent.So, the question arises: how does enabling dual Wi-Fi affect the phone’s power consumption?According to OPPO’s official response, engineers have conducted multiple tests on power consumption and battery life with dual Wi-Fi functionality, and no faster battery drain was observed under the same conditions.On the contrary, in some usage scenarios, such as watching videos on Douyin, due to the faster speeds provided by dual Wi-Fi, the Wi-Fi hardware has more time to “rest,” resulting in a lower average workload for the phone.
When a phone serves as a carrier for various functions, the most important aspect is smooth operation;When a phone acts as the core of the Internet of Things, the most crucial aspect is network fluency. With the support of Snapdragon 855 Plus, the OPPO Reno Ace excels in both areas.No lag, fast internet—this is the simplest and highest praise for this phone.However, currently, the dual Wi-Fi function can only be realized by some flagship or upper mid-range models from certain manufacturers, such as the Reno Ace mentioned today.But with Qualcomm’s investment in this technology, more manufacturers and more mid-range or upper mid-range models are expected to enjoy this practical new feature in the future, giving a boost to the already rapidly developing internet, just like the previous spread of 5GHz networks, bringing high-quality experiences to everyone.
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