Originally Posted by
BigLar
1. Just because the card is 'dual band', does that mean it's necessarily wireless-N?
Nope. 802.11a also used 5GHz with a top speed of 54 Mbps. 802.11b and 802.11g both were 2.4GHz only, g being faster.
2. Is there any way to positively identify a channel as -N?
No. A 802.11a can use any channel 802.11n can. The usable frequencies are set out by regulators and standard makers try to do their best within that frame, isn't likely that the 802.11a standard guys left a few channels lyin' round.
3. Should I be doing something to enable simultaneous throughput on both bands, or am I mis-understanding how the whole thing works?
You misunderstand. Dual band means connecting devices can pick between 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels. But one wireless device will use one channel, no matter what. Bonding channels is not out of question, in fact the Super G technology did this, it bonded two standard 802.11g 54mbit/s channels for a 108 mbit/s theoretical maximum. Beyond that, however, you need two wifi cards and some amount of elbow grease to implement channel bonding (no, 40MHz channels are not using bonding, thanks for asking, that's just a wider channel used by 802.11n and no, it doesn't always mean more speed, it's a complicated topi). If you do have two wifi cards in your computer, put Linux on it, flash OpenWRT on the router, sharpen your Google skills and go to town
. I would not even bother trying, to be honest ( I probably could do it but when I started using Linux neither 802.11 nor Fast Ethernet existed. Now get off my lawn. :P )