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Is iPhone 5 the first smartphone to support 5GHz?
No. A few Android-based rivals, such as the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy S III, offer dual-band Wi-Fi. A growing number of new phones will have 5GHz support.
What is 5GHz Wi-Fi?
5GHz is the "other frequency" that Wi-Fi client radios can use, besides 2.4GHz, to connect to an access point or hotspot.
Why would I want to use it?
First, because the 2.4GHz band is crowded, and therefore has a greater chance of interference. There are lots of devices are using it: embedded Wi-Fi radios, nonWi-Fi radios like Bluetooth, cordless phones, baby monitors, and microwave ovens.
Client Wi-Fi radios that support only 802.11g can only connect on 2.4GHz. 802.11a, runs on 5GHz. 802.11?. which has much higher data rates, can run on either band but most smartphones today that have 802.11?, such as iPhone 4 and 4S, only run it on 2.4GHz.
And even when the client radio could run on either band, a lot of...