[EricH]

Originally Posted by yash101

So, that makes me think...why is wifi 2.4GHz disallowed, especially at low transmission power? My DD-WRT router allows me to change the Tx power, and I can possibly change it to just 1mW, not enough to penetrate anything, or travel more than a few feet!

I don't know how current this is (and, BTW, use of a 2009 Getting Started guide might not be the greatest idea, given that we're dealing with 2013/14 here--the system has changed), but at least at one time, the field COULD run on 2.4 GHz. That was the theory, at any rate. IIRC, it was actually tried once, partly due to restrictions on the 5 GHz band at one particular event. Suffice it to say that the odds of all 6 robots on the field actually working were pretty close to nil for the first day or so of that event, and not all that much better later (though there was improvement thanks to the field staff working very hard).



Tl;dr: While the field nominally runs on 5 GHz, it (and the robots) can run on 2.4 GHz if needed, and they don't need any more potential interference there than is already there.