Global internet connectivity relies on wireless infrastructure, but a large portion of traffic still travels over outdated hardware, according to new research.

Legacy hardware mainly bottlenecks performance through signal congestion in the 2.4 GHz band, reducing bandwidth available for newer devices and services.

The study highlights a systemic gap between device capabilities and home network conditions, which hurts consumer experiences with streaming, gaming, and other bandwidth-heavy activities.

While the 5 GHz band now carries about 60% of wireless traffic, this shift toward higher-capacity frequencies has not been universally adopted in homes.

Residential infrastructure upgrades are lagging behind mobile device advances, creating bottlenecks where modern devices underperform on old home networks.

Ookla data shows Wi‑Fi 4, introduced in 2009, still accounts for roughly one-third of global network samples, meaning hundreds of millions rely on legacy infrastructure.