[paavoova]

If you set the SSID and password identical for both bands, the clients should prefer to negotiate the optimal band. I just checked and all clients save for some legacy devices on my OpenWRT router are on 5GHz. So I'm now wondering for which cases is band-steering helpful?

[kiwijamo]

Clients don't always do this automatically. My Arch Linux laptop would often select 2.4GHz in places where 5GHz offered a much better experience. Generally it will start on 5GHz when it is close to the router, fall back to 2.4GHz when it moves far away, and (sadly) it doesn't go back to 5GHZ when it moves back closer to the router. Apple devices were pretty good, automatically choosing and switching to the best bands at all times with behaviour much similar to that seen on mobile phones. For this reason I prefer the AP to manage the band steering as it means all devices are connected to the best band. Leaving it to the clients results in a hit and miss experience depending on how well the decide operates. I live with other people who own all sort of different devices so it's not possible for me to say "OK this network is only for Apple devices", I have to ensure thr WiFi works for all sorts of different devices.