Wireless stations of a Wi-Fi network based are steered to either a high throughput channel or a low throughput channel based on data exchange capacity, in addition to dual-band capability. A probe request data packet from a wireless station seeking to join a channel of the plurality of channels supported by the access point is detected. Dual-band capability is determined as indicated by the probe request. Responsive to having dual-band capability, a high throughput capability of the wireless station is determined as indicated by the probe request. Responsive to having high throughput capability, the wireless station is assigned to a high throughput channel. A probe response data packet with a channel assignment is generated for transmission to the wireless station.