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Forum Discussion
Adding 2.4 ghz devices to Orbi
I have the Orbi RBR20 which is not listed in the model drop down. I also have an Android phone runing Oreo. I have bought two wi-fi plugs to connect to Alexa and a La Crosse weather station that uses the ineternet. All require 2.4 ghz connection and are setup using a phone provided by the manufacturer of the device. Google has removed the ability to tell the phone to connect at 2.4 or 5 ghz in its settings. The phone will only connect at 5 ghz. The phone has to be on the 2.4 ghz or the app will not set up the network name and password in the device. There is no setting in the router to disable the 5 ghz temporarily so that the phone will connect at 2.4 ghz. The only way I have been able to configure my devices has been to turn off the Orbi and acitvate an old router which seperates 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz into sperate SSIDs. Once configured, I restart the Orbi and everything connects.
Given that there are millions of devices sold that require this type of setup, Netgear needs to provide a solution to allow device configuration.
21 Replies
Turn down the power on the 5Ghz radio from 100 to 25% on the Orbi router. Leave 2.4Ghz at 100%
Find this under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings.
Save the change and apply.
I would power off or disable the wifi radio on the Android after you make the change on the router. Re-enable wifi on the device and it should connect to the 2.4Ghz radio if your far enough away from the router.
I tried powering down the 5g to 25%. It didn't work. A 0% option is needed.
How far was the device from the router when you turned it down? Did you turn OFF the satellites as well while you did this?
When you do this, turn OFF all satellites leaving just the router. Then go out as far as possible with the device from the router and see if it will connect to the 2.4Ghz long enough to do the setup...
Generally these types of WiFi devices connect like this:
1. The phone connects to the device by either Bluetooth, or more likely by a private WiFi network. You can see this in setup as your phone will connect to an SSID that usually has the device's brand name in it. This step does not involve the Orbi at all.
2. The phone programs the device with the connection info for your WiFi. In this step you are still connected to the device's private network and you enter your WiFi SSID and passsword. The device uses its 2.4 Ghz Wifi to connect to your network.
3. Your phone switchs back to your WiFi network and confirms it can see the newly setup device.
What part of the setup are you failing on?
Step one only involves your phone directly connecting to the device. If this is not working you should troubleshoot the phone's ability to directly connect to it. The Orbi is not involved yet.
Step 2 only involves the device connecting to your WiFi and as it only has a 2.4 Ghz radio it does not even see the 5 Ghz signal. If this is failing, then the device is having problems connecting to your Orbi. As the device only has a 2.4 Ghz radio nothing you do to the 5 Ghz signal will affect this. Troubleshoot the 2.4 Ghz network, possibly change the channel or look for something that could be interfering.
Step 3 involves your WiFi. The Orbi should be able to bridge the two networks and allow a phone on 5 Ghz to talk to a device on 2.4 Ghz. You can prove this by your ability to connect to any 2.4 Ghz resource on your network.
Very good description. Vendor descriptions of "must have 2.4G WiFi" are like saying, "requires two AA batteries". Without a 2.4G WiFi, it cannot ever connect - never. 5G has nothing to do with the product.
There is no disputing that people experience problems connecting Internet of Things devices to their WiFi, just as people experience problems with their Orbi's (and with every brand of electronics).
Thanks for the excellent summary.
This is true stuff. I have connected up many 2.4 GHz devices while using Orbi without any hiccups whatsoever. What is so strange is that reading the device instructions is where many panic and begin trying to figure out how to separate the Orbi SSID into two networks (and by design if you want two separate network SSID why did you buy Orbi? The single SSID is a feature. There are other solutions for coverage for dual band with SSID differences.)
For example of confusing Orbi customers, from one TP Link Kasa instruction with some italics and some colored bold (same type of blurb for lights and switches and plugs)
"Connect your mobile device to a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network. NoteThe Smart XXX only support the 2.4GHz network."
In this case I plunged ahead anyway and hooked up my lights. Later my switches. Later plugs. Same was true with the garage door opener hub.
I know some people cannot help but patronize on these sites. I am not a neophite with hardware/software setup. I have tried to connect two brands of plug, one was TP Link and a La Crosse weather station. The device instructions for all three devices basically say down load our app and follow the isntructions. They have not required Bluetooth conection. They reach a point where you select a network and input the password. This step is supposed to give the device the network name and password. It times out over and over and over.
There are posts on the community which agree that if your phone is not connected at 2.4 ghz you cannot complete this step. The only way I have been able to connect my devices is to turn off the Orbi and turn on an old router where the 2.4 and 5 ghz are seperate networks. I connect my phone to 2.4 and the devices have configured on the first try. This - and the device information through the Orbi attached devices screen accessed via the dashboard on the router which shows my phone connected at 5 ghz - is why I am making the conclusion that I am making.
More power to those have been able to connect using their phones connected at 5 ghz. Were you using a Galaxy S9 running Oreo? You say the Orbi handled the bridge between the two. My experience says it doesn't. Netgear needs to provide a simple way to accomplish this. Until they do, I will keep my old router to connect new devices.
Can you please specify the models of smart plugs and La Crosse weather station which you were connectingt?
The comment about bluetooth was generic, not specific to your situation. One of the smart plugs apps addressed by a community post specifically mentions that the default (for that plug) is to use bluetooth and if the user does not want to use bluetooth, they were to hold the button down longer until the blue light flashed slower. So, there are a lot of factors in play, and every situation seems to be different.
Is it the case that now that your devices are connected, you can control them with their respective smartphone apps when your phone is connected to 5G?
Galaxy S8+ OS Android 8.0.0 (Oreo). 2.4GHz devices: TP Link plugs (2), switches (2), lights (6). Chamberlain garage door opener hub. Direct set up no changes in phone hook up or on Orbi.
Galaxy S8+ OS Android 8.0.0 (Oreo). 2.4GHz devices: TP Link plugs (2), switches (2), lights (6). Chamberlain garage door opener hub. Direct set up no changes in phone hook up or on Orbi.
Regarding the LaCrosse station, I see on Play Store reviews that others have gotten help from LaCrosse support. I also see on the Google Play App page on the latest app updates this:
WHAT'S NEW
Alarm feature UI design edits
Performance improvement to refresh sensor status
Sensor page /UI design improvement
Data export file names and start times updated
2.4GHz footnote and support page link for Connect Wi-Fi page
other generic bug fixesLooks (to me) that LaCrosse does not anticipate problems with the main players in mesh networking. Since people DO run into problems, there's a problem somewhere. Their support talks about the weather station being connected to the router before users load the smartphone app. Not having one, I have no idea when or how the user inputs SSID and password information into the weather station.
Does this device have it's own set up web page by chance? I know that some devices do and allows for a wired or wireless PC to connect directly to the device for setup along with having mobile app services as well.
No one has ever mentioned devices like this having ethernet jacks. Since the majority of them are intended to connect to WiFi, it appears that they tend to use WiFi for setup. I should have thought of trying to connect with a web browser before using their dedicated app. Won't know until someone tries it, but would be interesting to know if they do anything to "secure" the WiFi connection (like a password). They seem to hide the details within their app. For example, does the app acquire a temporary IP address from the smart plug and then connect to a web server at some sepecific IP address? I'll see if I can reset my TP-Link smart plug to factgory and see what happens.
Ya, though not necessarty to have a LAN jack, some devices might have onboard web page setup programs like routers do. Would be nice if you could get this and set it up there. Worth a try. :smileywink:
