Disable 5GHz

nhayden wrote:

My printer only supports 2.4 GHz WiFi, but my Orbi system keeps steering it to 5 GHz.

Nonsense. From where is this idea coming from. There is no "active" steering...

HappyCat wrote:

As StephenB​ pointed out, a device containing only 2.4G WiFi capability cannot be "steered" to a different frequency.  It is just not possible.

Yep!

StephenB wrote:

Band steering "encourages" clients to choose 5 ghz (or 6 ghz), but the decision is made by the client.

A wireless client is - for a short moment not allowed to connect on one bane - so it's expected to the wireless does re-associate on the "other" band. That's all there is. 

nhayden wrote:

My printer supports 2.4 and 5.0.  But, 5.0 is very unreliable and the printer does not wake up when connected to 5.0.  I am told this is a common issue with Canon printers.

...so something to nag on with Canon support.

nhayden wrote:

I would like to dedicate an IP address for my printer - as that would make it more responsive.  But, that does not appear to be an Orbi option.

Of course there is:

• You can either reserve the MAC-IP address on Orbi, so the Orbi DHCP server does always assign the saame IP address, or
• configure a fixed static IP configuration (address, subnet mask, default gateway, ...) on the printer.

I doubt this does change anything on the known poor WiFi or wonky keep-alive of the wireless connection on some Canon printers.

The wiresss adpter on the printer has to keep up the WiFi connection 24*7, in case of a DHCP client it has to renew, like

• T1 Timer (50% of the lease): When exactly half your lease time passes, your device sends a direct message to the DHCP server (usually the router) asking to keep the IP address. If the server approves, it sends an acknowledgment, and the timer resets to zero. 
• T2 Timer (87.5% of the lease): If the server was busy at the 50% mark and didn't reply, your device sends a wider network message when the lease is 87.5% complete. This asks any available DHCP server on the network to renew the IP.
• Lease Expiration: If the timer reaches 100% with no reply, your device must stop using the IP address entirely and start the initial network search from scratch (the "Discovery" phase) to get a new IP.

The default total DHCP lease time is (if I'm not wrong, to far away from NTGR consumer devices) is 24 hours. So after 12 hours, the printer DHCP client should, after 21 hours it must renew the IP address - otherwise, the DHCP lease will expire.  Both these require an active and workable wireless connection.

If the printer IP address can be pinged successfully after one day, one would assume the IP stack of the printer remains reachable, and the wake-up should be possible.