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Forum Discussion
Installing Apps/Devices that cannot connect on 5g when trying to use Orbi and Pixel Phones
Scenario: 1. Orbi Mesh network installed where we cannot manually differentiate (i.e., name SSID separately our 2g and 5g) network bands because the mesh supposedly handles this in the background...
<<First, "give it a try". The majority of these devices get configured by broadcasting their own WiFi access point with an obvious name (SSID). The app or the user opens the smartphone WiFi manager and this goofy access point is connected to. Enter the Orbi WiFi SSID/password into the app. App sends them to the device. Device connects. Done.>>
Yes, this is often the case. The trouble is, it will not stay connect to this "device specific" WiFi access point. If I try to give it my Orbi WiFi SSID/password, it tells me the password is incorrect (even though I know I have not changed it).
I have not tried your second solution, however. I will try that when I get home. I'm on work travel until tomorrow and will do so (disabling the 5 to force everyone to 2).
The strange thing to me is some devices seemingly of the same "genre" will connect and some will not; case in point, some Amazon echos. Perhaps it is a generation thing.
TButcher wrote:
I have not tried your second solution, however. I will try that when I get home. I'm on work travel until tomorrow and will do so (disabling the 5 to force everyone to 2).
This tactic, disabling the broadcast of the 5 GHz SSID, seems to work in most cases. Indeed, I can't recall any instances where it failed. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention.
It is surprising how many people insist that it is impossible to set up IoT gadgets without separating 2.4 GHz and 5 Ghz. They bang on without even bothering to try this well known strategy for getting things to work.
So they turn up here with complicated scenarios that have nothing to do with the real world. The pity is that Netgear has failed to come up with a KnowledgeBase article that explains what to do.
Oh, and if anyone does encounter a reluctant device, tell the people who made the IoT device that they need to get their act together: also tell people here so that plemans can buy some new toys. Netgear is not the only maker of Mesh stuff and Orbis are not the only Netgear devices that combine SSIDs.
Finally, when trying anew device, search this community for it. You might be surprised to learn that it has already cropped up here, along with advice on how to get it to work.
I can confirm the disabling of the 5G SSID broadcast is still working on v2.5.1.8. I watched a wifi analyzer as I disabled it and the SSID name and signal dropped then after a few seconds the signal came back, however the SSID was not displayed over the signal. Once I re-enabled the 5G SSID name broadcast, the signal disappeared then came back and also the SSID Name was displayed over the signal.
Probably.
