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Forum Discussion
Please expose the ability to use separate SSIDs for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz on Orbi!
This is becoming rediclous since the functionality is already there. I've been an Orbi user for about 2.5 years now and I'm to the point where I'm going to have to find another solution. I'm coveri...
th3w01f wrote:I was going to turn off the 2.4Ghz on Orbi and add a seperate AP for only 2.4 but I see that feature disapeared too somewhere along the way.
On the Advanced Tab, Advanced Setup, Wireless Settings, uncheck the box "Broadcast SSID" for the 2.4G band. No device will connect to Orbi at 2.4G because it is not broadcasting the SSID. They will connect to the 5G band.... or if the 5G signal is too weak, to nothing at all.
(Note: I am not recommending this as a "solution", only pointing out that it does exist. And, to be totally honest, I have never tried not broadcasting SSID. Maybe devices which "know" the SSID's MAC address already will still connect? The Orbi back channel connects and it doesn't broadcast an SSID. hmmmm)
On a side note, if the 2.4G bandwidth tops out at less than 1MB in much of the house, I am puzzled that 5G would have higher bandwidth in the same places.
The problem I have (haven't tested) is that stopping the broadcast of the SSID will not help if the new AP is broadcasting the same SSID... I don't know if the RFC specifies that a device should connect to a broadcast SSID vs a hidden. I have about 40 IOT devices on the 2.4 SSID that would be a PITA to move.
I agree about the throughput on 2.4, I’ve done a bit of frequency analysis and there isn’t much interference. We live in the country and the closest neighbor is about .5 miles away. Everywhere in the house, including in the same room as the router 2.4Ghz is terrible and even at the far ends, wired into the satellite or connected via 5Ghz is WAY better. I’ve swapped to the least used channels and no help at all. I put up another AP and only allowed 2.4Ghz and it was completely useable, even on the same channel as the Orbi (again, I didn’t test setting the other AP to the same SSID and having Orbi not broadcast).
th3w01f wrote:The problem I have (haven't tested) is that stopping the broadcast of the SSID will not help if the new AP is broadcasting the same SSID... I don't know if the RFC specifies that a device should connect to a broadcast SSID vs a hidden.
This, at least, should be easy to test. Configure the new AP with the same exact SSID and password, power cycle some device, and see what it connects to. I have done only a few Google searches. I see a lot of references to how to get Windows, Mac, Linux, etc. to connect to "hidden" networks, but nothing specific to typical IoT devices. If you already have the new AP, it won't take long to test.
These Orbi's are, of course, on the most recent firmware, and have been 'reset' (not 'factory reset'), correct? With 90 devices, I would postpone 'factory reset' until everything else has failed.
