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ethanang's avatar
ethanang
Aspirant
Apr 25, 2020

RBK12 + Surface, Refuse to connect to 5Ghz

Appreciate some pointers.

 

Just installed the RBK12 mesh (router + satellite), used all the standard settings excep SSID/password and setup was a breeze. Most of my devices connects well but my Microsoft Surface devices are a mixed bag.

- Samsung phones A70, S9, Note8 connects to 5Ghz band by default with v fast speeds.

- Similarly for my Surface Go, Ipad Air2, Huawei Tablet M5, old lenovo thinkpad

- BUT... Surface Laptop 2 and Surface Pro 5 however connects only to the 2.4 Ghz band.

 

Note that all the devices were tested in the same physical location. Speedtest.net results however around +/- 100Mbps for the ones that can connect to 5Ghz band, but my 2 Surface connects only at +/- 20Mbps while on 2.4 Ghz.

 

I am not 100% sure, but i do think my Surface Pro was able to connect to my older non-mesh wifi router at 5Ghz.

 

So now, i'm not sure if its because of the Surface drivers, or some settings on Orbi.

 

Please advise.

 

 

2 Replies

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  • CrimpOn's avatar
    CrimpOn
    Guru
    Apr 25, 2020

    Truly a mystery.  The conventional wisdom is that it is the device that chooses how to connect, not the Orbi.

    • ethanang's avatar
      ethanang
      Aspirant
      Apr 26, 2020

      Strange thing happened... i was fiddling settings (but did not change anything) and my Surface connected to the 5Ghz band. Not sure what happened but i'm not complaining since i'm getting fast speeds. Then the power tripped (thunderstorm, unrelated) and once again it reconnected at 2.4Ghz once router/laptop rebooted. And its now stuck at 2.4Ghz again.

       

      Is there a way to split the Orbi router into separate SSID for 2.4 & 5Ghz? Then i can just connect to the 5Ghz band?

       

      rgds