NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Orbi 850 how to add 2.4ghz device?
I have a device that only connects to 2.4 Ghz. I found the discussion linked below and followed the instructions.. however the instructions to "Uncheck the box "Broadcast SSID on 5G Channel" does not...
ziknos wrote:
I have a device that only connects to 2.4 Ghz.
In brief: Nothing to worry. Even if you had 5 GHz, 5.6 GHz, 6 GHz or 60 GHz WiFi: These wont connect to any other band than 2.4 GHz. 8-) Very few exceptions require 802.11ax disabled for 2.4 GHz.
Truth is that there is nothing that stops connecting these 2.4 GHz "only" devices!
All issues are coming from junk hardware, junk description by these vendors. Complain to the makers of such junk - force them so they they are going to make their homework. it's just about poor app design and implementation (for device discovery). Sent them to this community and I'm happy to have yet another lecture for these ignorant device makers. It's a shame (on them) these issues still exist in late 2022!
Sorry: Yes, Sure, this is not what you want to hear. it's just the truth.
Happy holidays!
-Kurt
I really wish that during the past 3-4 years I had accumulated a list of specific devices that have poorly written apps and absolutely will not connect unless the user does some workaround. Would love to publish a "Hall of Shame" list and bombard Amazon with horrible product reviews.
I can sympathize with customers who are in this predicament. All they want is to get on with their life, and are stuck. Can't really tell someone, "replace your furnace controller". Hard enough to say, "Send it back to Amazon and order something else". Those Christmas lights are not getting hooked up TODAY.
My personal loyalty to the customers of such junk systems is limited. Especially because the questions are very similar for years, like this "how to add 2.4ghz device" had been answered hundreds times. This is why my tolerance on this subject is between limited and exhausted.
While I like the idea for a wall of shame, for how many years are we asking the community members to provide exact product details, make, firmware, software versions, photos of labels, products, .. so potential customers can identify this junk? It still does not happen.
A possible solution would be the ability to introduce a junk-device-SSID. This would require software enhancements, documentation changes, and education. No, it won't be difficult. However, Netgear does play a bad role in this context. not the only are where Netgear is ignorant for years.
schumaku wrote:
A possible solution would be the ability to introduce a junk-device-SSID. This would require software enhancements, documentation changes, and education. No, it won't be difficult. However, Netgear does play a bad role in this context. not the only area where Netgear is ignorant for years.
Did not escape my notice that customers willing to fork over $1,500 for the base RBKE963 system or who purchased one of the "business" models (such as SSR60 - now officially 'End of Life') have the ability to create an "IoT" SSID.
