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Forum Discussion
Nighthawk R7000 WiFi questions (SSID naming best practice)
It appears to me that you cannot put spaces in your SSID. I've never seen that before. Is there a way around that? Also, is it best practice to give your 2.5GHz and 5GHz bands the same SSID or should they be different. If different, will the R7000 move you to the appropriate band automatically?
4 Replies
I've been using a two worded SSID name for almost 20 years now with one space in between. Works on all routers I've put online or tested.
For non Smart Connect supporting routers or older generation routers, Separation of SSID names was recommended. With advent and introduction of Smart Connect feature that same out around circa 2012, this feature enabled the combining of SSIDs into one. So for those routers that support it, Smart Connect is recommended. The R7000 supports this feature. Its up to the connecting device to pick and choose where it connects too.
Its not usually the router that has issues with those but some "smart" devices that I've seen.
there was a couple version of roku's firmware that had issues and again, a random smart device we see on here once in a while.
but most devices should be fine with it.
The one issue I have run in to relates to IoT devices (smart speakers) that need to communicate with each other over Wi-Fi. With smart connect enabled and one device connects to the 2.4 GHz band and the other connects to the 5 GHz band, you have problems with the two devices communicating with each other over Wi-Fi. This can also cause a problem when you try to configure an IoT device with a mobile phone connected to one band and the IoT device is connected to the other band.
For users with smart homes, I always recommend disabling smart connect and configuring separate SSIDs for the bands. In addition, if your have the option for 20/40 coexistence it should be disabled. Most likely none of your IoT devices can use or need the bandwidth for the 2.4 GHz.
Kitsap I'd agree with part of that but not all.
I'm a pusher of leaving coexistence enabled unless you live in the country away from other signals. otherwise it causes both your system and others to run poorer. Better to have a little lower performance on 2.4ghz but more stability versus faster speeds and spotty service. If the device needs more speed, it should have 5ghz.
And I've been using mesh since they came out and I've had zero issues with using single ssid functions (after the initial bugs were worked out). Its been rock solid for devices connecting. Its the occasional poorly coded IoT device that I have to cheat with a backup single ssid router/hotspot to get connected. And I haven't had to do that in years.
