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Forum Discussion
Pool contractor needs a 2.4 GH signal.........
I am in NO way a Computer Geek, & seriously need some help & confirmation of what I've been told. I use Comcast Xfinity for my WiFi service. I have my own modem-an Arris Surfboard. It is connected to an Orbi RBR850 Router, with 2 or 3 extenders in my house. I have just installed a pool. My contractor has used Jandi equipment, & will be connecting this to my WiFi system in the next couple of days. He told me to call Comcoast Xfinity & tell them I need a 2.4 GH guest channel, as his system won't connect to my high speed connection. I've tried & tried to get thru to Comcast, with no luck. I just went out to the Best Buy store where I bought the Netgear Orbi to talk to them. This guy said I should set up a Guest account on my system, & have the contractor connect his equipment to that. He said that Orbi is smart, and will only pull what the contractor needs for his equipment to run. I set up the Guest network, but I want to know if he's correct in what he told me.
3 Replies
any dual band router has a 2.4ghz signal.
Not sure why he wants it setup with a guest account. Is it your equipment getting connected to it?
If so, it shouldnt need the guest account.
I don't think your technician is much of a networking guy either.
> any dual band router has a 2.4ghz signal.
The problem is not that the 2.4GHz signal does not exist. The
potential problem is that the 5GHz signal also exists, and on an Orbi,
with a single SSID, the contractor's mobile device can't be connected
reliably/exclusively using the 2.4GHz radio.Many Internet-of-Junk devices can use only the 2.4GHz radio band. In
itself, that's not a problem.For reasons which I don't thoroughly understand, many mobile apps
which are used to configure (and manage) these IoJ devices require that
the mobile device also be using the 2.4GHz band, at least during the
configuration process. With the simplified (that is,
limited-flexibility) wireless controls of Orbi routers, arranging that
can be difficult (if not impossible?).
After the IoJ gizmo has been configured, the presence of a 5GHz
signal is not a problem, because the IoJ gizmo itself won't notice it.
The problem occurs during the configuration of the IoJ gizmo, when the
mobile device which is used to do that configuration can't be forced to
use the 2.4GHz radio band.On older/non-Orbi routers, it's generally possible to specify a
unique SSID for each radio, or to disable the 5GHz radio(s) temporarily.
Either way, the mobile device can be forced to use the 2.4GHz radio
band during that configuration procedure. I have not seen a reasonable
solution to this problem for an Orbi, which seems to allow only one SSID
for all radios, and does not seem to offer an option to disable
particular radios.
And a typical mobile device does not allow its user to choose the
radio band, only the SSID.Configuring a "guest network" on an Orbi router won't help, unless
there's a way to make it a 2.4GHz-only "guest network", which, in my
quick glance at the User Manual, I didn't see a way to do.
> [...] with 2 or 3 extenders in my house. [...]If the geography is such that it makes sense for the pool gizmo to
connect to one of those (unspecified) "extenders", and if that extender
allows its 5GHz radio to be disabled or renamed (temporarily), then
using it might be a way around this (Orbi-related) problem.I dimly recall reading a report here where some victim walked away
from his Orbi until its 5GHz signal got weak enough that his mobile
device selected the (stronger) 2.4GHz on its own. Not a reliable
scheme, I thought, but it did have some potential for the desperate.> [...] it shouldnt need the guest account.
The value of a "guest network" is its ability to be fiddled with
without disturbing the existing (non-"guest") configuration. But, if
you can't do the required fiddling (band-specific SSID, disable specific
radios) on an Orbi, then it wouldn't help.
> I don't think your technician is much of a networking guy either.Perhaps, but I'd guess that he has far more (unhappy) experiences
with this specific IoJ gizmo (and its app) than anyone here.Another recent example:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/x/x/m-p/2095907
If the IoJ device configuration is an entirely local interaction
between the mobile device and the IoJ gizmo, then one possible
(untested) work-around for this problem might look like the following:Get hold of some (cheap/old?) substitute router which _can_ be
configured with only its 2.4GHz radio active, and configure that router
with the same SSID and passphrase (and security scheme -- WPA2 or
whatever?) as the (unhelpful) Orbi router.Disable (power down) the Orbi router, enable (power up) the
substitute router long enough to get the mobile device connected to it,
and get the IoJ gizmo configured. Then restore the original router
configuration.Now that the IoJ gizmo has been informed of the relevant
wireless-network credentials (for the substitute router), those same
credentials should work for it with the Orbi router.
Ideally, if no Internet connection is needed to configure the IoJ
gizmo, then the substitute router could be left floating. Worst case:
Move the WAN/Internet cable from the Orbi to the substitute router for
this exercise.(Better Netgear router firmware would be the best actual solution for
this problem, of course.)
