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Router Log-in
Hi, All of my devices but one seem to be on the 2.4gh band. Consequently the connection to the Roku stick is not great. I am trying to log into the router to change to Smart Choice so it will autom...
Some of what you say makes no sense to me?
First, Smart Connect, and what is does when set. With it on, ALL SSID's share the SAME SSID and PASSWORD. You MANUALLY connect to that ONE SSID. The router 'supposedly' knows enough to put the proper devices on the proper band. Unfortunately, that is in theory. NG's implementation seems to be a 'load leveling' method. That means it will try to keep the same number of devices on each SSID. It is not a 'switching' implementation either, that it would dynamically load level. Once on a band, the device stays there.
In theory, all the devices the senses is faster will go to the 5Ghz band, and the slower to the 2.4Ghz band, until the number on the bands are uneven than it doesn't care, a device will be put on the band with the least devices.
That is what I discovered on the R8000 and so did SMALL BUILDERS NET that reviewed that router. More than likely all NG routers act like this.
Now you said Smart Connect was off. With that being true, it can get 'dicey'.
You have to MANAULLY connect to an SSID the first time. If you had previously connected to both SSID's, that is where you can run into the devices being not on a band you want. Especially mobile devices vs. a desktop PC on a desk. The reason being the device usually will connect to the STRONGEST SSID signal. This means it might depend on where it was turned on and if it moved to the outer range of the SSID signals. The 2.4Ghz signal will generally travel farther than the 5Ghz. However, towards the outer limits of the SSID's, the 5Ghz will be stronger but not as far reaching as the 2.4Ghz SSID. Once on an SSID devices will usually stay there until it sees the signal to weak to use and will switch when it finds a stronger signal.
Basically Smart Connect will not solve this.
Best way to keep the devices on the specific bands you want. On each device you have determine which SSID you want to be on. Then on that device FORGET the other SSID. That will fix it, again, assuming the 5Ghz band is working properly. Note, house construction can change the strength of the signals, and the 2.4Ghz band is more likely to have interference weaking the signal as well.
Thank you for the reply and helpful information IrvSP. It does not surprise me that what I posted doesn’t make sense. This is way more than I expected to have to do to set up a new router and connect everything. Now posters are discussing corrupt firmware updates. Our previous NETGEAR Router seemed so much less trouble. Or maybe we just didn’t know about or understand these issues. It too was a dual band however only one SSID or choice showed when we were connecting printers or phones or other wireless devices. This Router appears as Netgear07 and 5g. Or at least it sometimes does. My husband connected to 5g with his iPhone. Not knowing 5g was also our router I selected Netgear07 which apparently is the name/choice for the 2.4gh band. Setting up the Router I didn’t realize the bands could or should have two SSID so they both use the same SSID and password. There was not a good explanation in the start up guide of what Smart Connect is. Looking at it on the NIGHTHAWK app I can see it is not turned on. When I did turn it on My devices lost their connection, I got errors saying the router could not be found. I ended up rebooting the modem and router and reconnecting devices one at a time as I originally did. This is when I noticed I could not connect my phone to 5g. Since then most times when I check to see what is connected to which band printers, DirecTV, my phone and now the Roku Stick are all using the 2.4gh band and my husbands phone is on 5g. Even when I disconnected my phone by “forgetting the network and then reconnecting to 5g when I letter checked connected devices through the Nighthawk App my phone was back on 2.4gh. Oddly enough running slows tests through the Nighthawk App the speeds reach 10-12mbps (we have DSL). If I check my iPhone while it’s connected to 2.4gh and use the ookla speed test it reaches about 1/2 that speed. Connected to 5g it reaches the same speeds as through the Nighthawk App. I am thinking about contacting our DSL provider to ask if our DSL supports 5g. I hope that makes more sense or is clearer. I apologize for any confusion, I am still learning. I appreciate everyone’s patience and kind assistance!
I'm afraid you might still be confused and so am I?
PlayaGal wrote:
Our previous NETGEAR Router seemed so much less trouble. Or maybe we just didn’t know about or understand these issues. It too was a dual band however only one SSID or choice showed when we were connecting printers or phones or other wireless devices.Might help if you posted that model number? It seems that it would have to have had Smart Connect on to do what you are saying... without it on, you should see 2 distinct SSID's being broadcast.
PlayaGal wrote:
This Router appears as Netgear07 and 5g. Or at least it sometimes does. My husband connected to 5g with his iPhone. Not knowing 5g was also our router I selected Netgear07 which apparently is the name/choice for the 2.4gh band.Well, the actual DEFAULT SSID's are listed on the bottom label of the router. They should start with 'NETGEAR' and usually have a number after it. Even on the Dual bands only one SSID, the 2.4Ghz is shown. That is in case you can only connect via wireless. Once connected you go to the WIRELESS tab on a browse login to the GENIE GUI and you can then see the DEFAULT 5Ghz SSID and you CAN change either or both. If you turn on Smart Connect the 2.4Ghz SSID and password is the only one that will be broadcast.
PlayaGal wrote:
Looking at it on the NIGHTHAWK app I can see it is not turned on. When I did turn it on My devices lost their connection, I got errors saying the router could not be found. I ended up rebooting the modem and router and reconnecting devices one at a time as I originally did. This is when I noticed I could not connect my phone to 5g.Yes, this is probably correct. Switching to it from it off probably did disconnect you and you would need a reboot. By the way, using the NightHawk app to me is NOT the way to go. It has limited functions. Better way is to use a BROWSER and for the URL enter the IP Address (or ROUTERLOGIN.NET) to get to the 'real' Genie Graphical User Interface (GUI). There supply the same USERID and PASSWORD (default is admin and password unless you changed it during setup) and you'll have a lot more capabilities to manage the router.
PlayaGal wrote:
This is when I noticed I could not connect my phone to 5g. Since then most times when I check to see what is connected to which band printers, DirecTV, my phone and now the Roku Stick are all using the 2.4gh band and my husbands phone is on 5g.Point of confusion for me. At this point from what you posted it seems SMART CONNECT was enabled? If that is the case, the router 'decides' who connects to what? I'll assume your husband's phone is newer? Probably AC speed capable while your's might not be? Other than the phones, those are all generally 2.4Ghz devices, so it would be normal for the router to place them there. As I mentioned before, Smart Connect is not a DYNAMIC version but a LOAD LEVELING implementation. The actual band the device connects to might be depending on time connected and other devices already connected. It might also be that it was determined your phone would work better on the lower band, especially if it connected far from the router. The BEST way to do it, TURN OFF SMART CONNECT and then CUSTOMIZE the 2 SSID's to be UNIQUE and also identifies the band, like ROUTER2 and ROUTER5 for the 2 bands (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz) and then connect the devices to those SSID's as you see fit. Be aware, connecting a 2.4Ghz ONLY device, like a printer for instance, can and will slow down the 5Ghz SSID for ALL devices that connect to it.
PlayaGal wrote:
Oddly enough running slows tests through the Nighthawk App the speeds reach 10-12mbps (we have DSL). If I check my iPhone while it’s connected to 2.4gh and use the ookla speed test it reaches about 1/2 that speed. Connected to 5g it reaches the same speeds as through the Nighthawk App.That makes sense to me. The NightHawk app speed test done on the Router, not your phone. Any WIRELESS devices speed depends on many factors. One is what is the device RATED speed, today, usually N or AC, and that along with distance from router and the number of Antennea's the phone has determines speed. The 2.4Ghz SSID is good for at least 300Mbps. What is the DSL TRUE speed. DSL speed it the true number you should be getting on the ROUTER or via a WIRED CONNECTION. Now I don't understand why at 5Ghz connection the speed is faster? This could be a Firmware on the router issue.
PlayaGal wrote:
I am thinking about contacting our DSL provider to ask if our DSL supports 5g. I hope that makes more sense or is clearer.Don't bother doing that. The router is the one managing the WIRELESS (USUALLY unless you have a modem/router from your ISP, what model is it?) SSID's. However this sentence makes me think the ISP's modem is also wireless and active? If so, it could be a problem and interferring? You might also be connected to it wirelessly, hence the two different SSID's you've seen, NETGEAR07 (which I'm sure IS the router) and 5G which would be unless you altered the setting? Could be coming from the ISP modem/router? Really need the ISP modem model I guess to be sure (or how the signal get to the R7000P?
The best way is to enable Smart Connect, and let the technology work as it is supposed to do and to be.
IrvSp any proof Smart Connect does load balancing targeting the same number of clients on each radio?
- Thank you Schumako
I am going to do that!
I appreciate your assistance!
Have a great day!
- Hello IrvSP-
I am so sorry to have confused you.
I really appreciate your detailed assistance with each part of my question. I would like to send screen shots of what I see but am not sure that is possible. In lui of that I am going to reread your notes and try to log into the router using a PC. Apparently I cannot send more than one photo. I wanted to send a screen showing Smart Connect turned off. (Which is the way the app was before I turned it on and lost connections. ) the last screen was to be a screen shot of all the devices connected to the 2.4gh band. If you would like to see them I can send them. I do feel like I have taken up way too much of your time. Thanks so much!OK, I can see the single screen capture... the NETGEAR07, NETGEAR07_EXT (I'll assume this is a GUEST NETWORK?), and NETGEAR07_5G.
I'll assume you've not modified them either and are the router defaults. NETGEAR07 is the 2.4Ghz SSID, and the NETGEAR07_5G is the 5Ghz SSID. So if you have a 2.4Ghz devices, connect it to the NETGEAR07. Have and AC device connect it to the NETGEAR_5G SSID.
N speed devices can be 'tricky'. Putting a slower device on any band can slow down ALL devices on that band (SSID). However, with your ISP speed, max. of 12Mbps, ALL devices will run at that speed. Should NOT make a difference. However you said it did, and that can be either interference on the 2.4Ghz or your modem is also a router with a 2.4Ghz wireless enabled. Probably not as your screen capture only showed those 3 SSID's.
Slow 2.4Ghz could be a load from another device on that SSID causing the slowdown (test with only the phone connected on 2.4Ghz to see if it is slow or speeds up with no other devices connected) or the firmware you are running on the router, especially if V1.0.9.64.
You can add more than one picture, but you have to use the PHOTOS icon on the menu. However, those do not appear with the reply. They are not shown until a moderator approves it which can take sometime.
