NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
RS700 - No on/off toggle to turn off wifi band
The current firmware 1.0.7.82 for the RS700 does not have a toggle allowing you to turn off a wifi band. On other routers, this feature is usually found in the advanced setting menu but I don't see ...
Since the RS700 is a Wi-Fi 7 router, and since Wi-Fi 7 simultaneously uses the 2.4, 5, and 6GHz bands through MLO (Multi-Link Operation), it may be reasonable that individual bands cannot be disabled?
I'm not an expert in this area but I assumed that the existence of the wifi schedule feature, which allows you to turn off the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands by setting up a schedule, implies that neither MLO nor the Wifi 7 standard requires all the bands to be active. It's one of the oddest thing about the missing on/off wifi toggle - the functionality to turn off bands is there in the firmware, you just can't do it permanently or without jumping through hoops to set up a schedule.
Even if MLO needs all three bands to be active, users should have the ability to turn off MLO (and individual wifi bands) when the feature becomes available on the RS700 (it's still under development). I see it as analogous to another new Wifi 7 feature, 320 MHz channel width in the 6 GHz band. The RS700 doesn't require you to use 320 MHz, you can set channel width to 160, 80 or 40 MHz if you want.
We removed the radio on/off function from RS700 due to some implemntation considerations.
We are considering to add it back but it's TBD. Can you share your experiences where you would want to use the function and the scheduled Wi-Fi on/off function cannot satisfy the need? Thanks.
Thank you for the reply. To answer your question, first, the wifi schedule feature seems to be broken in the 1.0.7.82 firmware. Placing the mouse pointer above the "Add a new period" button highlights the button but generates a circle with a diagonal line. The manual says a Turn off wireless signal by schedule page should appear when the Add a new period button is clicked but nothing happens. See photo below:
Maybe I have overlooked something but I think this is a bug in the current firmware.
Even when wifi schedule is fixed, I'd still like to have the on/off radio setting restored. It was easy to understand and easy to control. I appreciate the flexibility and functionality that comes with the new wifi schedule feature but funneling users to set up a schedule when they are looking to turn off a radio permanently makes a previously straightforward process needlessly complicated. I think wifi schedule for temporary radio shutoffs and a on/off radio button for more open-ended deactivation can co-exist without confusion. I'd like to see the Enable Wireless Router Radio setting returned to the RS700 firmware.
Seems like if NG removed the ON/OFF radio function then this will after effect the scheduling feature as well thus why you see the mouse cursor behavior. Not really a bug, just a after effect of NG not enabling the ON/OFF radio feature at this time.
