Nighthawk Mesh WiFi 6 system needs separate 2.4 and 5.0 SSID

Agree 1000%   This is really causing a lot of issues in my home setup.   Please update the firmware and allow us to seperate the SSIDs for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies.

Same here....need seperate SSID. Main reason I changed to nighthawk over orbi... Was told it's possible.

This is definitely needed!

I'm having occasional connection issues with my phone, Chromebook, and TV. Based on what I've read, splitting the network would eliminate or at least reduce these issues. It's incredibly frustrating to have to reboot the router and devices periodically for no apparent reason.

Hello Netgear,

Is there any plan to support switching on/off/separating the 5GHz frequency on the nighthawk MK63 mesh system?

It seems many devices (such as Nest Protect) which can only use the 2.4GHz frequency cannot connect. If there is no plan to add support, I will have to return the MK63.

Thanks for any further information.

My sonos is having problems at the 5ghz band.   All SONOS troubleshooting seemed to be at the 2.4ghz band.

From SONOS

Here are router settings that need to be verified. You can contact your ISP or the manufacturer of the router for assistance.

a. Auto channel must be set to Off

b. Choose best non-overlapping channel (1,6,11)

c. Set channel bandwidth to 20MHz

d. Both 2.4GHz and 5GHz should be enabled

e. UPnP should be enabled

f. 802.11 band should be set to b/g/n

 

Thank you for your time and enjoy your Sonos!

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SamDs wrote:

My idea is to give user of Nighthawk MR60 Mesh WiFi 6 system option  (just a secondary option, not immediately visible at first glance) to select different SSID for 2.4 and 5.0 GHz bands.    

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This is an old old story, and an ancient "idea", covered many many times in the main community. In 99 percent of cases, there is no need for separate SSIDs.

This is not the place to go into why this is a misguided suggestion. (I leave it to anyone really interested to find the long and detailed discussions in the main community.)  Essentially, it boils down to poorly designed installation procedures for many IoT devices.

One reason why people ask about separate SSIDs is because they think they need it to set up IoT devices. In reality, this is rarely necessary. Most IoT things work on 2.4 GHz. They will not see, and cannot connect to, 5 GHz.

Unfortunately, many makers of Iot devices require people to use an app on a mobile device to set up the thing. This often connects to the 5 GHz wifi. Poorly designed apps then fall over because they cannot handle a device connected to the 2. 4 GHz wifi.

A widely used strategy that works for many people is to forget about separate SSIDs and to follow this strategy:

1. Go into Orbi's wifi set up
2. Disable broadcast of the 5 GHz SSID
3. Tell the mobile device to forget the connection to that SSID
4. Reboot the mobile device
5. Connect to the SSID
6. Set up the IoT device
7. Go back and reverse step 2

You may actually be able to miss out steps 3 and 4, depending on your phone and the app.

This approach has worked for many people. The advantage is that it does not break one of the whole points of the Orbi's Mesh system, a single SSID that devices can connect to seamlessly.

Hi @michaelkenward

the original question was regarding the MR60 and associated ms60 satellites.  This differs from Orbi in a number of respects.

Can you please show how to disable said broadcast for the 5Ghz radio on this?

My best digging through every post, panel, and even web interface is this is not available on the net gear nighthawk mesh MR60.  Screenshots below.  Additionally the web debug page has no option for telnet enablement.

Without this, you can see many will not be able to do a forced association to the 2.4 radio.  

I cannot determine whether you're a netgear employee, though you likely have ability to contact them via dm.  Can you, or they, respond with a way to effectively disable 5Ghz radio being visible to IoT devices please?

Also, as mentioned in captions for images, there's no way to reduce radio signal strength either :(

thanks, Mike

Default wireless page, advanced wireless page sameAdvanced wireless setup only allows disabling of sSid, not radio nor signal strength reduction

Ok, this is awkward... also images uploaded and were available in preview, they appear to not post.  Perhaps newbie status and awaiting moderation?  Trying again here:

michaelkenward ?