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Is there a way to easily disable 5ghz temporarily?
I have dual band internet at home (2.4/5) and for simplicity I have the two signals meshed in my Orbi router/network. Unfortunatley when I'm doing things like setting up smart home devices that only use a 2.4ghz connection, my router/iPhone will default to 5ghz, and as a result I am unable to pair the 2.4ghz smart device and phone since they technically aren't on the same network. Looking on here/google/youtube, the only suggestions I see are to either walk out of range of the 5ghz (literally walk down the street), or to do super complicated stuff like entering terminal commands that are way over my head. Is there no easy way to accomplish what I want? How does one manually connect to a 2.4ghz network when using a mesh network? I really don't feel like having to revert to two separate network names (2.4/5) every time I set up a new smart device in my home. There has to be an easier way, right? I'm looking for something like an on/off switch in the orbi router/network settings. Again, not trying to go for a walk or hack into any mainframes. Just looking for a simple user friendly solution. Thank you.
Re: Is there a way to easily disable 5ghz temporarily?
So I found a somewhat decent solution elsewhere on the Netgear forums. You turn the power on the Orbi router down from 100% to 25% for the 5Ghz radio (Advanced Tab/Advanced/Wireless Settings) and disconnect any satellites you are near. If you're far enough away from the main router this will default you to the 2.4. It's not a perfect workaround but it's much better than what I was previously doing.
Re: Is there a way to easily disable 5ghz temporarily?
That's not a bad idea actually but unfortunatley I don't have any such devices laying around.
My current workaround is to rename the 5ghz band on the Comcast modem/router that my Orbi router is connected to (it's in bridge mode so it's not broadcasting as a router). This way the Orbi only gets access to the 2.4 band. This would be a good workaround if I didn't have to reset the modem and router each time I wanted to take it in and out of bridge mode to make those changes, but because I do it's like a 10-15min process each time. Not ideal but at least It's doable.
Re: Is there a way to easily disable 5ghz temporarily?
So I found a somewhat decent solution elsewhere on the Netgear forums. You turn the power on the Orbi router down from 100% to 25% for the 5Ghz radio (Advanced Tab/Advanced/Wireless Settings) and disconnect any satellites you are near. If you're far enough away from the main router this will default you to the 2.4. It's not a perfect workaround but it's much better than what I was previously doing.
