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It would be useful in the GUI (and perhaps app) to have the ability to turn off specific wifi band radios temporarily.
As an example, turn off the 5g radio.
This would be useful in setting up IOT devices on a mobile device that may default to 5g, but the IOT device needs 2.4!
By being able to shut down the WIFI radio temporarily, you could set up and then reenable.
I have seen the Telnet commands to do this, so I know it is possible. Just a matter of implementation.
10 Comments
An additional benefit would be allowing users to turn off.. say the 5g radio to set up and configure band specific 2.4g IOT devices which cannot handle mesh networks.
Review Orbi community board for many examples of this.
As one who's considering to purchase (have not done so as of this post's date), the ability to temporarily turn Off the 5 GHz radio would be a key reason for me to follow through my my purchase of an RBK50.
I currently use a 2010 4th generation, AirPort Extreme (AE) which is managed through AirPort Utility (AU). Temporarily turning Off a radio has always been available through AU and has become a particularly effective capability specifically, as Chuck_M suggests regarding IOT devices.
Case in point: I have 4 x Koogeek Smart Plugs on my 2.4 GHz WiFi and in Koogeek's set-up instructions, it specifies temporarily turning Off the 5 GHz in order to quickly complete the set-up. When I installed the most recent Koogeek I forgot about temp disconnecting my 5 GHz WiFi and as result, the set-up stalled out. Upon disconnecting my 5 GHz, the add set-up (as well as firmware update) was quickly and successfully completed. (And I easily used AU to turn the 5 GHz to On.)
So for those who say that 2.4 GHz IOT devices should not see the 5 GHz, there can be some issues easily overcome by having the ability to turn Off a radio. Any resistance by Netgear to provide this capability, I find less than optimal as it's a feature that should be provided to the user.
- As one who's considering to purchase (have not done so as of this post's date), the ability to temporarily turn Off the 5 GHz radio would be a key reason for me to follow through my my purchase of an RBK50. I currently use a 2010 4th generation, AirPort Extreme (AE) which is managed through AirPort Utility (AU). Temporarily turning Off a radio has always been available through AU and has become a particularly effective capability specifically, as Chuck_M suggests regarding IOT devices. Case in point: I have 4 x Koogeek Smart Plugs on my 2.4 GHz WiFi and in Koogeek's set-up instructions, it specifies temporarily turning Off the 5 GHz in order to quickly complete the set-up. When I installed the most recent Koogeek I forgot about temp disconnecting my 5 GHz WiFi and as result, the set-up stalled out. Upon disconnecting my 5 GHz, the add set-up (as well as firmware update) was quickly and successfully completed. (And I easily used AU to turn the 5 GHz to On.) So for those who say that 2.4 GHz IOT devices should not see the 5 GHz, there can be some issues easily overcome by having the ability to turn Off a radio. Any resistance by Netgear to provide this capability, I find less than optimal as it's a feature that should be provided to the user.
- As one who's considering to purchase (have not done so as of this post's date), the ability to temporarily turn Off the 5 GHz radio would be a key reason for me to follow through my my purchase of an RBK50. I currently use a 2010 4th generation, AirPort Extreme (AE) which is managed through AirPort Utility (AU). Temporarily turning Off a radio has always been available through AU and has become a particularly effective capability specifically, as Chuck_M suggests regarding IOT devices. Case in point: I have 4 x Koogeek Smart Plugs on my 2.4 GHz WiFi and in Koogeek's set-up instructions, it specifies temporarily turning Off the 5 GHz in order to quickly complete the set-up. When I installed the most recent Koogeek I forgot about temp disconnecting my 5 GHz WiFi and as result, the set-up stalled out. Upon disconnecting my 5 GHz, the add set-up (as well as firmware update) was quickly and successfully completed. (And I easily used AU to turn the 5 GHz to On.) So for those who say that 2.4 GHz IOT devices should not see the 5 GHz, there can be some issues easily overcome by having the ability to turn Off a radio. Any resistance by Netgear to provide this capability, I find less than optimal as it's a feature that should be provided to the user.
Agreed -- more generally, there should be an option to turn off both bands (all wireless radios) using a scheduler. Would be pretty easy to implement.
Really?? No one from Netgear is even answering this or giving us an idea when this feature might be coming? Really frustrating. I spent all morning looking for this feature and now I'm here and there is radio silence on this topic.
- I believe this has turned into a "feel good" forum.... a place where nothing really happens, but you feel good when you see you arent the only one thinking of what could make a good product better. Make Orbi Great Again (MOGA)
FYI, for users who are trying to get some 2.4Ghz supporting only devices setup on there Orbi's you don't have to separate the SSIDs. You can however disable the 5Ghz SSID from being seen temporarily by setup devices. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings. Take the check mark out of the Enable SSID (5G) box. This will hide 5Ghz SSID support for any 5Ghz supporting setup devices and force them to connect to the 2.4Ghz SSID frequency. This should allow the 2.4Ghz setup software on the mobile device to fully discover the 2.4ghz device and get it setup correctly on Orbi. Once completed, Check mark the Enable SSID (5G) box to put the Orbi back in normal operation.
Good Luck.
RBR50 - FW 2.5.1.8
Difficult to configure IoT Smart Home devices with 2.4 GHz only device limitations without more intuitive control over 5 GHz radio. Disabling 5 GHz SSID broadcast does not defeat iPhone from making 5 GHz connection. Using Telnet to set 5 GHz SSID (wla_ssid) different from 2.4 GHz SSID (wl_ssid) gets undone by Orbi within some seconds, so both radios use the wl_ssid label after brief period of broadcasting the different wla_sid label.
Workaround relying on more attenution from walls, etc., of 5 GHz (with 25% power and short preamble) relative to 2.4 GHz was tough when configuring Wifi doorbell because router and modem are also immovable. Spent hours to find a sweet spot to connect phone to 2.4 that would not switch to 5 when getting back to the front door. Could not connect phone standing at front door, but once connected it stayed after getting back to front door. This was more like black magic than reasoned engineering. Netgear can offer a better solution.
Simply not required - these IoT junk makers must fix their crappy discovery tools. Leave negative feedback on the seller and e-tailer sites, Amazon et all, and on the Apple App Store, Google Play, and the Amazon Appstore. Can't be difficult to remove the check if the mobile is connected to the 2.4 GHz, and allow continuation.
Other major Mesh device vendors like Eero or Google/Nest intentionally don't support such controls either - simply to avoid the negative impact on the user experience.
For the very same reason, virtually all WiFi client drivers, mobile and desktop computers, tablets, phones don't have a control to force the usage of either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz only, too.Ref. the original subject to allow turning off one or the other radio interface: Some Orbi models share the same interface for the backhaul.
