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Forum Discussion
Separate network with conflict channel
I need to separate the 2.5ghz and the 6ghz since I have some devices/printers that have trouble connecting when both bands share the same SSID. Since the MK83 does not support separating the SSIDs of the two bands, so I enabled the "Customized Wifi Network", which creates another SSID apart from the main network. However, I noticed the router would create the separate netework on the same channel as my main network. I tried rebooting the routers and both networks are always on the same channel. (auto selected) Isn't this a faulty design? Why would the custom network be using the same channel as the main network? It is conflicting with itself.
I have the latest firmaware v1.1.7.14.
3 Replies
I presume you mean separate 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz? The MK80 series doesn't support 6Ghz. The 90 series does.
I believe the customize network doesn't allow for use of different channels. 2.4Ghz should be on channels 1 thru 11 and 5Ghz should be on 36 thru 48. Separate SSID names will be using same channels.
Key limitation is the requirement that the 6 GHz WiFi must be WPA3(-Personal/-SAE), while the 2.4 and 5 GHz band can be operated either in WPA3(-Personal/-SAE), or WPA2(-Personal), or WPA3(-Personal/-SAE)/WPA2(-Personal) mixed mode. Not sure I have the full picture here: Some wireless devices don't like the co-existence of an SSID on different bands, with different security settings (like WPA2/WPA3 mixed) on 2.4 and 5 GHz and the mandatory WPA3 on 6 GHz - these show some odd warnings then at least.
Because of the MK8x system with it's MR80 router and one or more MS80 satellites, and it's design as a wireless Mesh, the 5 GHz and the 2.4 GHz is fixed for the Mesh usage (why ever not the 6 GHz band due to the shorter possible physical reach I've learned, blame me - I'm an managed and SMB network person), these two channels must be the same on the router and the satellites to operate the wireless backhaul - regardless if there is a wired backhaul plugged. This applies to all tri-band Nighthawk Mesh systems, and also to all tri-band and quad-band Orbi Mesh systems. Each radio is set to a defined set of channels, and it can operate only in one band each.
What we can configure in ADVANCED > Advanced Setup > Customize WiFi Network are just additional SSIDs, operated on the same radios. This feature is a result of a more than a decade old complaint that certain 2.4 GHZ-only IoT can't be discovered while the wireless client (mobile phone or tablet with the IoT App) is associated to the (in general preferred) 5 GHz band.
Hope this explains things a little bit better.
cpthk wrote:
I need to separate the 2.5ghz and the 6ghz since I have some devices/printers that have trouble connecting when both bands share the same SSID.
Which printer is this, how are you trying to connect to it, and from what?
Printers turn up here often. Rarely do they need any faffing around with wifi bands. You just have to go about it in the right way.
Sadly, the people who make printers are often hopeless so it is no surprise that people have problems that lead them to blame their routers for these issues.
The usual way to fix wifi printers is to find the printer maker's utility, the software that runs on your operating system. Then use that to connect the printer to the wifi.
The router just broadcasts wifi. It is then down to the printer to play ball. There isn't much that you can do on a router, beyond fixing it to a particular IP address, that affects what the printer gets up to.
Where possible, using the WPS feature can simplify things.
