Raxe500 wifi6e 6ghz network invisible to s21 ultra

[CallIGARO]

Hi as the title says I am unable to see or connect to the 6ghz wifi. I've used their smart connect and also ungrouped so all 2.4 5 and 6 broadcast their ssids. I can't see any settings to tune in the Samsung device. Any ideas?

[plemans]

What firmware is on the Raxe500?

How far from the router is the s21? 6e is only approved in a low power indoor mode and it drastically decreases distance it broadcasts. 

[CallIGARO]

1.0.1.5.2

As close as 2 feet from the router.

Thanks for the reply

[plemans]

Its a tough one. Because it could be the phone or the router. 

Do you have another 6e device you could test with? 

Have you tried a factory reset on the router? 

[CallIGARO]

It's pretty much out of the box. Turned on odfma on 6ghz and changed its channel

[plemans]

try it with the router at its defaults. (other than disable smart connect)

[CallIGARO]

So I factory reset the router and the phone still could not see the 6ghz band. The router itself does have the 6ghz led on.

I've then played with settings different channels for the 6ghz band, turned off wpa3 , open etc. No change

[CallIGARO]

Even the nighthawk apps wifi analytics module doesn' event have the option to filter or scan the 6ghz band only 2.4 and 5

[plemans]

I've got the RAXE500 and the built in app doesn't show it for me either. But my AX210 shows it. 

I haven't found a scanning program yet that's integrated 6E into it yet. 

So its tough to know if its a phone or a router issue. 

[Razor512]

Strange, the RAXE500 hhas a functioning 6GHz band and it works pretty well, though range is heavily limited due to the unreasonable FCC limits. Basically they impose a PSD requirement where APs are limited to 250mW and client devices are limited to 127mW depending on the noise floor. If possible, give the 6GHz band a different name, and then see if it shows up in the WiFi list. Also keep in mind that none of the major WiFi scanner apps are 6GHz aware, thus they will either not display the SSID, or they will strangely on the 5GHz band but have a lot of weird values.

[Razor512]

Forgot to add, alsomake sure the 6GHz radio is set to use a "PSC" channel. Those are listed as preferred scanning channels where many client devices are set to scan them during their normal roaming scans, which speeds the scan time by minimicing how many channels are actually being scanned.

I have not had a chance to use that smartphone, thus I am unsure if it will manually scan the non PSC channels, or if they have it set to just look at the PSC channels.

With smart connect enabled, you should still be able to change the SSID of just the 6GHz band since it is not included in the smart connect algorithm at the moment.

[CallIGARO]

Thanks for that tried it on both the 6ghz with a name change channel 37 psc and on the guest network. Didn't help :-/🌧️

[Christian_R]

Hi CaIIlGARO,

Thanks for posting your experience with the RAXE500. I'd like to assist with the issue(s) you maybe experiencing. I have sent you a private message. 

Regards,

Christian 

[Altsai]

While checking 6G SSID, did you disable S21 5G LTE signaling?

[CallIGARO]

Just tried with mobile networks switched off and also just on 2G/3G. No change

[Razor512]

I wonder, do you have any laptops or desktop PCs, with an Intel AX210, or the Killer AX1675 (rebranded AX210) WiFi adapter?

If so, then you can use winfi to check if the 6GHz band is functioning, but part of the info will be erroneous since no current WiFi scanning app has full 6E support, and the current service pack for Windows 10 has not enabled full WPA 3 on the 6GHz band yet.

[CallIGARO]

Unfortunately not. I'll try anything else suggested here.
Netgear Support now have my router config file for review. Will post back here on the outcome of troubleshooting in that front

[mploc1]

So this is unaceptable.  What did they beta test the router with, since the Samsung s21 Ultra is the only dang device that fully supports wifi 6e?

[CallIGARO]

Netgear support have said the 6ghz band is not available in Australia as it is not approved for use. So that leaves me with

- the router was imported from the USA....so it should broadcast 6ghz

-the ultra phone is an au model. So 6ghz may be disabled. Can not confirm this

[Razor512]

I had a look at the regulations to see if AU has approved the 6GHz band for WiFi use, and it seems that their government has not even started looking into it.

The UK as well as the EU are currently going through the approval process for the 6GHz band, but has not approved of it yet. So far it seems that only the US has done what is effectively a partial approval where transmit power is more heavily restricted (250mw for the AP and 127mw for client devices).

Overall, it seems like over time, the FCC may loosen up on the arbitrary restrictions, and other countries will have their own approvals.

I never considered the government regulation side of things since for decades, the FCC has been slow to ease up on restrictions compared to other parts of the world, but it seems in this case, the FCC ended up being first to allow that spectrum to be used for WiFi.

[CallIGARO]

Hi Razor - I wonder whether these bands can interfere with equipment....seems like a long red tape road ahead

[Razor512]

While I am unsure how other countries seek to approach it, in the US they have used 3 methods detailed in their report. https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-363490A1.pdf

The first is just harsh and unnecesary blanket transmit power limits. 250mw for APs and 127mw for clients (can be lower if SDP detects a noise floor allowing for a 3dB or so SNR above the detected noise floor).

The second method is allowing for proper transmit power using AFC 36 dBm for the AP (3981 mW), and 30 dBm for the client (1000 mW). When AFC starts being implemented, it will use the AP's location and check with a list of registered commercial point to point microwave links in the area, and if no one in range of you us using the channel, then you will have access to even better transmit power for the AP than even the 5GHz band.

The 3rd is designating certain channels for indoor use only. The transmit power for the AP is limited to an overall max of 30dBm (1000mW), but they add a further arbitrary limitation of 5 dBm/MHz, thus at 160MHz channel width, you would effectively be limited to 505mW, though it is not clear if that more recently change limit requires AFC indoors, or if it can be used without needing AFC.

Clients in that mode are limited to an overall max of 24dBm (251 mW) and a unreasonably low -1dBm/MHz which makes for a 127Mw transmit power limit at 160MHz channel width.

The rules are likely to change over time, especially if another major country approves the 6GHz band for WiFi use and decided to not be overly restrictive about it, then that may convince the FCC to be more reasonable.

[ChaosTechNet]

I am literally having the same problem. I have a USA Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. I was able to connect to the 6Ghz for about an hour. Then my router shut itself off and rebooted and I cant even see the 6Ghz SSID anymore. I have literally tried everything. WTF is going on? There is no fix for this?

[Christian_R]

Hello ChaosTechNet, 

I have responded to the separate thread you posted. 

Regards,

Christian 

[lifengine]

the same issue. Does anyone have any idea?