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How to connect 2.4GHZ Devices
I just bought few smart plugs. But they only connect to 2.4 Ghz. How do i add them to my home network as they will not show up in App on my phone for a setup. I have a good coverage in my house so mo...
Kcobra1 wrote:I just bought few smart plugs. But they only connect to 2.4 Ghz. How do i add them to my home network as they will not show up in App on my phone for a setup. I have a good coverage in my house so most of the time phone is on 5Ghz.
While the smartphone apps for many (most?) Internet of Things (IoT) devices are able to deal with "mesh" WiFi networks, there are some which are poorly written and simply fail to work when the smartphone is connected at 5G. What has worked for many people (including me) is this:
- Access the Orbi web interface (http://orbilogin.net) using the admin credentials user "admin" and the Orbi router password (not the WiFi password)
- Navigate to the Advanced Tab, Advanced Settings, Wireless Settings
- Uncheck the box "Broadcast SSID on 5G Channel"
This will not affect any devices which are currently attached to the Orbi at 5G. - On the smartphone settings, "forget" the Orbi WiFi
- Search for WiFi networks and select the Orbi WiFi
- Enter the WiF password and connect
- At this point, open the IoT app and go through the steps
- After the device is connected, reverse the steps
Check the box "Broadcast SSID"
"Forget Orbi WiFi"
Search for and connect.
This sounds like a lot of work, but doesn't take very long.
p.s. "Poorly written" may seem harsh, but GEEZ. My TP-Link, Belkin, Eufy, Teckin (and other) smart plugs connected immediately. I have only had one that required the above steps. For one plug, I simply ignored the warnings "MUST connect to w.4G" and kept hitting "Continue" until it worked. "TAKE THAT!", I said.
bad_guy wrote:
The answer to this will not make you happy, but users need to know this when considering purchase of an Orbi system or when tearing their hair out because most (if not all) of their smart devices cannot be connected or configured on the network.
This has not been my experience, nor does it appear that most Orbi customers face such issues, nor are the issues that do come up unique to Orbi.
- Aside from one smart plug, every 2.4G device that I have wanted to connect simply connected. From the original Nest thermostat to the latest smart plugs, window blind controllers, inexpensive security cameras, etc. They all connected. Only one time did I have to disable the 5G signal (which cannot be done on any of the newer Orbi systems, not even the 960 series).
- If every Orbi customer could not connect most of the IoT things they bought, there would be so many complaints that Amazon, Best Buy, Costco and the forums would be overwhelmed. Seriously, if nearly every system sold failed to connect IoT gizmos, all of those outlets would stop selling Orbi. I would also expect to see reviewers blasting the product, "Avoid this like the plague because no IoT things you buy will connect to it!"
bad_guy wrote:
If none of these power adjustment settings tweaks work, then you are at the end. There is no access to a finer level of control. You can't turn off the 5.0ghz radio, or split the networks and give 2.4ghz a different name, nor do you have any settings that can force devices onto the 2.4ghz band that you need.
Not exactly "at the end". The technique of temporarily creating a cell phone Hot Spot on the 2.4G band works not only with Orbi, but with any brand of mesh WiFi that is incompatible with the smartphone app for a specific device. (Not the device; the app.)
This is not to absolve Netgear. It would have been nearly trivial to keep the option to disable broadcasting the 5G SSID (or even add an option to turn the radio off entirely).
I can't speak to what "most customers experience" (and I didn't say that), nor do I think anyone who isn't handling complaints and returns for Netgear has any better knowledge. I do know that I have seen hundreds of people asking the questions and complaining about it online after I experienced the problems myself and went searching for a solution (including on this community forum). And I can only tell you what the Netgear ProSupport agents have told me, which is that the reason the feature exists on the 960 is because not being able to connect smart devices on the consumer Orbi products was the number one complaint and support issue they have to handle due to removing some simple features that have always been there in previous generations of routers. There are even magazine columnists who've reported on how angry users have been that these features were deleted.
I don't think it matters whether it's most customers, but it does matter that if you have this problem, it will affect almost all smart devices in your home. I can't reconnect a video doorbell, a smartlock, or some smart lights, and I spent at least 4 hours troubleshooting with a support rep to try to make it work. But there are probably a good number of customers who haven't tried yet, so we also don't know whether they'll eventually encounter it. Besides, if the number is only 5%, that's too high, but I'd wager that it's actually between 10-30%, and maybe higher. And, when you've purchased one of the most expensive consumer network products on the market, you simply don't expect this kind of headache, or to need to return it because of bad engineering design decisions.
There ARE Orbi products that do connect, in particular, the business line of the same routers. But unfortunately, one doesn't automatically assume that the business product would be the better choice for home use, especially when the Netgear site steers you away from that line, and the presales engineers tell you a particular product is best for you based on the questions they've asked you, and they explain their reasoning. In fact, when I discovered that the business version of the same product did not have this issue, I went back to Netgear and asked them to explain the differences between the two products, but no one on either the business or consumer side of the house could tell me anything about the product they didn't sell, and that in itself is a problem, because they can't truly recommend the best solution for your needs if they don't know. From what I've found out, my suspicion is that almost everyone would be better off buying the business product, which offers more control and more configurability, and is offered at a lower price.
Regarding temporarily creating a hotspot on the 2.4ghz band, that assumes you are paying your phone service for hotspot functionality, and forcing 2.4 is only supported by some phones. Sadly, my phone is two years old, and doesn't have this feature. And, if it did, it would not be on the same network (SSID) which is a requirement for most apps. Yes, I know that it's a lazy programming decision by the app writers, but that doesn't make it work.
Not that most readers will care about this, but this was a deliberate and bad engineering design decision. I was told this is the way the consumer products were designed to work, to be simpler. But taking away features that are needed to accomplish common tasks that the sweet spot of your market wants/needs does not make the product simpler, but actually accomplishes exactly the opposite, and is extremely frustrating. The assumption is that we're all dumb users who can't find the "on" switch, and who will be intimidated by a button which lets you turn off the 5ghz radio, or to specify that my phone NEEDS to connect to 2.4. But for some really bad design choices, all of this would be dead simple to do, like almost everything else with Orbi is.
Not only would it have been nearly trivial (which I told them myself), it was actually more work to remove the feature than to have left it alone, and if you've already created a feature to attenuate the radio to 25%, how difficult can it be to add 0% at the bottom of the list of choices?