Separate WiFi 2.4 and 5ghz bands

[sclawrenc]

I am no longer able to separate my WiFi bands on the most recent Orbi firmware versions. It worked for over a year fine, but after updating firmware they are no longer separate.

I have tried the Telnet method, but the change doesn’t stick after the router reboots.

How can I separate these?

If not possible, how can I submit a request for this feature?

Thanks!

[FURRYe38]

NG doesn't support separation of the SSID names. Never have and probably won't. You can temporary disable the SSID broadcast on each radio for easier support and setup of 2.4Ghz wifi client devices. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

The Orbi is desgined and intended for signal SSID name use. It does work as intended.

[sclawrenc]

That’s too bad. Can they not allow that in the settings for the many many users that want to separate them?

I purchased the Orbi because I knew of the separate 2.4 and 5ghz telnet solution. I used it this way perfectly for about a year. It no longer works and now I’m not nearly as happy with my Orbi.

Specifically, my 4K media devices will connect to the 2.5 band now instead of the 5 band which causes buffering and downgraded video. I never had this problem when I could separate the bands and decide what band my devices connected to.

[FURRYe38]

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.

What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

Try disabling the following and see:
Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).

[Retired_Member]

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@sclawrenc wrote:
I am no longer able to separate my WiFi bands on the most recent Orbi firmware versions. It worked for over a year fine, but after updating firmware they are no longer separate.


How did that happen?

[Retired_Member]

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@FURRYe38 wrote:

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.

What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

Try disabling the following and see:
Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).

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This is too funny.  You've already told the OP that separate bands are not supported.  

[sclawrenc]

I recently noticed that the firmware on my Orbi satellite and router weren’t in sync. I also noticed strange behavior in the app with the satellite going in and out of connection, however everything was working fine so it was just an issue with the app.

I decided to do a manual firmware update of the satellite and the router. I then did a factory reset and then tried to separate the SSIDs, but every time the ssid would change back to a single after the Orbi reboots. The telnet solution doesn’t seem to work with the new firmware unless I’m missing something.

[FURRYe38]

Maybe try some of the suggestions and see if they might help you with the single SSID name. 

Give us some feed back so we may help you trobleshoot this. 

Maybe we can help you get the Orib working for you in it's intended operation.

Is there a reason why your wanting separate SSID names? The Orbi works with signle SSID name operation. Granted there are some 2.4Ghz IoT device setup software that seems to give users hassles. Most of this can be fixed by disalbing the 5Ghz SSID broadcast while you set up the 2.4Ghz devices. 

Possible that NG is closing the unsupported telnet configuration...

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@sclawrenc wrote:
I recently noticed that the firmware on my Orbi satellite and router weren’t in sync. I also noticed strange behavior in the app with the satellite going in and out of connection, however everything was working fine so it was just an issue with the app.

I decided to do a manual firmware update of the satellite and the router. I then did a factory reset and then tried to separate the SSIDs, but every time the ssid would change back to a single after the Orbi reboots. The telnet solution doesn’t seem to work with the new firmware unless I’m missing something.

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[sclawrenc]

I have some 4K streaming devices that I want to ensure connects only to the 5 ghz band even if the signal strength is better on the 2.4ghz band. The 5ghz band is still much faster even if the signal isn’t as strong as the 2.4ghz band.

[FURRYe38]

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.

What is the distance between the Orbi system and these streaming devies? 

What are these streaming devices? Mfr and model? 

What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings
Do you have many "old" wifi devices at home? Devices that only support 802.11n, g, and b but not ac?

If yes then Implicit Beamforming can be disabled, is a feature intended to support older devices that does not support Explicit Beamforming (which is part of 802.11AC standard). If you have many of such devices at home then the other devices will be negatively affected by this directive broadcasting of the router.

Try disabling the following and see:
Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).

[sclawrenc]

My point is the Orbi works great for me as long as I can determine the band my devices connect to. Keep in mind all of the potential camera and baby monitor traffic as well as the microwave oven interference that all happens on the 2.4ghz band.
Just because the 2.4ghz signal is stronger doesn’t mean it’s faster!

[ekhalil]

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@sclawrenc wrote:
I have some 4K streaming devices that I want to ensure connects only to the 5 ghz band even if the signal strength is better on the 2.4ghz band. The 5ghz band is still much faster even if the signal isn’t as strong as the 2.4ghz band.

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@sclawrenc You have the following options:

1. Try hiding the SSID on the 2.4 GHz band using the Orbi web GUI under the advanced wireless settings. This won't work with smart phones but will work with most of IoT devices that will not see the complete band if it has hidden SSID.
2. Another option -not recommended- is to completely disable the 2.4 GHz band in the Orbi Router and/or one or all of the Satellites. You need telnet commands for this that I can help you with.

[FURRYe38]

Have you disabled the 2.4Ghz SSID broadcast temporarily under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings. This would be a simple way to get what you need directed to 5Ghz. 

Speeds are based on the client connection rate as well. 2.4ghz on Orbi does support up to 866Mbps so the pipe is there for fast speeds. Not all 2.4Ghz clients support those speeds. 

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@sclawrenc wrote:
My point is the Orbi works great for me as long as I can determine the band my devices connect to. Keep in mind all of the potential camera and baby monitor traffic as well as the microwave oven interference that all happens on the 2.4ghz band.
Just because the 2.4ghz signal is stronger doesn’t mean it’s faster!

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[sclawrenc]

I understand what your are saying.

My point to all of this is when I am able to choose what bad my devices connect to, everything works fantastic. As soon as I was forced to only have one ssid for both bands, I noticed slow downs on some of my devices. I can no longer separate my ssid per band after a recent firmware update took away that ability. If I change via telnet now, it goes back to a single ssid on Orbi reboot.

[FURRYe38]

Do you have MIMO enable when using a single SSID name? Some older devices may not support MIMO thus not behave well when it's enabled on the RBR. Might disable this and see if this helps any. 

Did you do a "commit" in telnet to save the changes? I think this is needed to retain changes in telnet.

[sclawrenc]

The devices in question are newer and fully support ac.

I did do the commit but reverts back after reboot.

Thanks.

[FURRYe38]

Supports AC is fine however they may not support MIMO which is a different feature that not all AC supporting devices may support. Just trying to confirm this. Somethign to ask the Mfr of these devices? 

What are these devices that your having issues with? Phones, Pads? 

[sclawrenc]

To be honest, the issues are not to prevalent. It only happens sometime but that is more than I used to split the ssid per band. Mainly it’s streaming 4K or other higher bandwidth that I notice the issue if it presents.

I really appreciate your time and effort, but I really just want the ability to split the bands. If not, I will have to look at other alternatives or try some other tweaking to the Orbi such as what you’ve mentioned. The Roku streaming stick + refuses to stay on the 5 ghz band. It is in 2.4 all the time even with router or satellite in the next room. If I had to point to one device frustrating me, it would be the Roku.

[FURRYe38]

Even if near a wifi singal, if the device is changing to 2.4Ghz, then this maybe a device issue rather then Orbi. Seems like the Roku is not handling the SSID frequencies well for some reason and just defaults to 2.4Ghz. This would be someting to approch Roku about and ask them if they have any information or experiences with there products running on Orib systems with single SSID names. Ask them why there product is changing to 2.4Ghz from 5Ghz while near a wifi single. 

I would try some of the suggestions and see if it helps. If this only seems to be one of a few devcies that has issues, I would approach the Mfrs about this. They should be made aware of this. You maybe just hidding a problem that maybe a device issue rather then a Orbi one. 

[sclawrenc]

Thanks.

I will contact Roku although I still wish I could separate the ssid per band. 🙂

[jshrek]

So I have just updated my Orbi Router (RBR50) and Satellite (RBS50) to the latest firmware (on October 6, 2019) which is v2.3.5.30

(Note: I had to manually update the Satellite firmware because it would not auto update.)

I changed the SSID for 2G and 5G without any issues and the changes did stick after reboot and it works fine.

One thing to make sure is that you are telnetting into the Router and not the Satellite. The settings in the Router will propogte to the Satellite, so using telnet to change settings in the Satellite (I know because I tried it) will cause it either (1) not work properly, or (2) get reset to the settings that are in the Router.

Reminder for telnet settings changes to stick, you would do the following:

telnet 192.168.1.1

config set wl_ssid='New_SSID_2G'

config set wla_ssid='New_SSID_5G'

config commit

reboot

[notepro]

I am also running the v2.3.5.30 firmware on the RBR40 Orbi setup and have tried to separate the 2.4 and 5 bands multiple times with no success.  When I telnet in and check the SSID names, they are different, even after a reboot.  But it is only broadcasting the 2.4 SSID and devices on my network are connecting to that SSID at the 5ghz speed.  It doesn't make any sense.  Any ideas?

[SW_]

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@notepro wrote:

I am also running the v2.3.5.30 firmware on the RBR40 Orbi setup and have tried to separate the 2.4 and 5 bands multiple times with no success.  When I telnet in and check the SSID names, they are different, even after a reboot.  But it is only broadcasting the 2.4 SSID and devices on my network are connecting to that SSID at the 5ghz speed.  It doesn't make any sense.  Any ideas?

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Yeah - You're not alone seeing this problem with these later firmware iterations.  It seems that NG has already begun to lockdown custom configs.  I also have a need for separate WiFi/SSIDs and my solution is Guest Network, which still works with the latest FW v2.5.1.8 on RBK53.  If you must have separate WiFi/SSIDs, you can look into these options and see which one will work for you.

1. Revert to an older firmware version prior to lockdown
2. Take advantage and enable separate WiFi/SSIDs on Guest Network

Check out this post on how to separate WiFi for 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands on Guest Network. 

Good Luck!

[notepro]

So basically the workaround is to separate the 2.4 and 5 bands on the Satelittes instead of the main Orbi router? Then connect the device that I want on the 5ghz band to the new SSID given off from the Satelittes I just changed?

[SW_]

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@notepro wrote:

So basically the workaround is to separate the 2.4 and 5 bands on the Satelittes instead of the main Orbi router? Then connect the device that I want on the 5ghz band to the new SSID given off from the Satelittes I just changed?

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Exactly.  

Think of Guest Network as the new Main Network with these benefits:

• The ability to separate WiFi bands
• Force devices to connect to closet Router or Satellite
• Isolating IoT traffics
• Etc.,