Re: Using devices that require 2.4ghz on Orbi

ncrich · ‎2018-12-30

@jescott3 wrote:

I have an Ambient Weather Osprey WS-2902 system, an Orbi Router with 2 satellites, and an Apple iPad Mini and iPhone 5S. When the turn-off-5 GHz-SSID-broadcast trick didn't work, I then turned the 5 GHz power down to 25% and voila!, the WS-2902 connected immediately to the Internet. The amazing thing was, everything was within 6 feet of the Orbi router in my office when it happened.

I installed an Orbi to replace my daughter's netgear router (6320 I think). Her other devices like sonos, nest camera, etc worked fine but could not connect filimin lamp since it will only work on 2.4 GHz and cannot connect to 5 GHz Orbi due to sharing same SSID between both bands. After reading this post we reduced the 5 GHz transmit power level to 25% and the filimin connected with no problems. Thanks for the suggestion. It's good to be back in her good graces again.

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-12-30

Glad it worked and things are working again.

Enjoy.

@ncrich wrote:

@jescott3 wrote:

I have an Ambient Weather Osprey WS-2902 system, an Orbi Router with 2 satellites, and an Apple iPad Mini and iPhone 5S. When the turn-off-5 GHz-SSID-broadcast trick didn't work, I then turned the 5 GHz power down to 25% and voila!, the WS-2902 connected immediately to the Internet. The amazing thing was, everything was within 6 feet of the Orbi router in my office when it happened.

I installed an Orbi to replace my daughter's netgear router (6320 I think). Her other devices like sonos, nest camera, etc worked fine but could not connect filimin lamp since it will only work on 2.4 GHz and cannot connect to 5 GHz Orbi due to sharing same SSID between both bands. After reading this post we reduced the 5 GHz transmit power level to 25% and the filimin connected with no problems. Thanks for the suggestion. It's good to be back in her good graces again.

ncrich · ‎2018-12-30

Glad to hear that. Most devices connect but a few cannot. Depends on the particular device.

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-12-31

IT does, some devices may or may not meet or be compatible with Orib or MESH networks. IT's up to the devices Mfr to ensure that they are compatible and can work well with most wifi networks.

ncrich · ‎2018-12-31

A bit dificult to accomplish since the device is many years older than the Orbi router. It worked fine with the Netgear AC1700 6320 dual band router so it seems that Netgear Orbi is not backwards compatible as one would expect in the industry.

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-12-31

Thats the thing though. As time goes on, wifi and specs and the HW get updated or improved while older HW doesn't and development stops on older HW. Thus changes made for the newer or incoming HW, probably makes the older HW not as compatible anymore. Of course the NG 6320 worked, probably in same development cycle and timeframe as the older HW. This is the other issue. Legacy HW will probaby be more problematic gong forward, working with newer generation wifi. Mfrs set a time frame of development and keeping there products up to date, then they stop giving a End Of Life status at some point. This is industry wide.

ncrich · ‎2018-12-31

I retired from the commercial software industry where backwards compatibility was a paramount consideration and demanded by commercial customers. I believe that the 802.11 standards also require backwards compatibility. Without it progress would create chaos.

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-12-31

Maybe what were seeing here is a bit less of it. I'm seeing issues with DFS on some of my legacy wifi devices that never had DFS support. Now new wifi supports it however it's all automatic and I can't disable it. This renders my older wifi devices usless on some wifi I have. I don't see any backwards compatibility consideration here.

schumaku · ‎2018-12-31

@ncrich wrote:
I installed an Orbi to replace my daughter's netgear router (6320 I think). Her other devices like sonos, nest camera, etc worked fine but could not connect filimin lamp since it will only work on 2.4 GHz and cannot connect to 5 GHz Orbi ...

A 2.4 GHz only device does not care about the 5 GHz network, regardless if it's the same or a different SSID.

The previous poster Ambient Weather WS-2902A Smart WiFi Weather Station as well as the Filimin lights work on 2.4 GHz only. These devices have no problems if there are 5 GHz, 60 GHz, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, or whatever in the air.

@ncrich wrote:
...due to sharing same SSID between both bands. After reading this post we reduced the 5 GHz transmit power level to 25% and the filimin connected with no problems.

Again, no!

Some smart-a** IoT installation programs do ugly things - that's the problem. If whatever installer App does check if the mobile is connected to a 5 GHz or a 2.4 GHz and does error-out if the client is associated to a 5 GHz network it's not a router problem: Not a problem if the same SSID on all radios. Not an Orbi problem. Not any other WiFi router problem. Not any wireless access point. Not even the IoT device problem - which can perfectly communicate with the Orbi 2.4 GHz once configured, even if it is implemented in an earlier 802.11 standard.There is absolutely nothing wrong with using the same SSID to connect to the same network. Regardless how many wireless access points and radios are in the game - it is the same L2 network.

jbahlman · ‎2018-12-31

The issue is the device you are connecting to the weather station with needs to be connected to the wifi via 2.4ghz or it can't give the settings to the weather station. If you turn off the 5ghz or just connect to the 2.4ghz then it will work.

schumaku · ‎2018-12-31

@jbahlman wrote:

The issue is the device you are connecting to the weather station with needs to be connected to the wifi via 2.4ghz or it can't give the settings to the weather station. If you turn off the 5ghz or just connect to the 2.4ghz then it will work.

The weather station does give a s**t about the AP 5 GHz - it does operate on 2.4 GHz ONLY. As such it can only work with the 2.4 GHz radio. So why bother switching off 5 GHz please? The answer is because some ***** discovery Apps. Not because of the same SSID on all Orbi radios. Complain to the markers of these toys.

michaelkenward · ‎2019-01-01

@schumaku wrote:

The answer is because some ***** discovery Apps. Not because of the same SSID on all Orbi radios. Complain to the markers of these toys.

Dead right there.

It seems that too many of these devices come with installation and control apps that can't get their act together when faced with 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz wifi.

The hardware works at 2.4 GHz and is blissfully ignorant about even the possibility of 5 GHz. Unfortunately, the installation apps are on devices that do know about 5 GHz. The apps should still be able to get the hardware to connect even when they are on a 5 GHz connection, but that seems to be beyond the wit of the app writers.

Turning off the 5 GHz has nothing to do with communication between trhe hardware and the wifi. It is all about the connection between the setup app and the wifi.

The bit of problem that is unique to Orbi is that it is not as easy to disable 5 GHz as it is on other routers.

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-01-01

Also disabling the 5Ghz radio seems to be hiding the fact the this seems to place blame on the MESH router Mfr rather then having the device Mfr take resposibillity for there product and handling of it to ensure there product works on ALL wifi routers, regardless of MESH or NOT. Think router Mfr should push back on device Mfrs more and stop passing the buck. Stop blaming the router mfr for the device mfr bad development and handing of there products.