Connect device to 2.45 ghz

[sonny41]

I am trying to setup a device - that needs to be setup in 2.45 ghz. At the same time my cellphone needs to be connected to the 2.45 ghz connection as well. Our wifi connection appears to be running on 5 ghz only. Is there any way for me to switch to the 2.45 ghz for setup and connect back to 5 ghz?

Thanks!

[Chuck_M]

The underlying issue is that with a single SSID covering both 2.4 and 5g networks, your phone would rather go with 5g since it is faster.

One technique is to trick your phone into joining 2.4 by making that wireless network seem more clear.

Using the web gui, go to ADVANCED tab then ADVANCED SETUP on left then WIRELESS.

Try temporarily reducing the power settings of the 5g network to 25% while you set up your device on the 2.4g network

This presumes your new device is a distance away from the router and your phone will want to join the 2.4g network rather than the 5g network.

Get as far away from your router as possible but still close to device you want to configure.

Set up your device

Restore your 5g network settings to 100%

[CrimpOn]

If you wouldn't mind, it would be helpful to know which specific device and smartphone you are having trouble with.  New "Internet of Things" devices are coming out every day and some manufacturers have created smartphone apps which struggle with mesh networks, such as Asus Lyra, Google WiFi, Linksys Velop, Netgear Orbi, TP-Link Deco, etc..  At this time, it is not entirely clear whether the flaws affect all smartphones, or only some.  (For example, last week we had a report that one brand of Italian heater with WiFi controls is easy to configure using an iPhone but struggles with Android.)  We also hear of specific Android phones either working or not working on specific products.

If your phone still connects to 5G even after reducing the power to 25%, there is a way to telnet into the Orbi and set the power as low as 1%.  Pretty much guarantees that your phone will prefer the 2.4G network.

Just to confirm: you posed this question in the forum because you tried to set up the device, could not make the app work, and found that they said not that "the device requires a 2.5G WiFi network", but that "the phone must be connected to the 2.4G WiFi network that the device will use."