ORBI RBR50

[SohCho]

Hi All, need some help here.  I am trying to split the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channels.

I telnet into the router and successfully am able to do this.  After the router reboots I can see the 5GHz channel.  But about 5 minutes later it quietly disappears and reverts to just the one SSID.  Any help would be great.  I'm surprised Netgear refuses to address this issue and insists on only having on SSID on their ORBI router.

Thanks

[CrimpOn]

There are some really long posts about splitting the SSID's.  Buried in them (somewhere) are discussions about how to make the change "persist". Good luck finding the right one.

If it's not too personal, would you share the reason for wanting to do this?

[SohCho]

When I use a device in a specific room in a corner of my house in the basement of always connect using 2.4GHz with really weak signal and sometimes even dropping. I don't know why it won't switch over to the 5GHz band. If I separate these then I can atleast explicitly use the 5GHz channel.

[CrimpOn]

Conventional thinking is the 5G signals do not propogate as far as 2.4G signals, so trying to connect at 5G when 2.4G is weak is doomed.

One easy test is to use a WiFi signal Analyzer app on Windows or Android to look at the signal strength of the Orbi channels. The Orbi SSID should appear two times for each Orbi unit. (once on a 2.4G channel and once on a 5G channel). It might be worth a few minutes to confirm that the assumption of 5G being "better" is correct.

Is it only one device that does this? Do other devices connect automatically at 5G?

[SohCho]

Yes, I tested with multiple devices and same result. Also tested with another router and 5GHz works just fine. Just not 2.4FHz.
This only happens in this specific corner of the house, which also unfortunately happens to be my home office too.

[CrimpOn]

Hmmm.  Did the other router have exactly the same SSID/password as the Orbi?

The reason I ask is my cell phone is "willful".  If I tell Orbi to stop "Broadcasting" the 5G SSID.  Disconnect from Orbi and then reconnect, the phone goes right back on 5G.  I have to not only disconnect, but "forget" the Orbi. Then I search for WiFi and the phone finds the 2.4G SSID and connects.

I wonder, has this device "forgotten" the Orbi SSID and then searched for WiFi again?

[michaelkenward]

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@CrimpOn wrote:
Conventional thinking is the 5G signals do not propogate as far as 2.4G signals...

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I thought it was more a case of the laws of physics rather than "thinking".

[michaelkenward]

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@SohCho wrote:
Yes, I tested with multiple devices and same result. Also tested with another router and 5GHz works just fine. Just not 2.4FHz.
This only happens in this specific corner of the house, which also unfortunately happens to be my home office too.

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Have you tried different channels for 2.4 GHz? As @CrimpOn says, messing around with 5 GHz isn't likely to succeed.

As this is a crucial part of the house, I would avoid messing around with solutions that break the Mesh technology. If the stuff in the office is fixed, a PC for example, then it might be more reliable to abandon wifi in favour of something like Powerline Ethernet to turn the mains  circuit into a wired network. You can even get Powerline with a remote plug that doubles as a wireless access point (AP).