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Rogers combine dual band wireless into one ssid

7K views 15 replies 7 participants last post by  JamesK 
#1 · (Edited)
I used the Rogers CGN modem with 150/15 plan. I used the gateway mode which used to have 2 wireless bands (2.4 and 5 G) with 2 ssid . Yesterday, when I opened my pc, there is a message that Rogers has combined the dual band (2.4 G and 5 G) into one ssid . While this works for most of my Apple iPhones , but I have a iPad (3rd gen, I think), it connects to the modem, but the connection is intermittent. Not only that, the speed has reverted to 2.4 G. Before this change, my older iPad was using 5G. I have not called Rogers yet, but want to know if any of you have run into this situation.
It seems that my iPad is on the 2.4 g ssid but continues to try to connect to the 5 g ssid
 
#4 ·
Thanks James and 57. Yes, it seems to be bandsteering. I found out that my wife’s older laptop had a speed of 15/5. My Sony viao laptop used to connect to 5G and have a very good speed, but after the change, it can only do 25/5. So after testing for a while, and got fed up, called Rogers, and the service rep immediately turn it back for me, without even asking for diagnostic. He also said he will optimize both bands. There is marked improvement on the 2 bands. My wife’s laptop is now 40/15, and my laptop is 60/15. My iPhone and iPad can do 220/16 (used to be 190/16).
 
#6 ·
its band steering. not sure why people would want to separate their 2.4G and 5G networks, every isp ive been on keeps them combined, it works great ,maybe try changing the wifi channel for the 2.4 G band amd see what happens
 
#7 ·
Separating the networks is handy to force certain devices onto the 5GHz band with higher speeds and less congestion. Since 2.4GHz has greater range, devices will often gravitate to that band, causing congestion and low throughput. I'm not familiar with band steering but I'm guessing that means my routers don't support it even though they are fairly up to date models.
 
#8 ·
Its supposed to force the device over to what will give it best performance. I think yes generally would favor 5ghz.. but if the 5ghz was say too far away and would be slower, its supposed to switch over to the 2.4 which would probably give better performance.

Biggest issue I have seen with band steering, is that some people have had issues with IOT type deives which are only 2.4.. and seem to sometimes get stuck. Its like the router isnt aware that its only 2.4 and tries to switch it over and it fails. (Though mine has bandwidth steering on, and my devices at least dont have an issue)

For the above users iPad, if they havent already, would be to remove it from the wifi, and re add it. Let it re-register fully.
 
#9 ·
My understanding is that things like roaming and band steering are best done by the device itself. Routers must also support the protocols but will often get it wrong if they try it with devices that don't support it. 2.4GHz is good for lower bandwidth devices that need longer range. 5Ghz is better for devices that need high connection speeds. Even better is a dual band simultaneous connection but that's not widely supported yet. For 5Ghz devices that may need longer range I turn 2.4GHz auto-reconnect off and just reconnect manually when needed. The last thing I want is some flaky Rogers router forcing my 5GHz devices onto 2.4GHz when it's not wanted or needed. Some devices and routers have 4 times the connection speed and throughput on 5GHz than 2.4GHz even though the 2.4GHz signal may be stronger.
 
#11 ·
I think at the device level.. it will choose the BEST one when you are say first connecting it. (when you have the combined SSID). So say grab onto the 5ghz.
But it would keep going to that 5 and stay on the 5. So even when more out of range of it, will still want to stay connected to it.

With the band steering.. is then where the router would then specifically force the connection over.
 
#13 ·
It looks like it may be a Cisco only feature. The last paragraph indicates a possible issue mentioned in post #8.
Band Steering Overview said:
If certain wireless clients are unable to detect the wireless network they may be using passive scanning. In these cases configure the network to use Dual band operation, not Dual band operation with Band Steering.
 
#15 ·
From the Cisco article, it sounds like the client must support active scanning for it to work as intended. That is a client feature on new devices. The EnGadget article mentions local probe response but indicates that its not required. Not sure if they are the same thing or not.

Then there is Why doesn't band steering work? which states
Make sure that the transmit power on the 2.4 GHz is higher than the 5 GHz. For example, if the transmit power on 2.4 GHz is 14 dBm, put the 5 GHz on 20 dBm. This will make the coverage cell similar for both bands. This is very critical for Band Steering to work properly.
Maybe they will get the bugs out some day. I'd like to see clients have some control over what the router does with band steering and have the router be less aggressive in implementing it. In the meantime, it seems like a bad idea for ISPs to turn on band steering since it may cause issues. I'm filing band steering under sounded like a good idea at the time.
 
#16 ·
^^^^
Active scanning is the normal mode for WiFi. It's passive, that's used to save power, that has problems with band steering. Also, you'd only use band steering if you want to force use of 5 GHz. Otherwise, the device will connect to whichever signal is strongest.
 
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