NR 5101 | Both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz on the same SSID?

stomgb
stomgb Posts: 3
First Comment
edited January 4 in Mobile Broadband

Does the 5Ghz wifi network (SSID) also offer the 2.4Ghz bands so that older devices can still connect to wifi?

I'm trying to set up my Wifi network to have a single SSID where devices that support 5Ghz connection will use those bands and older devices that only support 2.4Ghz will use those bands.

With other routers I've used in the past, there is either a single SSID to configure and devices get the right band, or; there are two separate configurations for each band range with dedicated SSIDs (e.g mywifi and mywifi_5Ghz, with the former being the 2.4 option) and the 5Ghz is used to only offer 5Ghz bands.

The NR 5101 admin panel offers two saparate SSIDs but it doesn't specify how these work.

Accepted Solution

  • tonygibbs16
    tonygibbs16 Posts: 945  Guru Member
    50 Answers 500 Comments Friend Collector Fourth Anniversary
    edited March 2023 Answer ✓

    Hello @stomgb

    You're welcome.

    I do not know, but you could try setting both bands to the same SSID value.

    I do not think that it will do steering to 5GHz as your Huawei might do.

    I think that you have 2 separate WiFi Access Points, one in 2.4 GHz and one in 5GHz.

    - They might be able to have the same SSID, but the WiFi client will probably have to choose between them.

    Kind regards,

    Tony

    PS: I have set-up WiFi in my home with both 5GHz and 2.4GHz Access Points with a different SSID for each band (5G on the end of the SSID for 5GHz band) so that I can get my WiFi clients to connect to the 5GHz band when possible.

    I don't have steering to 5GHz, so I make my clients select the 5GHz band when possible because it is less congested.

All Replies

  • tonygibbs16
    tonygibbs16 Posts: 945  Guru Member
    50 Answers 500 Comments Friend Collector Fourth Anniversary
    edited March 2023

    Hello @stomgb

    Welcome to the forum.

    Section 5.1.4 of the user guide, see below extract, shows that the NR5101 can have different SSIDs for 2.4GHz and 5GHz and each can be enabled independently.

    image.png

    The NR5101 user guide from 2021 is available at https://support.zyxel.eu/hc/en-us/articles/4403365084818-5G-Devices-Advanced-Downloads-Firmwares-and-other-resources- if you select NR5101 in the Model Selector.

    I hope that this is helpful.

    Kind regards,

    Tony

  • stomgb
    stomgb Posts: 3
    First Comment

    Thanks for responding to my question Tony.

    I was already aware that I can set different SSIDs - one for the 2.4Ghz wifi and one for the 5Ghz wifi.

    But my question was different. It isn't clear from the UI nor the user guide whether one of the networks offer both 2.4 and 5 Ghz. I want to have a single SSID configured acorss all of my devices, rather than manually connect some to the 2.4Ghz network and some to the 5Ghz network.

    Here is Wifi config window for the Huawei 5G router. Notice that in that router the first network will offer both 2.4 and 5 Ghz connectivity, while the _5Ghz network will offer only 5Ghz connectiviy.

    In summary, I am trying to understand which of these options applies to the NR5101 wifi settings:

    • (1) 2.4 Ghz only; (2) 5 Ghz only
    • (1) 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz; (2) 5 Ghz only
    image.png

  • tonygibbs16
    tonygibbs16 Posts: 945  Guru Member
    50 Answers 500 Comments Friend Collector Fourth Anniversary
    edited March 2023 Answer ✓

    Hello @stomgb

    You're welcome.

    I do not know, but you could try setting both bands to the same SSID value.

    I do not think that it will do steering to 5GHz as your Huawei might do.

    I think that you have 2 separate WiFi Access Points, one in 2.4 GHz and one in 5GHz.

    - They might be able to have the same SSID, but the WiFi client will probably have to choose between them.

    Kind regards,

    Tony

    PS: I have set-up WiFi in my home with both 5GHz and 2.4GHz Access Points with a different SSID for each band (5G on the end of the SSID for 5GHz band) so that I can get my WiFi clients to connect to the 5GHz band when possible.

    I don't have steering to 5GHz, so I make my clients select the 5GHz band when possible because it is less congested.

  • stomgb
    stomgb Posts: 3
    First Comment

    Thanks! Setting the same SSID and password for both network configs (2.4 and 5) indeed enables 2.4Ghz only devices to connect to Wifi while 5Ghz devices connnect over the 5Ghz bands.

    This specific setup is important when needing to control devices on the network from your mobile phone which needs to be on the same network as the other device. Having different SSIDs for each of the frequency bands means needing to switch the mobile device from one wifi network to the other to connect to other devices on the network…

  • Ludovicus
    Ludovicus Posts: 2
    First Comment

    hi

    I am looking for the same feature…. My Asus supports it…

    But I don’t understand your solution… if both bands have the same SSID and passwords, when you use the phone to setup a device eg an IOT device, doesn’t it have to be in exactly the same network? Eg the 2.4 or the 5gHz?


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