GT-BE98 Force Guest Network To Use 5GHz-2 Radio

[Wimbus]

Greetings!


This forum has been immensely helpful in configuring my router and learning things about networking in general (I'm a noob).

For this following question, I haven't been able to find an answer on this forum or elsewhere:

When setting up a Guest Network on the 5GHz band, how do I force it to select the 5GHz-2 radio?


As it stands, the Guest Network is set to use the 5GHz-1 radio and I can't find an option to change it.
The problem is that radio 1 is limited channels 36-64 (which have limited transmission power) and only radio 2 can use channels 100-128. I never get kicked from DFS channels so I have no problem using them.

Some background:
My router is 2 floors above my PS5 and Xbox. I can't change the location of the router or the devices. The consoles achieve a higher download/upload speeds over the 2.4GHz guest network (~70mbps) than the 5GHz (radio 1) guest network (~35mbps). The signal strength is 3/4 bars for the 2.4GHz and 1/4 bars for the 5GHz network.
However, the non-Guest 5GHz-2 network has 3/4 bars. Radio 1 is set to 40MHz, Radio 2 is set to 80Mhz (If I set Radio 1 to 80Mhz the consoles can't find the signal). I don't want any device that isn't supposed to access the intranet to be able to, this includes my consoles.
I'm on a Gigabit plan and want to be able to use more than the 70mbps for downloading games on my consoles. The 2,4GHz network is congested too, the 5GHz network much less so.

The router has the newest firmware of 3.0.0.6.102_34372 installed.


Is it even possible to switch the radio for the Guest Network?

 

[ffodi]

You can switch between 2,4/5/6 GHz for the guest networks (for older FW only 2,4/5 GHz was possible if I remember well), but there is no option to switch between the two 5 GHz bands.
Maybe if you are not using 5 GHz-1 you can disable the corresponding radio ("Professional" tab) and see if the guest networks will switch to 5 GHz-2.

 

[Wimbus]

there is no option to switch between the two 5 GHz bands.

That's unfortunate. Do you know if this is a hardware limitation or a limitation of AsusWRT?

Maybe if you are not using 5 GHz-1 you can disable the corresponding radio ("Professional" tab) and see if the guest networks will switch to 5 GHz-2.

I just tried this and the guest network no longer shows up on any device at all. Switching the guest network off and on didn't help and neither did creating a new 5GHz guest network.

 

[ffodi]

That's unfortunate. Do you know if this is a hardware limitation or a limitation of AsusWRT?


I just tried this and the guest network no longer shows up on any device at all. Switching the guest network off and on didn't help and neither did creating a new 5GHz guest network.

I assume it is a limitation of the stock firmware.