iPhone 15 pro max WiFi 6E

[airlung]

With the lastest IOS 17.2, does all Apple devices still requires the router to have all bands 6/5/2.4 GHz set to have the same SSID inorder to use 6E WiFi? Thx

 

[Itsjustmd15]

So I have a 15 Pro Max on 17.2.1, and it connects to 6E just fine for me. All 3 bands have different SSIDs. I can just pick which one I want to connect to, and it gives me no issue.

 

[tgl]

So I have a 15 Pro Max on 17.2.1, and it connects to 6E just fine for me. All 3 bands have different SSIDs. I can just pick which one I want to connect to, and it gives me no issue.

Yeah, it will probably work if you have all the bands broadcast by the same router, and you have set up the phone to allow connections to all three bands. Apple devices will not connect to 6GHz if they don't see an RNR element that advertises that band's existence in the router's 2.4 or 5GHz beacons. However, according to my current understanding of things, the lower-band beacon can be for a different SSID on the same router.

In any case, Apple's official support document still tells you not to do this, and says that you may encounter problems if you don't use the same SSID across all bands. They don't say exactly what, but maybe there are specific services that don't work on 6GHz? Or maybe they are just worried about having a lower band to fall back to if the 6GHz signal gets too weak. In any case, you're not going to get a lot of sympathy if you have problems after not following their advice.

 

[sfx2000]

In any case, Apple's official support document still tells you not to do this, and says that you may encounter problems if you don't use the same SSID across all bands. They don't say exactly what, but maybe there are specific services that don't work on 6GHz? Or maybe they are just worried about having a lower band to fall back to if the 6GHz signal gets too weak. In any case, you're not going to get a lot of sympathy if you have problems after not following their advice.

It's mostly about having that "seamless" connectivity across bands and range from the AP - Apple has always been a big proponent of Single SSID across bands and AP's in a multiple AP environment...

RNR is a bit different than FILS, and info I've seen is that Apple, in their infinite (loop) wisdom uses Reduced Neighbor Reports to suggest that the SSID is more than just 5GHz, there's a 6GHz AP out there to look for...

Knowing this, what Apple is implying is they look for 5Ghz first, camp, and then search for neighbors - which is similar to what they used to do for WiFi4/5 in the old days of Airports...

Some of this might be due to their work with Cisco for enterprise connectivity...

 

[tgl]

RNR is a bit different than FILS, and info I've seen is that Apple, in their infinite (loop) wisdom uses Reduced Neighbor Reports to suggest that the SSID is more than just 5GHz, there's a 6GHz AP out there to look for...

Well, they're just making use of a feature mandated by the wifi standard for exactly this purpose, ie not having to scan all of the 6E channels.

Knowing this, what Apple is implying is they look for 5Ghz first, camp, and then search for neighbors

They don't so much imply that as state it in so many words ... although not on the page I mentioned. [digs...] Ah, here's what I was remembering:

• Apple platforms supporting Wi-Fi 6E can join Wi-Fi 6E networks that are discoverable on 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz channels, and on 6 GHz Preferred Scanning Channels where 6 GHz is allowed by regulatory domain.

This text appears on both the iPhone and Mac Wi-Fi specification details pages. "Discoverable" evidently refers to SSIDs broadcasting RNR elements. I'd forgotten about the PSC exception --- so apparently they do scan whichever subset of 6GHz channels that term covers. I guess this means that you will get better results if you happen to have chosen a PSC as your 6GHz control channel than if you did not.

 

[sfx2000]

Well, they're just making use of a feature mandated by the wifi standard for exactly this purpose, ie not having to scan all of the 6E channels.

Yeah - it's really about "look for this neighboring channel first" to maintain connectivity...

 

[Itsjustmd15]

Yeah, it will probably work if you have all the bands broadcast by the same router, and you have set up the phone to allow connections to all three bands. Apple devices will not connect to 6GHz if they don't see an RNR element that advertises that band's existence in the router's 2.4 or 5GHz beacons. However, according to my current understanding of things, the lower-band beacon can be for a different SSID on the same router.

In any case, Apple's official support document still tells you not to do this, and says that you may encounter problems if you don't use the same SSID across all bands. They don't say exactly what, but maybe there are specific services that don't work on 6GHz? Or maybe they are just worried about having a lower band to fall back to if the 6GHz signal gets too weak. In any case, you're not going to get a lot of sympathy if you have problems after not following their advice.

Yeah when I connect it says there could be compatibility issues, but everything works fine. It says I could have issues with airplay or homekit devices. I had no such problems though. I was connected out of necessity.

 

[airlung]

Thx all, but does all 6/5/2.4GHz needs the same SSID? what about just setting the 6 and 2.4Ghz the same SSID, will the error message appear?

 

[airlung]

And what about if I want a specific device to connect only to the 6GHz. Will setting the Wireless MAC Filter in the router to force the device not to connect to the 2.4/5Ghz work?

 

[tgl]

And what about if I want a specific device to connect only to the 6GHz. Will setting the Wireless MAC Filter in the router to force the device not to connect to the 2.4/5Ghz work?

As a rule, the mentality of "I'm going to force this device to connect to AP X not AP Y" does not lead to good wifi experience. The client chooses where it's going to connect when there are multiple possibilities. You can set the AP to kick it off, but the client might just try to connect to the same AP again ... and even if it doesn't, you've caused a connection drop and momentary loss of service. The only way to really force matters is to tell the client to use an SSID that's only being broadcast by one AP on one band. As already discussed, that's not a great option when considering 6GHz.

The better way to approach this is to encourage the client to pick the channel you want. The main tool for that is to reduce the AP's TX power on the lower bands, so that they don't appear stronger than the 6GHz signal at distance. Another thing that's alleged to help is to increase the minimum data rate, which makes it harder for clients to pick up a weak signal. (I've heard some contrary opinions that that doesn't help here; but it seems like a good idea to me in any case, since it reduces the amount of airtime consumed by beacon packets.)

 

[sfx2000]

And what about if I want a specific device to connect only to the 6GHz. Will setting the Wireless MAC Filter in the router to force the device not to connect to the 2.4/5Ghz work?

That likely won't work...